CEDARTOWN, Ga. ­— Georgia Tech’s Center for Economic Development Research (CEDR) and the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) are leading an 18‑month Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Investments Supporting Partnerships in Recovery Ecosystems (INSPIRE) planning grant to design a structured workforce model that connects individuals in recovery from substance abuse with manufacturing careers in Northwest Georgia.

Over 18 months, CEDR and GaMEP — both programs of Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute — will use the $56,731 grant to conduct research. The teams will use findings from that research to build manufacturing workforce pipelines in Polk, Floyd, and Chattooga counties.

This is not the first time the two groups have worked together. Their collaboration spans nearly a decade and is connected to iWORKS, an employer‑led consortium created to address Northwest Georgia’s manufacturing workforce needs. iWORKS grew out of the High Demand Career Initiative regional planning effort led by CEDR in 2017, and since then CEDR and GaMEP have partnered closely with chambers of commerce, workforce boards, economic developers, educators, and community organizations to strengthen local economies by addressing employment gaps.

One result of that collaboration is Project Purpose, created to prepare high school seniors without post‑graduation plans for careers in manufacturing. CEDR and GaMEP expanded Project Purpose to serve people impacted by the justice system, with a pilot program in the Polk County jail that combined online instruction through Tooling-U with onsite feedback from GaMEP experts.

The Polk County initiative took a holistic approach to workforce development, matching real skills with open jobs while acting as a nexus for the justice system, employers, and participants.

“It really starts with manufacturers. You’ve got to have a pull,” said John Zegers, Northwest Georgia region manager for GaMEP. “There has been a lot of economic development growth in Georgia, and there are always jobs in manufacturing, especially in the parts of the state that I serve. What we do is connect people to those opportunities.”

The INSPIRE planning grant will further expand the focus of Project Purpose to include individuals with substance‑use disorders. One of the biggest challenges faced by this population is finding employment upon release from a treatment or correctional centers.

“There’s a big drug problem in Northwest Georgia, as there is across the United States,” Zegers said. “Rural counties don’t always have the resources to deal with it, which is why we’re building stronger connections among employers, the corrections system, and community support organizations.”

The grant’s planning period will chart the region’s recovery‑to‑work ecosystem, taking into account employer needs, transportation, housing, childcare, and recovery support. CEDR and GaMEP will conduct community needs and workforce assessments, employer surveys, and focus groups to determine the skills required by different manufacturers. They will also examine secondary factors that will help participants maintain steady employment.

“We’re using what the GaMEP team built in Polk County as our foundation,” said Candice McKie, senior project manager at CEDR. “The ARC grant is purely for planning, and once that is completed, we’ll be able to go in and establish Project Purpose programs in Floyd and Chattooga counties.” Ultimately, CEDR and GaMEP aim to expand the program to other counties in the region and state.

A key partner in the grant is Highland Rivers Behavioral Health, which will help employers understand how to support employees in recovery and how to connect workers with peer support and case management

Said Alexandria Sanford, grant and strategic partnership manager at Highland Rivers, “Meaningful employment is an essential part of recovery for individuals struggling with substance-use disorders. Leveraging this partnership creates a stronger regional ecosystem within our state that enables individuals and employers to better understand and work with one another.”

Zegers emphasized that maintaining trusted relationships across different sectors of a community is essential to Project Purpose. “I’ve worked with these manufacturers for years, and they feel comfortable talking to me about their needs in terms of new employees,” he said. “Through this program, those relationships have expanded to include sheriffs, corrections, and the judicial system. It’s important to get buy‑in and participation from everyone involved.”

For McKie, the partnership between CEDR and GaMEP is a symbiotic one. “John works directly with manufacturers, and we work with communities as economists, city planners, and economic development practitioners,” she said. “Those things go hand in hand. Employers thrive when communities thrive, and vice versa. Multiple people benefit from this collaboration.”

The ARC INSPIRE planning grant is shaping the future of Project Purpose programs in Floyd and Chattooga counties while strengthening ongoing work in Polk, so CEDR and GaMEP can continue to refine an alternative workforce development model that allows residents of Northwest Georgia build careers close to home.

The post Georgia Tech Programs to Develop Recovery-to-Work Pathways in Northwest Georgia first appeared on Enterprise Innovation Institute.

SHES is now offering free 1-hour and 4-hour safety trainings at locations across Georgia. The trainings, which focus on preventing injury and illness due to workplace exposures in warehouse environments, are open to private employees and employers in small and medium-size businesses that perform or manage warehousing activities. There will also be several courses offered to the public.

Training topics will include powered industrial truck safety, chemical hazards and communication, material and package handling, electrical safety, and lockout/tagout, as well as health issues such as ergonomic lifting, respiratory protection, temperature extremes, and more.

