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David Ratcliffe and Mike Garrett, two highly respected executives with Valdosta and South Georgia ties, will be stepping down as leaders of two of the largest power companies in the nation by yearend.
David Ratcliffe, who was born in Tifton and who received his bachelor of science in biology from Valdosta State in 1970, will retire as president of the Southern Company on Dec. 1. Southern is the parent company of Georgia Power.
His mother was the late Mary Francis Moore, who was born on the edge of Lanier and Lowndes counties in the Good Hope Community near Naylor. David’s father, Jack, worked at the University of Georgia Experiment Station in Tifton. His brother, Tom, is an attorney in Hinesville where he served as mayor. Most of his mother’s family still lives in Clinch, Lanier, Berrien and Tift counties.
David took over Southern in 2004 after five years as CEO of Georgia Power. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in July that under his leadership “the company began a period of unprecedented capital expansion.
It invested in environmental controls on its plants, in its transmission system and — most notably — in expanding the company’s nuclear capacity.” The nuclear plant in Baxley will bring this country’s first new reactors online in 2016 and 2017 since the disaster at Three Mile Island 30 years ago.
Michael Garrett, president of Georgia Power, will retire at the end of the year. Mike worked as a district superintendent with Georgia Power in Valdosta where he proudly held Valdosta Wildcat season tickets, he told The Times in an interview during a visit here. He also hails from South Georgia as a native son of McRae.
Georgia Trend magazine named him its “Most Respected Business Leader” for 2009 and “CEO of the Year” for 2010 by the Atlanta Business League.
Both men’s successors are company executives. Southern and GPC have strong management teams or as one observer said that I read, “they keep a strong bench.”
David Ratcliffe and Mike Garrett are leaving a very successful legacy.
We in South Georgia can be very proud of these native sons.
Sandy Sanders
South Georgia roots run deep for these execs
- Sandy Sanders
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Think before you answer
I got an email this week where a writer of an online column tells the story of a young child in Sunday School. The writer says the little boy’s teacher asked his class ‘What’s the animal with a long, bushy tail that lives in trees?’ One child quickly answers while probably thinking about the usual answer to questions in his church Sunday School, ‘Jesus. Though it sure sounds like a squirrel to me.’
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Forgiveness, redemption go together
The news story on Friday read: “WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to censure once-powerful New York Rep. Charles Rangel for multiple ethical misdeeds — the first time in nearly three decades that House members have publicly rebuked a colleague.
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South Georgia roots run deep for these execs
David Ratcliffe and Mike Garrett, two highly respected executives with Valdosta and South Georgia ties, will be stepping down as leaders of two of the largest power companies in the nation by yearend.
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VDT ready with all-new digital edition
You can now go to the home page of our website (www.valdostadailytimes.com) and click on the link for our digital e-edition. You can sign up for a seven-day trial or, if you currently subscribe to the print edition, we will be glad to add the e-edition just by calling our office for details.
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We are losing our children and we are blaming ‘others’
Extinction! There are public outcries to save animals, bugs and reptiles while our own children are being lost to a new world order. In the past two weeks, I have seen two students, one high school, one middle school, with their parents blessing bring to the public area all the details of their student-teacher antics. Each student had been suspended from school and one was making his way to court.
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Do we want tax or football braggin’ rights?
A drop in our property digest seems evident and to maintain we will need a tax increase. We can recruit higher-paying jobs to the county and get more taxes that way but is that practical thinking for a quick adjustment in this economy?
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Blazer Zone moving into Drexel Park
Next Saturday, Blazer fan families will have a great opportunity for some pre-game tailgating fun. The university is turning Drexel Park into a mini carnival so families can spread out to enjoy an afternoon under the trees, as they get ready for the Blazers’ season opener.
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Maggots with your steak
Today, with online journalism on newspaper websites, readers are able to go online, read the story, post a comment and, within minutes, their comment (thread) is answered by another reader. The bantering can follow a positive line or it can quickly move to having all the attributes of a barroom brawl.
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Why do some children live in abusive houses?
As I have written many times in this column, I grew up in a small town. My father worked at Moody Air Force Base for 30 years and as he would recollect while laughing, “I ate a fried egg sandwich for lunch every day of those 30 years.”
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Turning 18 before the election board
When I turned 18 my father took me down to the courthouse one evening to go before the Board of Registrars so I could be qualified to vote. I was called into the room before three men. I remember being nervous. They asked me questions about residency and being an American before I was given their stamp of approval.
- More Sandy Sanders Headlines
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Think before you answer
