Navigating the Future
Imagine being tasked with seeing a decade into the future of global shipping, with billions of dollars in infrastructure…
Author: Betty Darby
Georgia Trend 2025 40 Under 40
Every year, Georgia Trend asks for you to nominate impressive, hardworking, community-minded people under the age of 40 who are making a difference in the state. And boy, do you deliver. Our team then has the tough task of narrowing…
Darien | McIntosh County: Hidden Gem
For decades, McIntosh County has been a sleepy place, drowsing away on marsh banks and under live oaks. Darien, the county’s only municipality (and tied with Augusta as Georgia’s second-oldest city) essentially remains a working shrimping village. The county hosts…
Brunswick | Golden Isles: Beauty and Brawn
Glynn County has long had a dual personality – part brawn, part beauty. On the brawny side is the booming Port of Brunswick, which…
Savannah: Rising to the Occasion
Savannah is on a mission to RISE up. RISE stands for Regional Industry Support Enterprise, a Savannah-based, multicounty organization that was formed to help coastal Georgia and its environs meet the labor demands of a growing industrial sector. [caption id="attachment_75930"…
Visionary Cities in Georgia
What does it take to be honored as a visionary city? The Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) says visionary cities are ones that create positive change through effective civic engagement and collaboration. These cities have hardworking, innovative leaders who strive to…
Brunswick | Golden Isles: Rich in Resources
The Port of Brunswick is on pace to become the leading automotive port in the country and expects…
Savannah | Chatham County: Running on All Cylinders
When a massive development like the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America comes to town, it lands with such force that the impact blurs city and county lines. The electric vehicle assembly plant is in Bryan County, not Chatham, and closer…
Sustaining Appeal
Coastal Georgia’s appeal to travelers is rooted in the beauty of its marshes and tidal creeks, its massive stands of twisted live oaks and its broad beaches where sea turtles nest.…
Visionary Cities
The Oxford dictionary defines the word visionary as “thinking about or planning the future with imagination or wisdom.” So it…
Georgia’s Growing Film Industry
The actor’s union (SAG-AFTRA) strike took a 118-day bite out of Georgia’s busy 2023 filming schedule, slowing production to a handful of indie projects and the work from smaller studios not affected by the strike. But that didn’t slow the…
Statesboro | Bulloch County: Success Breeds Success
If you are looking for a sign of the times for Bulloch County, you need look no further than the business card of Benjy Thompson, CEO of the Development Authority of Bulloch County. One side looks like a typical American…
North Fulton County: Embracing Technology
North Fulton County is home to some of Georgia’s youngest cities, but business roots run deep there. The Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce marked its golden anniversary in 2023, celebrating its 50th year with a gala and a series…
Towns Resurrected
A few decades ago, many of Georgia’s downtowns could have been the backdrop for “The Walking Dead,” the apocalyptic television series filmed in the state. The downtowns weren’t exactly dead in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but they weren’t pretty and their…
Brunswick Golden Isles: Revitalization in Bloom
Move over, Port of Baltimore. The Port of Brunswick is coming for your title as the nation’s busiest port for RoRo (roll-on, roll-off) cargo. And these future bragging rights will only enhance the impressive revitalization occurring throughout Brunswick and the…
Encouraging Entrepreneurial Dreams
Grace Fricks’ first career was as a social worker, but then she hit upon an idea: Maybe the way to help people out of poverty was to enable them to start a small business. Holy Grail…
Savannah | Chatham County: An Exciting Time
The Port of Savannah stands ready to absorb its share of the massive impact from the $5.5 billion Hyundai electric vehicle plant taking shape in neighboring Bryan County. A policy of advance planning and a dose of experience with the…
Ripple Effect
Some construction and redevelopment projects are much larger than themselves, as their impact expands in ripples around their original footprint. These transformational projects, typically mixed-use developments, rewrite the built environment around them entirely. Around the state, a number of such…
Visionary Cities
Community. The word has several connotations but broadly it refers to people living together in a specific area. Typically, those residents share the common goal of making their communities better places to live, work and play. Their efforts often involve…
A Journey of Growth and Innovation
It was an unlikely beginning: an abandoned federal property turned over to the state and made the home of a military school, only eight years after the end of the Civil War. At the time, surely no one imagined the…
Living Legacies
As the headlines of the civil rights movement pass further into history, a new phenomenon is born: civil rights tourism is getting increasing attention, and Georgia is rich in its resources. So rich, in fact, that two separate and distinct…
Georgia Trend 2022 40 Under 40
For the 26th year, Georgia Trend is celebrating 40 of the state’s brightest stars under the age of 40. As always, the individuals recognized here awe and inspire us. These outstanding young leaders make their homes throughout Georgia and represent…
Safeguarding the Fields
The Georgia Conservancy, which has advocated for conservation of the state’s natural resources for 55 years, teamed up with Georgia Trend last year to initiate the Sustainable Futures Awards. The awards salute communities or business entities that are pioneering practices…
2022 TravelBlazers
Passion projects that embraced partnerships – that personifies the 2022 crop of TravelBlazers, the initiatives chosen by the Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (GACVB) and Georgia Trend that exemplify innovation in the state’s diverse tourism industry. Each of…
Brunswick | Glynn County: Hitting on All Cylinders
For several years now, historic downtown Brunswick has been poised for takeoff. Signs of progress were there – a successful storefront here, a new restaurant there – indicating a willingness of residents to return to a downtown that commercial sprawl…
MBAs of the Future?