At the end of the grant period, all training material will enter the public domain on the SHES website. Real-time courses are conducted in English, but toward the grant’s end date, SHES plans to translate the material into Spanish.

According to SHES certified industrial hygienist Sean Castillo, the topic of warehouse safety was chosen in part because of the economic role played by the greater Savannah area, where the port and its logistics and distributions centers constitute a significant part of the region’s economy. At the same time, however, warehouse safety far transcends that specific sector. “Warehousing is everywhere across the state,” said Castillo, “and we have a lot of experience in that area.”

Some of the safety trainings will be co-led by the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP). With more than 65 years serving a wide network of manufacturing partners statewide, GaMEP is an ideal partner.

“GaMEP does exemplary work in every corner of the state, and a lot of that is due to the extensive outreach of their regional managers,” said Castillo. “This synergistic partnership presents a great opportunity for us to leverage those relationships to help reinforce a culture of health and safety among Georgia’s industries.”

Both SHES and GaMEP are programs of the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI²), Georgia Tech’s economic development and outreach unit. As a socioeconomic development organization, EI² takes a people-centered approach to programming, focusing on the ways that families and communities across Georgia — and beyond — benefit directly from its offerings.

Said EI² Vice President David Bridges, “We are committed to translating Georgia Tech’s world-class research into real-life solutions that create jobs, save lives, and keep America safe. These warehouse safety trainings exemplify those goals exactly. Because they are being offered by two of our programs, SHES and GaMEP, they also embody the strength that comes from collaboration, which allows us to extend our reach of service even more.”

Funding for the safety training is administered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and comes from the Susan Harwood Training Grants Program, named for the late Susan Harwood, who served for 17 years as the director of OSHA’s Office of Risk Assessment. One of 18 Harwood Grant recipients for 2025, SHES was chosen for its expertise, training capabilities, and existing relationships with OSHA.

SHES is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor to provide a range of confidential OSHA programs to industries in the Southeast, and the authorized OSHA Training Institute Education Center at the Georgia Tech – Savannah campus has been offering OSHA training in South Georgia, South Carolina, and northern Florida for 25 years.

For more information and schedule, click here.

The post Free Warehouse Safety Trainings Offered Statewide Through Georgia Tech SHES Grant first appeared on Enterprise Innovation Institute.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The Georgia Institute of Technology and Augusta University have launched a collaborative effort to boost the city’s medical device innovation ecosystem.

The Augusta region is already a major hub for health and life sciences, boasting five hospitals as well as the Medical College of Georgia, the nation’s 13^th oldest medical school and one of its largest.

In addition, the advocacy nonprofit Georgia Life Sciences designated the region a BioReady Gold community, in recognition of its existing bioscience assets and its commitment to expanding infrastructure and commercialization.

Leading the work at Georgia Tech are the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) and Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC).

GaMEP, a program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, brings a dedicated team that possesses the unique skills required to help innovators clearly understand the regulatory and quality requirements needed to deliver a medical device to market.

“When entrepreneurs gain this insight early in development, they can make informed, strategic decisions that can significantly reduce both time and cost,” said Sarah Jo Tucker, industry manager for medical devices at GaMEP.

“We partner closely with innovators throughout the process and bring deep expertise in the regulatory requirements while they bring expertise in their technology. Together, we can move products efficiently and confidently from concept to commercialization.”

ADTC, part of Georgia Tech’s Office of Commercialization, is the state’s premier technology incubator and the oldest university-based incubator in the country. ATDC provides guidance and resources for entrepreneurs and founders to successfully launch and scale their technology companies. Since its founding in 1980, ATDC’s startup graduates have attracted more than $6.2 billion in investment and generated over $14 billion in revenue in Georgia.

Through the partnership with Augusta University, ATDC is employing its expertise to serve entrepreneurs in the medical device field.

“Medical innovation across the state of Georgia is critical for our health tech industries to thrive,” said Chris Dickson, Augusta Region Startup Catalyst at ATDC. “We identify medical technology startups that are investment-ready and provide the support needed while they are scaling their businesses.”

As a major hub for the life sciences, Augusta University is home to a wealth of researchers in the biomedical and related fields, which makes the institution ideally situated to help facilitate medical device commercialization.

Guido Verbeck, Ph.D., understands this dynamic firsthand. A professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Augusta University, he is also an entrepreneur and medical device innovator.

“Academia is a fantastic platform for launching ideas, but there must be an understanding of how to bring a device to market,” said Verbeck. “Physicians and practitioners who are also academics are solving problems in real time, but they often lack the resources and support to get their ideas to production and commercialization.”

Lynsey Steinberg, director of innovation for Augusta University’s strategic partnerships and economic development team, summed up the intent of the collaboration.

