VALDOSTA — Kindall Keyek grew up in Orlando, Fla., and spent a fair amount of time around amusement parks.

Keyek’s dream job is to work for Disney World, but while she attends college at Valdosta State University, she is working at Valdosta’s second largest employer: Wild Adventures Theme Park.

The theme park employs roughly 900-1,000 people throughout the year, according to the Valdosta Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce.

The SunLight Project team — representing newspapers in Valdosta, Thomasville, Moultrie, Dalton, Tifton, Milledgeville, Ga., and Live Oak, Fla. — took a look at a few of the largest private sector employers in each of the paper’s coverage areas. 

While public entities, such as hospitals, universities and school systems, are the largest employers in many areas, private sector businesses also employ large numbers of people.

Typically arriving an hour and a half before guests, Keyek, an admissions team member, spends her time at Wild Adventures working directly with customers handling complaints, compliments and ensuring the park’s guests have the best possible experience.

Keyek is majoring in psychology at VSU and said her school work helps with her job performance.

“Sometimes people are upset, and knowing the things I know from school about how to calm people down and how to talk to people, it really helps with this job,” she said.

Before Keyek worked for a large employer, she worked for a daycare center and did odd jobs such as mowing grass. Now, Keyek said she loves her job and plans to work at Wild Adventures at least until she graduates from college.

“I think that Wild Adventures does a good job employing a lot of people as well as taking care of the individual employee,” she said. “Working in a preschool setting you’re working with children one-on-one, but here, it’s still one-on-one, but it’s a shorter time, so the memories count more. Your first impression matters more.”

Wild Adventures began as Liberty Farms Animal Park, a petting zoo, in the 1990s and was purchased by Herschend Family Entertainment in 2007, said Molly Deese, vice president and general manager of the park.

Because of the park’s size and wide range of jobs, it spends about $6 million on payroll each year, she said.

Wild Adventures continues to evolve and has grown into the area’s premier entertainment attraction, Deese said. 

“As we look to the future, we will continue to provide a place where families come to make memories worth repeating, and we are incredibly excited about the growth and changes on the horizon,” she said. 

Kaitlyn Redish, communications director, and Betty Morgan, vice president of business development, both of the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce, said larger employers are important to the overall health of the business community. 

Redish said a community benefits from a large employer because it creates stability and attracts residents from other cities and towns.

“(Large employers are) likely going to bring people in,” Redish said. “It’s not only going to bring consumers in but bring in people to work.

“Sometimes we say small business is the backbone of our community, but that does not mean we should discount our larger businesses. We are glad to have them and we need to have them.” 

Manufacturers  

Manufacturers are often some of the largest private employers in a community. The SunLight report shows a majority of top employers are manufacturers of some kind.

Four of Whitfield County’s top five private employers are manufacturers. They include Shaw Industries with 6,593 employees, Mohawk Industries with 4,100 employees, Engineered Floors/ J+J Flooring with 3,100 employees and the Beaulieu Group with 2,000 employees.

As membership development director for the Milledgeville/Baldwin County Chamber of Commerce, Kara Lassiter recruits new businesses to the chamber and provides resources to existing businesses within the community.

Lassiter said the importance of Baldwin County’s largest employers cannot be overstated.

“When the economy went bad several years ago, a lot of the county’s biggest employers ended up having to shut down,” she said. “Between Central State Hospital and the (indoor appliance manufacturer) Rheem plant drying up, a lot of the focus moved from manufacturing and health care to things like higher education. Our largest employers have done a great job picking up the slack and providing jobs to the community.”

In Colquitt County, the economy is hitting on all cylinders, according to officials, with an unemployment rate more than half a percent better than the state average and new growth throughout the community.

National Beef is one of the largest businesses in the county and it continues to grow. It is in the midst of a $32.5 million expansion. The Moultrie facility is expanding by 40,000 feet.

The meat-processing company is the second-largest private employer in the county. Expansion is expected to increase the local workforce.

When those employees are on board, National Beef will employ about 500 people, some 950 behind Sanderson Farms’ 1,450 workers at its Moultrie chicken-processing facility.

“National Beef should be finished by October,” said Darrell Moore, president of the Colquitt County Economic Development Authority. 

National Beef had previously grown to 450 employees, but its numbers slipped after Walmart did not renew a contract with the company in 2013.