Many universities are trying to be all things to all students when it comes to MBAs. They offer a mix of delivery platforms – full-time traditional, part-time evenings and weekends, as well as online programs or mashups that involve online…
Savannah | Chatham County: Strong Rebound
Savannah is prepared for a post-pandemic tourism surge with a freshened inventory of attractions, built or finished during the two-year interruption caused by COVID-19. The city has set its sights on returning to the tourism glory days of 2019, Savannah’s…
Inspiring Excellence
Whether they are business owners or executives in well-established and respected firms, women in Georgia are demonstrating their unique leadership qualifications. As they’re heading a wide variety of businesses, they’re also mentoring the next generation, promoting diversity in executive ranks…
Visionary Cities
In spite of the lingering pandemic, foresighted folks throughout Georgia rolled up their sleeves to make their communities better places to live, work and play – often by fostering healthy working relationships. To honor those efforts, the Georgia Municipal Association…
2022 100 Most Influential Georgians: Steering the Ship
While this year’s Georgian of the Year Griff Lynch may come closest to literally steering ships, the job of keeping the state afloat does not fall to him alone. There are thousands of people who help ensure the state remains…
Woodbine | Camden County: History Shapes the Future
The Gilman Paper Co. dominated the town of St. Marys and the rest of Camden County for almost 60 years before it ended its run in 2002. That loss of 900 jobs could have left the county reeling. But there…
Candler County | Metter: Everything’s Better Here
It’s hardly a surprise that things are growing in Metter and Candler County. It’s a rural area. But in addition to the row crops, livestock and even hemp that you’ll find here, you’ll also discover a crop of innovation just…
Bryan County | Pembroke: Distinct Identities
Georgia boasts a staggering 159 counties, but Bryan County stands alone as the state’s sole non-contiguous county. Of course, it doesn’t look that way on a map. But in reality, the sprawling land mass of the U.S. Army’s Fort Stewart…
Thomson | McDuffie County: Community of Contrasts
Cows and robots. Agriculture and technology. The rural past and the technologic future. Contrasts keep coming up in McDuffie County, a farming-heavy community to the west of Augusta/Richmond County. Its roots are decidedly rural, but its residents are looking ahead…
Glynn County | Brunswick: On the Upswing
Georgia’s Golden Isles boast many tourist attractions: the sun, the sand, the sea and the wildlife. No need for such man-made “attractions” like a roller coaster, but you’ll forgive residents and business owners in Brunswick and Glynn County if they…
Boosting Business Skills
A master of business administration, or MBA, has long been considered the gold standard in business credentials. That thinking seems to have gained support during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the period of economic instability offered opportunities for resumé building with…
Savannah | Chatham County: Unexpected Bright Spots
When the pandemic hit, Bridget Overson found herself geographically unleashed from her job. Since her office was now a Zoom meeting and a broadband connection, she started looking at places that were warmer and cheaper than her native New Hampshire…
Visionary Cities Across Georgia
2020 seemed to be an endless parade of bad news – from the pandemic to the economy to politics. But rough as the year was, many people were working around the state to help make lives in their communities better…
100 Most Influential Georgians
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy,” said Martin Luther King Jr. His words are as applicable today as they…
Eastman | Dodge County: Resilient and Refocused
Dodge County, southeast of Macon in central Georgia, has gotten really good at reinventing itself. Over the past 150 years, Dodge and its county seat, Eastman, have lived through booms and busts keyed to agriculture, timber and candy. Now the…
Hazlehurst | Jeff Davis County: Admirable Amenities
They’re farming the sun down in Jeff Davis County, and the crop forecast is good. Open a conversation with “What’s happening business-wise around here?” and the locals want to talk about solar power. The small, decidedly rural town of Hazlehurst…
Georgia’s Legacy Leaders
This month Georgia Trend celebrates 35 years as the statewide magazine dedicated to business, politics and economic development. To mark this milestone, we wanted to recognize people from around the state who have contributed for many years to making Georgia…
Statesboro | Bulloch County: A Vibrant Community
In a Georgia Southern University football Saturday in Statesboro, there’s room for as many as 25,000 fans in Paulson Stadium. When you consider that Statesboro’s population, per the U.S. Census, is 32,954, you get a feel for the impact of…
Brunswick | Golden Isles: Strategic Reset
It took a pandemic to derail the year-over-year records tourism was setting for Brunswick and the Golden Isles, but officials there are already talking about a recently freshened set of attractions and the potential contained in undeveloped resources as they…
Savannah| Chatham County: Multifaceted Momentum
Savannah’s River Street is where the area’s multifaceted economy intersects. The street’s string of souvenir shops, nightclubs and restaurants is a mainstay for the 14.5 million tourists that Visit Savannah estimates arrive annually. The massive container ships passing by, just…
Waycross/Ware County: Investing for the Future
In Waycross and Ware County, its not just “location, location, location.” It’s also “logistics, logistics, logistics.” “Our No. 1 strength is that we are a logistical hub for our region. We have access to rail, to our airport, easy routes…
Bird’s-eye View of Georgia’s Coast
Georgia’s coastline covers about 100 miles, as the roseate spoonbill flies. And this exotic bird – large and pink with a combination of great beauty and comic facial features – does, improbably, fly the Georgia coast, from its start where…
Lodging Disrupters
Hotels offer travelers – both business and vacation – consistency, convenience and the general feeling of knowing exactly what you’re going to get from a booking. But what if you dream of staying in a treehouse or a tiki hut,…
Effingham County: Big Ambitions
A bird’s-eye view of Effingham County’s morning commuter traffic to and along Interstate 16 could well call to mind Atlanta’s rush-hour snarl. Granted, it’s more or less a single strand of east-bound spaghetti rather than a whole plateful, but commutes…
2019 40 Under 40
It’s been 23 years since Georgia Trend’s inaugural 40 Under 40, and each year the winners continue to leave us awed and inspired. That’s no different with this year’s group of young leaders, who while representing the nonprofit, healthcare and…
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