“When we tap our depth of talent, innovation, and community collaboration, this region has what it takes to become a launchpad for medical device startups — a place where bold ideas find the purpose they need to succeed to solve real-world problems,” she said.

To explore resources and opportunities for collaboration and expansion in the region’s medical device startup ecosystem, GaMEP is hosting INNOVATE: Building Augusta’s Medical Device Ecosystem, on Feb. 27, 2026, at the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center.

The half-day event is being presented in partnership with the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), Augusta University, the Augusta Economic Development Authority (AEDA) and the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center.

To learn more and register, click here.

The post Augusta Positioned to Become a Leader in Medical Device Entrepreneurship first appeared on Enterprise Innovation Institute.

GaMEP, in partnership with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the Development Authority of Polk County, Hope Home and iWORKS Northwest Georgia, launched the program in the spring of this year after receiving a $50,000 Scaling What Works Grant from the BlueForge Alliance. Over a 13-week period, participants received hybrid training in lean manufacturing, math fundamentals, safety, technology and other essential industry skills.

GaMEP Northwest Georgia Region Manager and iWORKS Northwest Georgia Co-Chairman John Zegers spearheaded the program after recognizing a growing need for skilled workers in his region.

“These industries are a great fit for justice-impacted individuals because the required skills can be learned,” said Zegers. “Participants just need the motivation and willingness to take advantage of a great opportunity.”

Eight individuals participated in the program, earning certificates after passing separate modules, and three completed the entire program, graduating with a Certified Manufacturing Associate certificate. One participant,William, said he didn’t believe he had much of a future before he joined the program.

 “I thought that this was my future, coming in and out of jail, but this program has shown me that I can do anything I set my mind to do,” said William. “Now I feel like I can go out and the sky’s the limit because of this experience.”

Another participant, Benjamin, said he realized he could pursue a career in an industry he had never considered.

“I never really put much thought into manufacturing. I just got whatever job I could get,” said Benjamin. “This class has really brightened my look on life.”

In addition to technical skills, the program helped participants gain something a little harder to measure, but just as important — confidence and hope. Polk County Sheriff’s Office Offender Services Coordinator Lydia Goodson said that programs like this help break barriers, giving participants a chance to rewrite their stories.

“Returning citizens are more than their circumstances,” said Goodson. “When you give individuals opportunities to put in the work to change their lives and interact with people who support them, it gives them confidence, especially to speak with people they may have shied away from before.”

As part of the training, participants also met local manufacturers and received help building their employment files while employers learned best practices for hiring and supporting second-chance workers. Suhner USA President David Cieslica, who participated in the program, said the advantages extend to both sides.

“These individuals really are trying to make a difference,” said Cieslica. “They want to redirect their lives, and they need a chance. This program helps them start off with the basic knowledge and skill set to catapult themselves into the job force.”

But the program doesn’t just benefit participants and employers, it strengthens communities as well.

“This program benefits the entire community by filling important jobs and reducing recidivism rates,” said Zegers. “It’s been really exciting to work on this program; we really want to see success for the participants, for the manufacturers that hire them and for the overall community.”

Building on the success of the pilot, Zegers looks forward to expanding the program to additional counties, engaging local manufacturers and providing incarcerated or formerly incarcerated individuals with the resources and skills for successful careers in manufacturing, transportation and warehousing.

For more information or questions about Project Purpose — Justice-Impacted to Manufacturing Pathway, email GaMEP Northwest Georgia Region Manager John Zegers at john.zegers@innovate.gatech.edu.

The post Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership at Georgia Tech Celebrates Graduates of Pilot Program first appeared on Enterprise Innovation Institute.

DULUTH, Ga. — The Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech celebrated the official opening of its Gwinnett-based office with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, May 21. Strategically located within the Gwinnett Chamber building and adjacent to Partnership Gwinnett’s offices, the new space enhances local access to GaMEP’s extensive services for manufacturers and supply chain companies across the region.

“GaMEP has a long history of working with companies across Gwinnett and East Metro,” said Bryan Weaver, Regional Manager for East Metro Atlanta. “Establishing a local office in Gwinnett enables us to serve businesses more efficiently by being embedded in the heart of the community and adjacent to key economic development partners.”

The new lease agreement comes after the Gwinnett Chamber’s recent $6 million renovation of its three-story headquarters—an investment that modernized the space and expanded opportunities for additional tenants. Located in Duluth, the facility has become a central hub for Gwinnett business leaders and regional stakeholders. GaMEP now shares a professional suite with other regionally renowned organizations, including Leadership Gwinnett, the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia, and United Way of Greater Atlanta.

As a program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute and a member of the national Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) network, GaMEP provides tailored solutions to Georgia manufacturers in areas such as leadership development, process improvement, technology integration, and energy management. The organization connects companies to Georgia Tech’s research ecosystem, helping them increase productivity, compete globally, and achieve long-term growth.

