Building a Better Workforce
If Georgia’s workforce was…
Author: Patty Rasmussen
High Stakes, Global Gains
Global trade made news in Georgia long before retaliatory tariffs started grabbing headlines. Once again, Georgia businesses found new opportunities in global markets,…
2025 Most Respected Leader: Paul Cramer, Be Our Guest
Athens, Georgia, is renowned for its unique downtown atmosphere. More than just a typical college town that fills up on weekends…
Transforming Lives: How the Technical College System of Georgia Helps Students Succeed
The data doesn’t lie. It was another banner year for the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG). In 2024, the system – comprising 22 technical colleges and 88 campuses in every corner of the state – hit 148,746 in total…
2025 Georgia Education Guide
Georgia offers exceptional post-secondary education opportunities, encompassing highly sought-after public and private four-year colleges and universities and a well-respected career and technical college system with primary and satellite campuses across the state. Given the in-state and out-of-state popularity of Georgia…
Catching up with… Ramon Reyes
In 1997, Ramon Reyes began his career in the hospitality industry as a hotel doorman in New Orleans. He moved to Atlanta to open the Omni Hotel at the Battery and serve as the hotel’s general manager. After four years…
The Power of Representation: Eight Notable Women to Watch in Georgia
What causes a leader to stand out? The women highlighted here frequently noted hard work, sacrifice, mentorship – receiving and providing it – humility, taking risks and collaboration as key reasons for their success. But other common denominators emerged: serving…
Augusta University | Healthcare Workforce: A Prescription for the Future
A native of the Augusta region, Russell Keen, president of Augusta University (AU), soldered copper pipes in an old dental lab at AU during summer…
2025 100 Most Influential Georgians
This year’s Georgian of the Year, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, achieved his lifelong dream of becoming mayor in part because of his confidence and hard work, but also because of his never-give-up mindset. You tend to find similar qualities in…
Georgia City Planning: Curb Appeal
Parking isn’t the sexy part of economic development. When cities and counties announce new projects, it barely merits a side note. In fact, parking often poses challenges that city and county leaders must confront, including location, accessibility, affordability, safety and…
Workforce in Georgia: Filling the Gaps
Matthew Emerson is a senior at Newton County’s Eastside High School who plans to study aviation mechanics. This past…
Advantage: Georgia
The bustling ports of Savannah and Brunswick, serving ships stacked high with brightly colored containers, are…
A Recognized Resource
In December 2023, Catherine Higgins fulfilled her longtime goal of earning a college degree. At 75 years old, the former judicial assistant graduated from West Georgia Technical College (WGTC) in Carrollton with an associate degree in General Studies with a…
2024 100 Most Influential Georgians
This year’s Georgian of the Year, Ed Bastian, is the classic example of leadership, strength and resilience. Such attributes no doubt helped him rise to the position where he is today. So it’s probably no surprise these same qualities can…
Southwest Georgia: A Region on the Radar
Agriculture has defined and dominated Southwest Georgia’s economic landscape for generations. Whether owning or working on farms or some other ag-adjacent industry, nearly everyone in the region has a financial connection to the land. And as an industry, agriculture remains…
Pathways and Partnerships
For years, Georgia has touted its “Best Place to Do Business” crown, a ranking bestowed by media outlets based on metrics like the number of projects and jobs attracted, taxes and incentives, and the strength of the post-secondary education system.…
Cobb County | Building Smart from the Start
Over 35 years ago, an infrastructure project catalyzed Georgia’s first community improvement district (CID). A Cobb County developer, with the support of Cumberland Galleria property owners, sought to create an access point to Interstate 75 and spoke to Georgia legislators…
Lending for Life
At a time when financial transactions are frequently made through digital dashboards, it’s heartening to know that some of life’s most important conversations can still be made face-to-face. Conversations about money can be complex, whether it’s a first-time home buyer…
Six Georgia Counties: Innovate, Connect, Improve
Whether amplifying neglected history or figuring out better ways to deliver health services, dislodging a massive backlog of…
A Seat at the Tech Table
Susan Brown, Director of Executive, Professional and Online MBA Programs for UGA’s Terry College of Business, left, and Patricia Zettek, Director of Full-Time MBA and MBSA Career Management Center at Terry College of Business, on the…
Where Education and Employment Intersect
The Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) inhabits the space where two critically important priorities intersect – education and workforce development. And as economic development investment poured into Georgia, creating as many as 17,500 new jobs in the first half…
Managing Progress
“You don’t have to be big to have a big impact,” says Kevin Green, president and CEO of Midtown Alliance, the nonprofit coalition of business and civic leaders that staffs and operates the 1.2-square-mile Midtown Improvement District. In 2022, Midtown…
Top education issues in 2023
In January, the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education (GPEE) released its Top Ten Issues to Watch 2023. The annual report identifies and offers recommendations on critical educational issues in Georgia and is based on extensive, nonpartisan research. The 2023…
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…
The Key to Prosperity
Few would argue with the premise that today’s educators need allies, especially as schools become a place to address the broad needs of families and communities. Fortunately, a network has grown to provide that support. The Georgia Partnership for Excellence…
Attracting students to banking
Finding qualified workers is the number one challenge facing companies across sectors, but it can be doubly difficult for companies located in rural regions of the state. When every company is attempting to attract the most talented workers, how can…
