Southeast

Tourism, port activity and workforce development

Camden County sits at the extreme southeast end of Georgia where the state ends and the Atlantic Ocean and Florida begin. While it may seem a long drive from anywhere, this coastal county is on the front line of America’s…

Pooler, in western Chatham County, has been on the economic fast track for quite a while now. Sure, there was a slowdown during the Great Recession, but that period provided this city of 21,000 with some moments to step back…

The stunning gateways to Brunswick and the Golden Isles are the stuff of poetry. Indeed, in 1878, Sidney Lanier sat beneath an oak tree near the Brunswick River, where a bridge (and its replacement) would later be built and named…

On the heels of the most successful year in Georgia seaport history, and after two painstaking decades of planning and politicking, Savannah’s harbor expansion is becoming a delectable reality in 2015. Indeed, the major sectors of Chatham County’s economy –…

When Myrna Ballard and her husband first came to Valdosta, they expected they would probably stay four or five years, then move on. That was in 1985. This year Ballard begins her 20th year as president of the Valdosta-Lowndes County…

Bryan County May not be nearly as well-known as its eastern neighbor Chatham County, home to tourist-friendly Savannah, but these days people and businesses are finding this community near the coast a great place to be. Driven by two big…

While local sales tax referendums are just about as familiar in Georgia as hot summers, there was something extraordinary about a tax question posed to Ware County residents in May. The citizens in this Southeast Georgia county were asked to…

When Virginia Carson arrived in Coffee County in the spring of 2008, the then-interim president of South Georgia State College was struck by the instant acceptance she received from the region’s political, business and community leaders. “I was very warmly…

John Riddle returned home to Wayne County in 2008, the year that begat the Great Recession. He had enjoyed a rewarding tenure in Gwinnett County as director of the Gwinnett Hospital Foundation, but he wanted his three sons to know…