“Having a recognized leader like GaMEP and Georgia Tech here in Gwinnett strengthens the foundations we have built for manufacturing and supply chain companies in the greater Gwinnett region,” said Nick Masino, President and CEO of the Gwinnett Chamber and Partnership Gwinnett. “Their services and expertise are now even more accessible to the companies we work to recruit, retain, and expand.”

Senior Vice President of Partnership Gwinnett Kevin Carmichael added, “Gwinnett continues to serve as a major contributor to Georgia’s industrial economy with more than 800 manufacturing firms in the community. The addition of GaMEP’s office further supports local economic development efforts and deepens the connection between higher education, innovation, and the private sector.”

For more information about the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership, visit gamep.org. To learn more about the Gwinnett Chamber and Partnership Gwinnett, visit gwinnettchamber.org or PartnershipGwinnett.com, respectively.

The post GaMEP Opens Regional Office at the Gwinnett Chamber first appeared on Enterprise Innovation Institute.

CEDARTOWN, Ga. — The Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP), a program of the Enterprise Innovation Institute at Georgia Tech, received a $50,000 Scaling What Works Grant from BlueForge Alliance. The funding will support Project Purpose — Justice-Impacted to Manufacturing Pathway, a new program that prepares non-violent offenders for positions in manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing.

The program expands on the success of Project Purpose, a collaborative effort that trains graduating high school seniors for similar high-demand jobs in Northwest Georgia. Since 2021, Project Purpose has connected hundreds of students with employers, resulting in promising careers for young adults.

“We have and will continue to have a significant need for skilled manufacturing employees, particularly in Northwest Georgia,” said GaMEP Director Tim Israel. “Expanding Project Purpose to include returning citizens will create new employment pathways and help local industries fill critical roles.”

In early 2024, manufacturers posted nearly 2,000 unique jobs while nearly 17,000 non-violent offenders remained incarcerated in local and state prisons in Northwest Georgia, according to Lightcast, a labor market analytics firm, and the Georgia Department of Corrections. Recognizing this gap, GaMEP Northwest Georgia Region Manager and iWORKS Northwest Georgia Co-Chairman John Zegers saw an opportunity to benefit both employers and individuals experiencing incarceration. Leveraging his connections and experiences, Zegers initiated the first training in Polk County in partnership with Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the Development Authority of Polk County, Hope Home, and iWORKS Northwest Georgia.

A natural partner for the pilot training, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, under the leadership of Sheriff Johnny Moats, launched a successful re-entry program in 2023. The Polk Re-Entry Program (PREP) focuses on personalized pathways based on self-identified needs. It uses a strength-based approach to addictive and criminal behaviors that identifies and addresses barriers when returning to the community. The program has provided more than 12,000 services, enhancing community and officer safety, lowering the tax burden on citizens, and reducing recidivism.

“They get to be the lead role in their own life story, we are just here in a supporting role,” said Polk County Sheriff’s Office Offender Services Coordinator Lydia Goodson. “When given the opportunity to have a say and put in the work for their desired outcome, we see that individuals are more excited, vested and valued in the program.”

Hope Home, a volunteer-led initiative through the Second Baptist Church of Cedartown, has partnered with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office on a Hope for Returning Citizens program, which offers shelter, transportation and additional services for returning citizens. The program will continue to offer those services, as well as help supply technology for the training.

Beginning in the spring of 2025, the multi-week curriculum will provide virtual learning followed by in-person training with GaMEP experts. The training will include fundamental manufacturing topics, such as applied mathematics, continuous improvement/lean, quality, robotics, safety and more. Participants who complete each topic and pass the exam will receive a certificate. Those who finish the program and pass the final exam will earn a Certified Manufacturing Associate certificate. Participants will also engage with local manufacturers and receive assistance with building their employment files while manufacturers will receive expert guidance on hiring and working with second-chance workers.

“We’re not only helping individuals transform their lives, but we’re also strengthening communities and supporting manufacturers by building a sustainable workforce pipeline,” said Zegers. “When individuals experiencing incarceration re-enter the workforce with connections, credentials and skills, they’re far more likely to succeed and less likely to re-offend.”

After the pilot training in Polk County, GaMEP and iWORKS Northwest Georgia plan to expand the program to several additional counties, continuing to engage local manufacturers and train incarcerated or formerly incarcerated individuals for essential manufacturing, transportation and warehousing positions.

For more information or questions about Project Purpose — Justice-Impacted to Manufacturing Pathway, including how to become involved, email GaMEP Northwest Georgia Region Manager John Zegers at john.zegers@innovate.gatech.edu.

