January’s Georgia Trend focuses on Rome/Floyd (‘Manufacturing, tourism and bustling downtown’) and the state’s 100 most influential people including Gretchen Corbin

The January edition of Georgia Trend has a strong Northwest Georgia taste to it.

An expanded article by Randy Southerland profiles ‘Rome | Floyd County: Reinvestments and Opportunities. Manufacturing, tourism and a bustling downtown.’ The article, featuring Greater Rome Chamber Chair Jimmy Byars and president/CEO Al Hodge in front of the DeSoto Theatre, opens with the Bekaert fire aftermath and walks readers through a series of developments powering the community’s recovery from the recession. It touches on the tennis center, Confluence, continuing changes in downtown Rome and what’s happening in Cave Spring. Read it at Rome/Floyd

Also this month, the business magazine salutes ‘The 100 Most Influential Georgians’ (click 100). Among those honored is Rome’s Gretchen Corbin, 44, the commissioner of the Technical College System of Georgia. According to her profile: “Corbin is completing her first year as the fourth commissioner of the 22-college TCSG, which plays a key role in the state’s economic and workforce development. In 2015, the TCSG opened the $14-million BioScience Training Center in Newton County, provided $10 million in grants to help establish three new college and career academies in the state, and announced an executive director for the new Georgia Film Academy.” Corbin has held several key posts in the Nathan Deal administration.