Misti Martin of Cherokee Office of Economic Development Receives Award for Professional Excellence

Misti Martin, CEcD, IOM, President of the Cherokee Office of Economic Development, was named the 2020 recipient of the Rip Wiley Award for Professional Excellence by the Georgia Economic Developers Association (GEDA) at its Annual Awards luncheon yesterday. Martin is being recognized for her professionalism, integrity, leadership, commitment and contributions to the profession. This award is the highest honor bestowed by GEDA on a professional economic developer.

Misti Martin is a native of Georgia and has been in the Chamber and Economic Development field for over 25 years. She has served as the President of the Cherokee Office of Economic Development since 2004. Misti served previously as the President & CEO of the Covington-Newton County Chamber of Commerce from 1998-2004. Prior to that, Martin worked for the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of

Georgia as well as at the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce & Development Authority.

Misti has held numerous positions on state boards for Chamber and Economic Development organizations, serving as Chair of GEDA in 2012. She earned her Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) designation from the International Economic Development Council in 2000 and has also been featured as one of Georgia Trend Magazine’s “40 Under 40” and as a “Notable Georgian.” Martin was recognized as one of the “Top 50 Economic Developers in North America” in 2016 and currently serves as co-chair of the Atlanta Regional Marketing Alliance. Most recently, Martin worked to bring a new program to Georgia that will encourage talent-recruitment into the professions not requiring college degrees, the Be Pro Be Proud Georgia initiative.

A graduate of the University of Georgia, Misti also earned an MBA from Troy University. She is also a graduate of University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute (EDI) as well as the Institute for Organization Management (IOM) at the University of Georgia.

Martin received the award at the Monday luncheon from Bert Brantley, Deputy Chief of Staff for Governmental Affairs at the Office of Governor Brian P. Kemp. Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan also addressed event attendees and congratulated all the winners. Nearly 100 economic developers from around the state attended the ceremony in-person and another thirty attended virtually.