The post Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership at Georgia Tech Earns $50,000 Workforce Grant first appeared on Enterprise Innovation Institute.

ATLANTA — Wendy White, food and beverage manager with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP), was just elected to the executive board of the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) as its secretary.

Every year, two prominent members of the organization are chosen from one of three rotating categories — academia, government, and industry — to run for secretary. All group members are eligible to vote, and the election winner joins the IAFP’s executive board for five years, moving in order through its five positions: secretary, vice president, president elect, president, and past president.

Considered one of the world’s most influential food safety organizations, the IAFP was founded in 1911 to facilitate the professional exchange of information regarding protecting the food supply. Its membership numbers in the thousands and spans 50 nations.

“I’ve been a member of this organization since I was a student,” said White, who has been with GaMEP, a program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, since 2019. “This honor is incredibly special.”

White’s passion for food safety revealed itself when she was earning her B.S. in biology at the University of Georgia.

“I had an epiphany sitting in a microbiology course. The professor spent two weeks on food safety, and I knew wanted to do something with public health. As a subset of public health, food safety is all about preventing illness and injury. That really resonated with me,” she recalled.

“I told my professor, ‘I’d love to learn more about this,’ and he said, ‘Well, you should go two buildings down, because the food science building is right there.’”

White did exactly that, and after completing an M.S. in food science and technology, she spent 17 years in Georgia’s food and beverage manufacturing industry — including a stint as the global director of food safety for an international company — before joining GaMEP to kick-start the group’s food-focused services.

That new programming represents a significant development for GaMEP’s client base. Per the Georgia Department of Economic Development, as of the first quarter of 2024, the state was home to 1,475 food and beverage companies, collectively employing 78,630 people and creating $1.2 billion in income.

“Food/agriculture is the largest manufacturing sector in Georgia, so there was a need for offerings in that area,” said White. “I’ve spent the last six years expanding and developing a suite of services, training, and events geared specifically towards that industry.”

Given the versatility of her expertise, it’s no surprise that the range of positions White has held within IAFP is extensive.

She began her membership as an inaugural member of the group’s Student Professional Development Group (PDG), and over the course of 25 years, she’s organized 15 sessions and presented at seven of them. Later, to support the generation coming up behind her, she spearheaded the Developing Food Safety Practitioners PDG, acting as vice chair and chair from 2012 to 2016.

In addition to being involved in the IAFP Student Mentor Program for the past several years, she also mentors Georgia Tech students on an informal basis.

Philanthropy has always been important to White, and while serving as vice chair of the IAFP Foundation Committee for the past five years, she has helped run scholarship competitions and also helped create grants that reduce annual meeting registration fees for members in need of assistance.

White previously served as vice chair and chair of the IAFP’s Meat and Poultry PDG from 2016 to 2020, becoming IAFP’s Affiliate Council Secretary in 2020. In this role, she became a member of the IAFP Executive Board as Affiliate Council Chairperson for 2021-2022.

And, in 2011, she received the IAFP President’s Recognition Award.

Indeed, White has had no shortage of recognition from her peers in a field that, when navigated successfully, renders itself invisible. “That is definitely one of the challenges of this career choice,” she said. “When everything is perfect, absolutely nothing happens.”

She will take up her post as IAPF secretary following the organization’s 2025 membership meeting, scheduled to be held this July in Cleveland, Ohio.

The post GaMEP’s Wendy White Named International Association of Food Protection Secretary first appeared on Enterprise Innovation Institute.

Talk about your position. What does it entail?

Alfred Gardner:  I’m a HR consultant with GaMEP. We work with more than 1,000 manufacturers each year to implement onsite projects, conduct training, and connect manufacturers to Georgia Tech resources and our partners throughout the state. My role is to help them be more effective with human resources. I’ve been with GaMEP since March 2023, and I’m still building out HR services and tailoring them to fit the individual clients’ needs.

How did your career evolve in this direction?

I spent 30 years at manufacturing plants as small as 150 and as large as 1,100-1,200 hourly employees. In addition to facilitating human resources at the manufacturing plant level, my experience in human resources extends to divisional/corporate level HR and international organizational development responsibilities in the Middle East, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and Canada. I also spent about four years in production operations prior to entering the field of human resources, which really helped me to be more relatable to managers when they had issues.

People come from all over the country to work in Georgia. What are some of the HR practices in this state that might differ from what people have experienced elsewhere in the U.S.?

A lot of HR practices are pretty much consistent. Where you find differences is in state-specific employment laws.

For instance, when I was in North Carolina back in the mid 90s, they had parental involvement leave law that required employers to give employees 4 hours per year leave to any employee who is a parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis of a school-aged child so the employee could be involved at the child’s school. The leave was not required to be paid. Not all states have parental involvement leave laws.