Outfitting the Toolbox
You don’t have to leave the community to have a job. Getting that message out is part of the workforce education mission in each of Georgia’s 159 counties, says Anna Chafin, CEO of the Development Authority of Bryan County. And…
Electric Revolution
A remarkable and deliberate shift occurred in Georgia’s automotive industry over the past five years and accelerated in the last 24 months. Seemingly almost out of nowhere, an entire electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem began to flourish. Since 2020, the state…
Visions Become Reality
With passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) in November 2021 and the promise of federal infrastructure funds flowing to the states, self-taxing community improvement districts (CIDs) are in a sweet spot. Their mission, typically projects…
Overcoming Challenges, Improving Lives
As COVID-19 continued to impact our lives last year, county governments across the state stepped up to address critical needs. Georgia Trend and ACCG, a nonprofit serving county governments, teamed up to recognize six initiatives that not only solved pandemic-related…
A look at the HOPE Career Grant with former Gov. Nathan Deal
One of the most transformational programs to hit the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) was the High Demand Career Initiative (and later became the HOPE Career Grant). It was a proposal that started during the administration of former governor…
Creating a Skilled Workforce Pipeline
It’s hard to remember the economic conditions in Georgia when Nathan Deal became governor in 2011. But Deal certainly does. “We were still in the midst of the Great Recession,” he says. “We had a 10.4% unemployment rate. It was…
Growth and Innovation
By almost any metric, Emory University is a behemoth in Georgia higher education. Founded in 1836, it is the state’s second-oldest private university (just five years younger than LaGrange College) and the highest-ranked private school (21st by U.S. News &…
Nursing program expands to Milledgeville
Central Georgia Technical College (CGTC) in Warner Robins is expanding its high-demand Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) program to the college’s Milledgeville campus beginning with the fall 2022 semester. The expansion significantly increases the program’s reach, easing the burden for nursing…
New Health Science Campus coming to Augusta
In mid-January, leaders from Augusta Technical College (ATC) and Augusta-based University Health Care Systemsigned a letter of intent (LOI) on a partnership that will transform Augusta Tech’s already booming health science program. The move is meant to further increase the…
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…
Power On
In 2018, when Facebook announced it was opening a massive data center in Newton County, bringing an initial investment of $750 million, it had a big request: to be powered 100% by renewable energy. Fortunately, Georgia was ready and the…
Metro Atlanta | Buckhead: Tremendous Assets
Even as some legislators under the Gold Dome were trying to advance a controversial proposal for Buckhead to split from the city of Atlanta, the affluent community continued to welcome an assortment of companies moving into the area. Invest Atlanta,…
Keeping Georgians on the Move
Infrastructure is one of the few domestic issues on which both political parties in Washington and in Georgia appear willing to compromise. Witness the U.S. Senate’s Aug. 10 passage of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, a bipartisan effort that, among…
Hall County | Gainesville: Up for the Challenge
Hall County leaders positioned their community for success through years of careful planning, diligent cultivation of local assets and attracting the right investments. Now, they’re reaping the benefits on multiple fronts. “Hall County local governments issued a combined 1,531 new…
Georgia Trend 2021 40 Under 40
This year Georgia Trend is celebrating 25 years of honoring the state’s best and brightest with our 40 Under 40. And this year, like the others, the winners leave us awed and inspired. As we continue to battle COVID-19 in…
The Way Forward
Without a doubt, 2020 went down as one of the most volatile economic periods in airline industry history. But for leaders at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), the focus in 2021 has been about regaining momentum as passengers – some…
A World of Opportunities
The past few years have been tough on many in the Georgia trade community. Georgia’s agricultural exporters were hit with back-to-back hurricanes in 2017 and 2018, and federal trade policy and messaging from the previous administration was often confusing. Then…
Leading the Way
Women are leading Georgia businesses in record numbers, from ascending to the C-suite to building their own companies to taking the torch from previous generations of family-owned companies. According to the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), an estimated 42% of…
LaGrange | Troup County: Creating a Sustainable Future
Sustainability can be an overused word in economic development. But leaders in Troup County and the city of LaGrange are embracing the concept and its benefits, whether through business and industrial developments like the 10,000-acre Georgia International Business Park (GIBP)…
How Georgia’s Small Businesses are Surviving COVID-19
When the COVID-19 pandemic slammed into Georgia’s economy last March, few sectors felt the repercussions as hard as small businesses. These firms with fewer than 500 employees made up 99.6% (or 1.1 million enterprises) of total Georgia businesses in 2020.…
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…
Georgia Trend 2021 Hall of Fame: Ann Cramer & James Cox Kennedy
Ann Cramer The Great Connector Ann Cramer’s phone rings a lot. That’s not surprising – her nickname could be the Great Connector. Throughout a storied career at IBM that saw her both champion and…
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…
Georgia’s Transportation Funding Act is Transforming the Future
Despite the hardship and economic smackdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 is a milestone year for a piece of legislation worth remembering. It’s the fifth anniversary of the Transportation Funding Act (TFA), which was signed into law in…
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