As the second largest employer in Thomas County, Cleaver-Brooks has more than 250 employees, including its Thomasville corporate office.

In 1929, John C. Cleaver started manufacturing small, portable boilers. Cleaver-Brooks was formed in 1931 after Cleaver and Raymond Brooks began manufacturing the world’s first packaged boiler in Thomas County.

Today, the company manufactures boiler room equipment for commercial, institutional and industrial markets.

The company develops hot water and steam-generation products aimed at integrating and optimizing the total boiler/burner/control/stack exhaust systems to maximize energy efficiency and reliability while minimizing emissions.

The 216,000-square-foot Cleaver-Brooks facility in Thomasville consists mainly of aftermarket products, fire tub boilers, electric and electrode boilers and integrated controls.

More than 250 employees, including the ones in the Thomasville manufacturing operation, work in corporate functions, including finance, marketing, executive teams, procurement, human resources and customer service.

“The economic impact of their commitment to Thomas County cannot be understated,” said Shelley Zorn, Thomasville Payroll Development Authority executive director.

“Those payroll dollars are spent in Thomas County daily at other Thomasville businesses. Those payroll dollars benefit us all,”  Zorn said. 

Careers possible at the Thomasville plant include welders and fabricators, drafters and engineers, electrical control technicians and maintenance technicians.

In addition to Thomasville, Cleaver-Brooks operates manufacturing and warehouse facilities in eight locations worldwide — China, Canada, Mexico, and additional U.S. sites in Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Kelley Manufacturing is Tift County’s fifth largest employer with roughly 230 employees.

It builds equipment for “every phase of the farming process,” according to its website.

The company specializes in peanut harvesting, tillage and poultry cleanup equipment.

The Tifton site occupies 28 acres, with a 193,000-square-foot facility.

Heat Craft is the fourth largest employer in Tifton with about 550 employees.

At its 560,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, Heatcraft creates refrigeration products: Coolers, condensing units, condensers and fluid coolers, among others.

Systems range from the size of a briefcase to the size of a school bus.

Triumph Aerospace Engineering, Baldwin County’s top private employer, has roughly 650 employees manufacturing various aircraft parts for government contractors and other buyers from its 650,000-square-foot plant.

Mohawk Industries is the third largest employer in Baldwin County. Its Milledgeville plant employs nearly 300 people. It is a flooring manufacturer. Mohawk Industries is also one of the top employers in Whitfield County.

In Thomas County, other largest employers include manufacturers Hurst Boiler, with about 230 employees; TECT Power at 255 employees; and Oil-Dri, with 250 employees.

Call Centers 

Founded in 1998, Convergys is a third party call center that acts as the first line of customer service for different businesses.

Employees at Convergys act as front line customer service representatives, said Brooke Beiting, senior specialist for communications.

“They take incoming calls from our clients’ clients,” she said. “They help answer questions ranging from billing to adding new services to general questions.”

Prior to April, the Valdosta branch employed around 380 people, but after losing a contract handled by the Valdosta branch, the company sent out a closure warning, Beiting said.

After the contract expired, the Valdosta branch maintained about 120 employees, but many of the employees who left were allowed to interview for work-at-home positions or other positions.

While Convergys won’t be able to bring back all of its former employees, it has confirmed that approximately one-third of the company’s former employees will be returning to work the new contracts, Beiting said.

The business is refreshing its current building to increase the number of people it can employ to about 400.

Before April, Convergys was the fifth biggest employer in Valdosta with 380 employees. With the new contract, Convergys plans to hire more than 200 people by the end of the year to, once again, secure its position as a top employer in Lowndes County.

Elead One/Fresh Beginnings is also a call center in Valdosta. It is the top private sector employer in Lowndes County with approximately 1,582 employees, according to the Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce.

Private Hospitals

In Dalton, the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-20 drove home the need for a local hospital. At the time, the closest hospitals were in Chattanooga, Tenn., about 30 miles to the north.

Crown Cotton Mill, Elk Mills, local physicians and others donated land and money and Hamilton Memorial Hospital, named for Crown Cotton Mill founder George W. Hamilton Sr., was dedicated May 21, 1921 — on National Hospital Day. 

Today, Hamilton Medical Center is a key part of Hamilton Health Care System which employs some 2,500 people.

In addition to Hamilton Medical Center, Hamilton operates several long-term care facilities, an assisted living facility, apartments for low-income senior citizens and Bradley Wellness Center, among other operations.