Now that we’re getting more into what I would call well-being, or work-life balance, you find more companies offering that kind of leave on their own, and you find some states venturing in that direction. The laws give you the mandate, and it’s up to companies if they want to go beyond the mandate.

What are some of the characteristics of an effective HR team?

To really be successful within an organization, you first have to be what I call a strategic business partner. It’s making sure that the services human resources are providing is aligned with and a conduit for the business achieving their mission, vision, and strategic objectives. You are providing tools to help employees be more effective, which in turn helps the organization meet their goals.

The most effective soft skill HR as well as other leaders in an organization can have is empathy. It’s not enough to sense other people’s emotion, you have to acknowledge what people are feeling and why. Displaying empathy doesn’t mean you agree with the feeling, it means you are listening. Empathy creates trust and encourages employees to open up and feel comfortable interacting with you. Without trust, it’s difficult for leaders to lead and organize people for success.

There’s a class that I facilitate as part of our leadership development series called Building and Sustaining Trust. I always tell the class the greatest compliment that I ever had was when I was at a plant and this employee had made a workers’ compensation claim.

We did everything that we could, but the insurance carrier said, “There’s not enough evidence to support that the injury actually happened at work.”

The employee and I did not see eye to eye on the decision not to accept the claim, but we at the company did all we could in the investigation. When I got an opportunity to go work elsewhere, this employee found out about it, and he actually took the time to find out where I was and called me.

He said, “I want to congratulate you on your new opportunity. I know we didn’t always see eye to eye, but I always felt like you were acting as a neutral party and not just in the company’s interest.” Empathy builds trust, and people know when it is real.

How can employees tell when HR is doing a good job?

Human resources is bigger than the HR department; the entire leadership team is responsible for human resources. Every leader, directly and/or indirectly, has an impact on human resources in some aspect. When organizations talk about what they can do to better retain employees, you can’t overlook the impact of the relationship between manager and employee.

HR as a functional department is doing a good job when they are providing services, guidance, and tools to help managers become better leaders, while at the same time also providing services and tools aiding the growth and development of employees within the company.

If HR has built a good framework that allows for transparent, open communication between employees and the leadership group, has a proactive approach to compliance, and takes ownership in fostering a positive workplace culture, you see high employee engagement and more favorable business results. That’s when you know HR is becoming a better, more effective strategic business partner.

People should feel free to express their concerns. Or, for those don’t feel comfortable expressing them face to face, you provide a means — whether it’s through climate surveys or something similar — for people to anonymously share their thoughts. You also need to make sure you’re providing data to leadership so they can act on improving and/or enhancing the environment, if warranted.

What are some of the misconceptions employees have about HR?

The biggest misconception is that HR is only there for people problems, hiring and firing, and compliance. While HR is and should be what I call the conscience of the organization; equally, if not more importantly, employees and management need to be able to view HR as an unbiased strategic partner.

HR provides one of the first interactions that employees have with a company. What kinds of things can they discern about the company from that interaction?

I truly believe that the first impression is a lasting impression, so from a human resources standpoint, you really have to live the values that your company professes. Companies have their values posted on the wall, but are they really living them and practicing them? HR is the first chance for a candidate to find that out.

That first impression lingers on, and if it’s a negative one, it can be hard to get past it.

What are some of the ways that HR can support employees throughout the course of their employment?

In the beginning of the employment life cycle, an employee has a lot of direct interaction with HR. But later on, most of their interaction with HR becomes indirect. They may not interact with HR until it’s time to enroll in benefits or go through the performance review process.

HR needs to evaluate how effective they are at providing services that support employees, such as health and wellness, safety, professional development, and career progression, just to name a few.

In your consultancy role, are there particular challenges that you see more frequently in certain types of manufacturing work, or do they tend to be more or less the same across the different sectors?

The clients that we deal with at GaMEP tend to have the same issues as larger organizations. When those clients are asking for guidance, I always try to understand where they are in terms of what I call their HR maturity.

A lot of companies look at human resources as just compliance, hiring, and firing. They know they’ve got to follow laws and pay people on time. That base-level compliance is the first level of HR maturity.

The next level is the service level. Josh Bersin is a highly regarded HR analyst and researcher, and he states that this is where an organization’s HR function focuses on delivering efficient and standardized HR services, typically characterized by centralized processes, clear service delivery standards, and a focus on cost-effective operations — but still primarily focused on transactional tasks.

The third level is strategic partnering. My goal is to aid a client in becoming a strategic HR organization.

You’re not only doing compliance and providing services that add value, but you are also a strategic partner to the organization. I say to clients, “Let’s find out where those gaps in best practices are, so we can get you to that level.”

I have worked in several different locations, and there’s never been a situation where I walked in and did the exact same thing in one company that I did at another company. It is always a customized service. Even within companies with multiple locations, different locations have their own different culture.

