ATLANTA, Ga - Sumter County’s Café Campesino, Crisp County’s Norbord GA, LLC division, Macon County’s International Paper Flint River Mill, and Webster County’s Interfor Preston Division were nominated by South Georgia Technical College to be recognized at the 2019 Georgia Manufacturing Appreciation Week Manufacturers of the Year Governor’s Award Luncheon at the Georgia International Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia, recently. They were among an elite group of the top manufacturers in Georgia.
Governor Brian Kemp was the keynote speaker at the luncheon. Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Matt Arthur also spoke at the event and informed the top manufacturing leaders about the value of a technical college education.
“The Technical College System of Georgia is doing an outstanding job of keeping Georgia to be a great place to do business,” said Governor Kemp. “This is the sixth consecutive year that Georgia has been selected as the number one state to do business in. Businesses and manufacturers want to know that they are going to be able to find qualified workers. The Technical College System of Georgia and Quick Start are working together to help Georgia provide those qualified workers. We thank you for providing our state with a qualified workforce.”
South Georgia Technical College nominated four local manufacturers as Small or Medium Manufacturers of the Year for Georgia in 2019. The four companies included: Café Campesino, Norbord GA, LLC, International Paper Flint River Mill, and Interfor Preston Division. A Small Manufacturer category is for companies with less than 150 employees and a Medium Manufacturer is an industry that has 151 to 500 employees.
“We are pleased to have Café Campesino, Norbord, International Paper, and Interfor in our seven county service area,” said South Georgia Technical College President Dr. John Watford. “Each of these companies and their employees are assets and are to be commended for their role in manufacturing. We salute these companies and the individuals who oversee these operations for their entrepreneurial spirt. We are proud to partner with them on various training and educational opportunities. The economic impact that they provide to our area is tremendous and we appreciate them for their contribution to the economic development of this region as well as to Georgia and the surrounding states,” said Dr. Watford.
Bill Harris, Jr., Lee Harris, and Tripp Pomeroy from Café Campesino as well as Tim Lowrimore, Sandy Deer, Rhonda Holbrook and Eddie Riles from Interfor represented their companies at the event. John Nixon and Paxton Oberg were the individuals from International Paper that attended the event along with Karen Kinsey, Rob Stamback, and Joe Pittman as representatives from Norbord in Crisp County. Each of these manufacturing representatives were accompanied by South Georgia Technical College President Dr. John Watford, SGTC Vice President of Economic Development Services Wally Summers, SGTC Vice President of Institutional Advancement Su Ann Bird, Director of Economic Development Services Michelle McGowan and Paul Farr, as well as SGTC Dean of Enrollment Management Julie Partain. Other representatives from the Americus and Crisp County service area included: Barbara Grogan of the Sumter County Economic Development Authority, John Shaw of the Georgia Department of Labor, Casey Beane of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Rene Smith from Sumter Electric Membership Corporation and Clay Jones from the Sumter County Commission. Also attending from Crisp County were: Monica Simmons from the Cordele-Crisp Chamber of Commerce, Grant Buckley and Christy Bozeman of the Cordele IDC, and Anna Hurt, Regional Project Manager of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
Each of the manufacturers nominated were spotlighted in the 2019 Georgia Manufacturing Appreciation Week program agenda and highlighted as part of a video presentation. The co-hosts of the MAW luncheon were the Technical College System of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Sponsors of the event included: Georgia Association of Manufacturers, Georgia Power, Georgia Tech Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and Aprio.
Proctor and Gamble of Albany was recognized as the Large Georgia Manufacturer of the Year. Briggs & Stratton of Statesboro won the medium category and Erdrich USA, Inc. located in Dublin won Small Manufacturer award for the 150 or fewer employee’s category.
