Georgia Trend, the only statewide business publication in the market, is published once a month with two extra issues (Business Georgia and Small Business Guide) each year, delivered to more than 55,000 subscribers. With columns by Neely Young and Tom Crawford revealing the inside track on state politics, and with 3.3 readers per copy, Georgia Trend has become indispensible to the state's movers and shakers, a tradition that has been carried on for more than 20 years.
Recent investments in GeorgiaTrend.com have created an equally valuable resource, incorporating not only the full contents of each new issue, but an archive of issues going back to September 2003.
Georgia Trend has won numerous national and regional awards for journalistic excellence, including the prestigious Green Eyeshade Award, received in 2007 for the Energy In Georgia series written by Senior Writer Jerry Grillo.
Mission
Georgia Trend's editorial mission is simple. With every issue we strive to:
- Offer balanced analysis of business and political trends around the state.
- Paint an accurate portrait of economic development at the local level.
- Create a forum for state and local leaders to voice their opinions on critical issues.
- Spotlight individuals making a positive impact on Georgia.
We adhere to the highest practices of business journalism; all editorial content is prepared independently of advertising sales.
History
20 Years of Georgia Trend
Originally Published September 2005 (20th Anniversary Issue)
By Susan Percy, Editor
Joe Frank Harris was governor of Georgia, Andrew Young was mayor of Atlanta and Ronald Reagan lived in the White House in September 1985 when Georgia Trend made its debut as "The Magazine of Georgia Business and Finance" under the aegis of The St. Petersburg Times Corporation, headed by former Atlanta Constitution Editor Gene Patterson.
At that time, the state's textile industry was still viable, and Atlanta's traffic was still manageable. Macon and Perry were vying for a $32-million Agricultural Exposition Center - Perry won; Home Depot was on a roll with 40 stores - now it's more like 1,800. The Braves were still waiting for their pivotal "worst to first" season, and folks were still buzzing about the New Coke flap. Prime commercial space in Buckhead was going for $20 a square foot, and the word "yuppie" hadn't yet worn out its welcome. The banking industry was on the verge of major upheaval, and Ted Turner was about to make a big Hollywood move.
The very first Georgia Trend ran a cover photograph of Georgia Power's Plant Vogtle with what turned out to be a not-so-prophetic coverline, "The Humbling Of Georgia Power." Other stories looked at Atlantic Steel and its "gamble for survival" and Macon's Charter Medical Corporation, then the state's fastest-growing health care company. A report on the burgeoning Buckhead night life scene noted the success of Studebaker's, a disco featuring music from the '50s and '60s, with waitresses dressed in cheerleading outfits.
One of Atlanta's pioneering dining critics, the late Bill Cutler, wrote about Roswell's Lickskillet Farms, Gene & Gabe's The Lodge and the Public House. Founding Editor Otis White's column spelled out "Why Having 159 Counties Makes No Sense."
An ad indicated that a "chamy sport coat" from the venerable Muse's clothing store was available in tan, blue, light grey, navy, black, maroon or green, for $345. Another offered a 12-acre estate in Macon on the Ocmulgee River for $395,000.
During its first year of publication, Georgia Trend wrote that Augusta and Richmond County were "flirting with annexation," that J.B. Fuqua bought Georgia Federal Bank for $220 million, and that Columbus's American Family Company - better known now as AFLAC - was looking ahead to life after Chairman and CEO John Amos.
One story reported that Savannah had passed Charleston as a leading container port; another, on foreign investment, noted that "Georgia's weak public schools are a material concern to foreign-owned firms." The first Economic Yearbook in April 1986 charted the course of the economy in "The Two Georgias." Other stories noted that tort reform had failed in the legislature, that North Georgia was home to a fledgling wine industry, that Gwinnett County experienced a 50 percent jump in population over the first half of the 1980s, and that Vidalia onions were being advertised in the New Yorker.
Ownership And Emphasis The St. Petersburg Times sold Georgia Trend in 1991 to longtime Georgia newspaperman Millard Grimes' Grimes Publications; and Grimes became editor and publisher. The following year he sold the magazine to businessman Virgil Williams, then bought it back in April 1994 and published it until January 1999, when he sold it to current publisher and editor in chief Neely Young and his business partner Tom Cousins.
The cover tagline changed in 1989 to become "The Magazine of Georgia Business" and again in 1992 to become "The Magazine of Georgia Business and Politics Since 1985," which it remains.
In its early years, the magazine covered banking and finance heavily: De-regulation meant there was a lot to cover. During Williams' tenure as owner, he bought out Georgia Trend's chief competitor, Business Atlanta, and expanded coverage of public policy issues.
Under Grimes' ownership, the magazine became more interested in history as well as politics and broadened its coverage of areas outside Georgia's cities. This was also the period when the magazine added some of its signature features, such as "The Most Influential Georgians," "Georgian Of The Year," and "40 Under 40."