It has more than 700 unique job descriptions, but nurses make up the largest category of employees.

Nancy Cope has worked at Hamilton Medical Center for almost 13 years. About two years ago, she became a clinical resource nurse at the hospital, responsible for all the education on her ward.

“Right now, I work Monday through Friday, 8 to 5,” she said. “When I started my nursing career, I worked two years on the night shift. I prefer day shift just for my body’s sake. But I really liked the work on the night shift. There was a little more downtime, so you got to spend more time with your patients. It wasn’t as rushed.”

In her current job, she is responsible for new nurse orientation.

“Hamilton has a residency program for new nurses. We (clinical resource nurses) do that. We do monthly education, and we are also out on the floors helping the nurses with patient care, so it’s different every day, which I like,” she said. “Some days I don’t lay a hand on a patient. Other days, that’s all I do.”

She says technology has changed the job somewhat.

“When I first came into nursing, we were still paper charting. Now, it’s pretty much all electronic,” she said. “But the actual care we provide hasn’t changed that much.”

She said the winter months are usually the busiest at the hospital.

“We see a lot of pneumonia patients, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. That’s largely the elderly,” she said. “We also see more pediatric patients because of bronchiolitis and the flu. That’s the season for that. We usually see a drop in the summer, but over the past couple of summers, it doesn’t seem to have dropped as much as it used to.”

Cope said she knew from a young age she wanted to be a nurse.

“My grandfather suffered from emphysema,” she said. “I remember going into the hospital to visit him, and the smile those nurses put on his face. That made me want to do that.”

Turning Point Hospital, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center with 325 employees is the third largest employer in Colquitt County.

This is Part I of a two-part Sunlight Project. Part II can be read in the Tuesday, June 19 editions.

The SunLight Project team consists of reporters Jason A. Smith, Patti Dozier, Charles Oliver, Jessie R. Box, Will Woolever, Alan Mauldin, Stuart Taylor and Thomas Lynn. The SunLight Project is overseen and edited by Jim Zachary and Dean Poling. To contact the SunLight team, email sunlightproject@gaflnews.com.

***BREAK***

PART II

The SunLight Project team — representing newspapers in Valdosta, Thomasville, Moultrie, Dalton, Tifton, Milledgeville, Ga., and Live Oak, Fla. — took a look at a few of the largest private sector employers in each of the papers’ coverage areas. Part I was published June 17.

THOMASVILLE — Tammy Armitage’s day at Flowers Foods involves reviewing dozens of specification sheets, package samples, vinyl display clings and printed proof copies.

She’s a purchasing graphics manager for Flowers Foods, one of the largest producers of fresh packaged bakery foods in the United States and among the largest employers in Thomas County.

After more than 20 years as a marketing coordinator and administrative assistant for Flowers at the company’s corporate office in Thomasville and one of its subsidiary bakeries in Villa Rica, Ga., Armitage moved to the procurement/packaging department, where she’s been for 11 years.

She and her colleague, Emily Hancock, are involved with the development of 90-95 percent of the packaging materials Flowers uses. The packaging for new products or redesigns, and nutrition and ingredient labeling updates all pass through Armitage’s office for her review.

One of her biggest challenges recently has been the new nutrition labels mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2016. The changes, requiring a new design, new callouts and additional scientific data, needed to be designed and implemented across thousands of products made by Flowers — in two years.

“The FDA has extended the deadline to 2020,” Armitage said, “but we’ve already completed about 85 percent of the updates.”

When labeling for allergens or calorie and serving sizes change, Armitage manages the packaging updates. She works with Flowers Foods’ marketing, sales and business units teams for new graphics; the quality assurance team for nutrition and ingredient panels; and the regulatory team to ensure packaging complies with all federal guidelines and organic or kosher certification.

She also works with an external graphics company, individual print shops and other business partners to complete the process, which can take anywhere from four days to four months for each package.

“There are a lot of moving parts on any given project, but I know we have a deadline to hit, and I always work to be sure we meet that package print date,” she said. “At any given time, I probably have 30 projects in the hopper, at various stages of completion.”

Despite juggling so many projects, Armitage said she enjoys the work.

“My job is fun. I look forward to coming to work every day — you never know what the day may bring. I wouldn’t have been here 34 years if I didn’t enjoy it,” she said with a laugh. “I work with a great group of people — I’ve always had a good boss, and our team works well together. We work hard, but we still enjoy what we do and working with each other. What more can you ask?”