A lot of people ask, “What does it take for me to be employer of choice?” And I say, “Well, it depends. Tell me why someone would want to come work for you.” If they can’t do that, then they are not ready to be an employer of choice.

It doesn’t matter what the HR topic is — people are welcome to reach out to me about anything. If I do not have the expertise, I can help guide them in the right direction. Ultimately, my role with GaMEP is to provide services that are tailored to fit a client’s specific HR needs.

For HR consulting assistance, contact Alfred at alfred.gardner@innovate.gatech.edu.

The post EI2 Asks: What Does an HR Consultant Do? first appeared on Enterprise Innovation Institute.

When Betty Wurzel joined the 2024 Sustainability Cohort, offered by the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech, she wasn’t expecting to have a “game-changing realization.”

But that’s exactly what happened after Wurzel — the compliance coordinator at Piolax, a supplier of plastic and metal fastening products — was encouraged by her supervisor to enroll in the yearlong program, which is funded by an EPA P2 grant.

Cohort Overview

With its focus on eliminating, preventing, or reducing pollution from the source, the Sustainability Cohort allows manufacturing executives like Wurzel to explore, develop, and implement strategies that result in cost savings and reduced environmental pollution.

The current cohort wrapped up in August, and at a recent graduation ceremony for participants, Sandra Enciso, a project manager with GaMEP’s energy and sustainability group, recapped the curriculum.

Over the course of 12 months, cohort members attended six in-person meetings, received an equal number of personalized coaching sessions, and participated in two onsite assessments — one of which led to Wurzel’s big revelation.

Piolax’s Success

With the help of GaMEP’s Energy and Sustainability team, Piolax established a company-wide carbon footprint and established a data collection and analysis program on various manufacturing components.

“We found that our chiller system is actually consuming 60% of our electricity,” said Wurzel. “We thought it was the 125 air conditioners. No, it was the chilling system.”

By adjusting the temperature on the chillers, Piolax was able to save more than $49,000 a year while reducing more than 320,000 kWh of electricity per year. Once Wurzel’s colleagues realized how simple the fix was to achieve environmental improvements, they found themselves motivated to get even more involved in sustainability efforts.

GEMÜ North America’s Experience

Wurzel’s fellow cohort members were similarly inspired. Although the participating companies produce a wide range of goods, participants learned that many of the sustainability principles they encountered were transferrable, and they shared their takeaways at the graduation event.

Giovana Bosquiroli is head of quality and management systems at GEMÜ North America, a German manufacturer that prides itself on innovation and sustainability. As she put it, “Sustainability is not something that we can isolate. It’s about behavior. It’s about practices, regardless of the business.”

Advice for Potential Participants

Bosquiroli’s colleague Suzana Mueller, GEMÜ’s head of strategy, sustainability, and corporate development, joined her as a cohort member.

Said Mueller, “If you’re trying to develop a whole sustainability program for a company, [this sustainability cohort program] gives you a road map on how to start it. For companies that still haven’t done it, and would like to consider this, it’s a tremendous opportunity. The level of expertise that you have here, if you were to go for a consultancy, would be extremely costly.”

Mueller was not the only one who would recommend the course to future participants; unsurprisingly, Wurzel is a fan, too. “It’s definitely worth getting involved and meeting the other people who are in the same boat as you’re in,” Wurzel said. “I learned so much.”

The Next Cohort

The next Sustainability Cohort begins in March 2025. For more information, including details on how to join, visit gamep.org/sustainability-cohort.

The post Cohort Program Helps Manufacturers Reach Sustainability Goals first appeared on Enterprise Innovation Institute.

Brandy Nagel called it “the dream team.”

Nagel, a program manager with EI² Global, was referring to her collaboration with the Advanced Technology Development Center’s (ATDC) community engagement manager, Aubrey Lenyard, and two members of Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s (GaMEP) food safety team: industry manager Wendy White and project manager Andrea Hines.

The four colleagues at Georgia Tech’s Innovation Enterprise Institute (EI²), the nation’s longest running, most diverse university-based socioeconomic development organization, have pooled their knowledge — not to mention their enthusiasm — to launch a new program: the Georgia Tech Food and Beverage Accelerator.

The project evolved out of a Food Safety and Entrepreneurship program that White and Nagel had proposed to the USDA in 2022. When Aubrey Lenyard, who joined the group as outreach manager, identified a gap in the market and a need for additional training, he and Nagel decided to fill it.

“We talked to people who have ideas they want to turn into businesses, people who have businesses that are struggling,” Nagel said of the impetus for creating the program. “They just needed a little more information to help them move forward, so we drafted a curriculum for a 4 to 6-month program.”