Under Young's ownership, Georgia Trend increased its coverage of statewide issues like water and air quality, transportation policy and quality growth and intensified its coverage of economic development activity throughout the state. The magazine began its regular February "Cities of Excellence" feature, now "Trendsetter Cities," in cooperation with the Georgia Municipal Association. The annual Excellence in Public Service Awards competition, co-sponsored with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, were inaugurated in 2003. The magazine also published its first "Legal Elite" list in 2003.
Georgia Trend has won national awards from the Alliance of Area Business Publications and regional awards from the Magazine Association of the Southeast, formerly the Magazine Association of Georgia.
Covering Georgia After the September 1985 inaugural issue, the next three covers bore illustrations or photo illustrations. The first cover portrait, in January 1986, was that of Al Dunlop, then CEO of Lily-Tulip, whom the magazine dubbed, "The Toughest Boss in Georgia." Dunlop would eventually leave the state and go on to head Scott Paper Co. and Sunbeam, earning the nickname "Chainsaw Al."
The first woman to appear on the cover, in July 1988, was Vivien Leigh in full Scarlett O'Hara mode, also chosen for toughness. ("The Toughest Boss in Georgia ... Ever"). Leigh wasn't the only movie star to make the cover: Kim Basinger showed up in March 1994 ("Kim's Busted Braselton Dream"); Jimmy Stewart and some of his cast-mates from the classic "It's A Wonderful Life" graced the December 1991 cover ("Can S&Ls Survive On Dollars They Have Left?").
All-type or mostly-type covers were popular in the first few years of Georgia Trend, including February 1987's "Power and Influence in Georgia: Who's Got It, How They Got It, Who Will Have It Next?"
The late Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson ("The World According To Maynard Jackson") was the first African-American cover subject, in August 1987. The first bare-shouldered cover subject - and the first athlete - was Evander Holyfield ("A Boxer And His Money") in December 1989.
H. Ross Johnson ("Why He Did It: Why He Failed"), onetime RJR-Nabisco CEO, was the first - and so far the only - Georgia Trend cover subject to be photographed holding a lighted cigarette, in February 1989. (The April 1989 issue carried a reader's disapproving letter.)
A single golf ball ( "The Corporate Game") served as the cover image in May 1987; but the most unusual Georgia Trend cover subject to date was a lone blue Viagra ("The Potency Pill ? Has It Kept Its Promises?") that showed up in November 1998.
The first fine art cover in July 2003 showed detail from a painting by Georgia artist Thomas Arvid for a story on the state's wine industry. Steve Penley painted portraits of Griffin Bell for July 2004 and Johnny Isakson for January 2005.
Over the past 20 years, four Georgians have each appeared on the cover three separte times: former Gov. and Sen. Zell Miller (January 1991, December 1993 and January 1999); Tom Cousins (March 1990, February 1993 and June 1995 - all prior to his ownership); the late Roberto Goizueta (March 1986, July 1990 and May 1998); Synovus' Jim Blanchard (October 1993, May 1997 and January 2003) and former Sen. Sam Nunn (June 1993, November 1997 and March 2002).
Nine individuals have been on Georgia Trend's cover twice: Ted Turner, Billy Payne, former Gov. Carl Sanders, John Portman, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Arthur Blank, Jimmy Tallent, A. W. "Bill" Dahlberg, former Gov. Roy Barnes, and Emory University President James Wagner - once alone and once with four fellow college presidents.
Top Georgians The first Georgian of the Year, named in January 1992, was Braves General Manager John Schuerholz. Subsequent selections were Zell Miller, 1993; Bill Dahlberg, 1994; Newt Gingrich, 1995; Lewis Jordan, 1996; Billy Payne, 1997; Ben Carter, 1998; Zell Miller again, 1999; Roy Barnes, 2000 (even though he was featured on the December 1999 cover); Harold Reheis, 2001; Roy Barnes again, 2002; Jim Blanchard, 2003; Bill Jones III, 2004 and Sen. Johnny Isakson, 2005.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was named Most Influential Georgian of the Century in the January 2000 issue, which also included the magazine's listing of the most influential Georgians of the 20th Century.
Georgia Trend's first "Most Respected CEO" selection was John Clendenin, named in 1994 after the magazine acquired Business Atlanta magazine, which had initiated the feature and had previously honored Truett Cathy, 1990; Ron Allen, 1991; Bernard Marcus, 1992; and Ted Turner, 1993.
Subsequent Georgia Trend "Most Respected CEO" selections were Tom Cousins, 1995; Bill Dahlberg, 1996; Jim Blanchard, 1997; Roberto Goizueta, 1998; Roy Richards, Jr. 1999; Arthur Blank, 2000; Lindsay Thomas, 2001; Allen Franklin, 2002; Arthur Blank again, 2003; Kim King, 2004; and Phil Jacobs, 2005.
The first group of Georgia Trend's 40 Under 40 was named in September 1997, citing rising stars in business and government that included Charles Brewer, Sally Yates and Eric Tanenblatt.