The food and beverage sector is an important part of the Georgia economy. According to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, as of the first quarter of 2024, there were 1,475 food and beverage companies in the state, employing 78,630 Georgians and generating $1.2 billion in income statewide. One of the program’s overarching intentions is to reach farmers and food and beverage entrepreneurs who are often underrepresented in similar programs.

Said Nagel, “We know that we want to focus on Black-owned and women-owned businesses, on the refugee community in Clarkston, on people in rural communities. We want to focus on people in Georgia who often don’t have access to these kinds of classes and programs.”

Lenyard and Nagel lead the program as co-directors, with the former’s role leaning more towards operations (including sponsorships and partnerships) and the latter toward curriculum planning and implementation. White and Hines serve as food safety advisors. “With some companies, what’s holding them back is that they don’t know how to create a safe product, and that is a critical part of being a successful food or beverage entrepreneur,” Nagel said.

The program was designed to support people at a range of stages in their entrepreneurial journey: those with an idea for a food product, food entrepreneurs with a ready-to-ship product, business owners aiming to increase food product sales, and those working on AgTech, food tech, and related technologies, including packaging and logistics. (Currently the program does not accommodate businesses focused on alcohol or CBD-related products.)

Food tech encompasses multiple areas — food safety, technology, packaging, and logistics — and in the interest of being comprehensive, the Food and Beverage Accelerator addresses all of them. “I’m not sure that a lot of programs do that,” Nagel said. “All of these people can learn from each other, and Georgia Tech has the capacity to help all of them.”

Lenyard in particular has a wealth of hands-on experience in bringing foods product to market. He founded the premium condiment line AubSauce in 2018, and since then his four flavors of barbecue sauce have been lauded by local and national press, including Food & Wine magazine.

AubSauce has won multiple awards, among them the 2019 People’s Choice Award at the Flavor of Georgia food product contest. It’s also currently in the running for Georgia Business Journal’s “Best of Georgia” accolade. Lenyard’s sauces have even made it into the Williams-Sonoma stores.

His success was no accident and, in fact, had everything to do with ATDC, where he started work in 2015. “I felt like the place was magical,” said Lenyard. “I was surrounded by all these creative people. I had been an entrepreneur before, and I wanted to put some of ATDC’s customer discovery methods into practice.”

Lenyard often brought his barbecue sauce into the office to do exactly that. “I would have any and everybody who wanted to taste it tell me what they liked — if it was too hot, what should the name be, everything down to the packaging.” He ended up funding the company through a Kickstarter campaign that raised $5000 in 24 hours; he promptly doubled that amount and AubSauce was born.

According to Janice Maxwell, Lenyard’s experience is right in line with the mission of the Enterprise Innovation Institute. Maxwell, who is the organization’s director of strategic initiatives and chief of staff, approved the Food and Beverage Accelerator idea when Lenyard and Nagel pitched the concept.

“EI² fosters a culture dedicated to innovation at every level, providing meaningful work and allowing our employees to pursue their passions. This not only increases our capacity but also makes EI² a truly wonderful place to work,” Maxwell said.

Nagel’s own expertise is similarly highlighted by the Food and Beverage Accelerator.

“I am a total nerd for curriculum and pedagogy and thinking about how adult learners and business owners absorb information,” she said, noting that the course is designed to engage participants from day one; one idea is to present a Golden Spoon to whoever has made the most progress in any given month.

“We really want it to be a supportive program. If Aubrey and I just showed up and said, ‘Here’s the 12 things you need to know, go for it,’ that would not be enough,” Nagel continued.

“Because food is such a human need, these entrepreneurs are often filled with a passion for doing something important for society. They are also often doing something that’s related to their heritage, so they’re pulling their great-grandmother’s recipe into modern times. Or there’s something that they enjoyed as a child at a festival or a family event that they want to share with the world. You’ve got to respect that part of the person as you’re teaching them about financial literacy or licensing and certification requirements.”

As for Lenyard, he is dedicated to identifying good industry partners for the Food and Beverage Accelerator — not only for branding and sponsorships, but as educational collaborators. “We’re looking for them to come in and be the experts in the field and to provide mentorship,” he said.

The co-directors have big plans for their program. “A lot of my work is international,” said Nagel. “In April of this year we took the food safety and entrepreneurship program to Medellín, Colombia, for a brief 4-hour taster, and it was well received.”

“My vision for this program is to see it scale internationally,” she continued. “We will help Georgia founders succeed and then see how we can take those lessons to other parts of the world.”

There are 20 slots available for the first Georgia cohort, which begins in January 2025. The application period closes November 1, 2024. Click HERE to access the application.

The post Colleagues Collaborate Across Programs to Create Food and Beverage Accelerator first appeared on Enterprise Innovation Institute.