Flowers Foods employs more than 500 people in Thomas County — approximately 300 at its corporate office, and another 215 at the Thomasville bakery, which operates as a separate subsidiary. Flowers also provides opportunities through outsourced services and its independent distributor program.

Nationally, the publicly traded company has more than 9,700 employees and 47 bakeries. Its top brands are Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder and Tastykake.

Flowers Foods got its start as the Thomasville Bakery, located at 300 Madison St., in 1919 with two brick ovens.

Today, the Thomasville bakery has five production lines making bread, buns, honey buns and doughnuts. It serves a 400-mile territory that covers southwest Georgia, southeast Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle, including Macon, Ga., Dothan, Ala., and Pensacola and Lake City, Fla.

With unemployment at a historic 3.8 percent, “the skilled labor market is tight everywhere,” said Tonja Taylor, Flowers Foods’ chief human resources officer. Jobs most in demand are in bakery maintenance, engineering, and production; information technology and field marketing — a newly developed sales team with members located across the country.

“At Flowers, we are addressing the tight labor market by putting more focus on recruitment and building internship programs with technical colleges,” Taylor said.

Potential new hires should know that “when you work at Flowers, you work with good people,” Armitage said. “You can take pride in what you do because no matter what your role is, you know the people around you also get their job done and get it done right.”

“Flowers Baking and their corporate office are a cornerstone of Thomasville’s economy. And on a lighter note, what other community smells like bread every day? It’s absolutely wonderful,” said Shelley Zorn, Thomasville Payroll Development Authority executive director.

Large Retailers  

In the retail industry, it should come as little surprise that Walmart is among the top employers in several communities.

In Valdosta, Walmart is the fourth largest private sector employer with roughly 859 employees, according to the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce.

In Colquitt County, Walmart is the third largest employer with 350 jobs.

In Baldwin County, Walmart ties as the fourth largest employer with Kroger with approximately 200 employees each.

Distribution Centers

The Valdosta Regional Lowe’s Distribution Center employs more than 900 employees, making it the third largest private employer in the county. Lowe’s as a total company employs more than 310,000 employees, said Michael Jerome, general manager.

The average wage and responsibility for each worker at the facility vary by position.

Some of the job responsibilities in the regional distribution center include operations, quality assurance, maintenance, receiving vendors purchase orders on the receiving dock, loading product on trucks to ship to Lowe’s stores and more.

“What all roles have in common is our focus on the customer and our commitment to serve,” Jerome said. “Our saying is that ‘You’re either serving a customer, or you’re serving someone who serves customers.’”

While the distribution center does not directly cater to customers, Jerome uses the company’s saying to instill customer service in the distribution center workforce.

“To work at Lowe’s Valdosta RDC is hard work, but it’s very rewarding,” he said. “To know that safety is the core value of everything we do at the RDC is very comforting.

“Also, to know we are a part of something bigger is exciting. We know that we aren’t just moving boxes, we’re shipping dad’s Crafstman Father’s Day gift and mom’s new dream kitchen. People have a connection with their home, and it’s an honor that we get to be a part of improving it with them.”

While the wages at the company were not released, Jerome reviewed some of the benefits.

“We are focused on attracting the best talent to Lowe’s through competitive wages, but also through our outstanding health and wellness benefits options,” he said. “Full-time employees are also eligible for a 10 percent employee discount, incentive programs, 401(k), paid vacation and holidays, a discounted stock purchasing plan, tuition reimbursement and paid time off for community volunteering.”

The Valdosta distribution center opened in 1996 with the purpose of Lowe’s distributing its products to stores throughout the Deep South, he said. 

Sitting on 165 acres of land, the Lowe’s RDC originally opened as a 750,000-square-foot warehouse. With the growth in customers, sales and store count, the business expanded by 600,000 square feet in 2006 which expanded it to the current 1.35 million-square-foot facility.

Looking to the future, Lowe’s is building a nimble supply chain to respond to evolving customer expectations, Jerome said. 

“We’re focused on providing dependable, convenient and faster fulfillment options for customers,” he said. “Lowe’s continues to invest in the Valdosta RDC through (information technology) upgrades and automation improvements that will help make our employees’ jobs easier.”

American Textile Company officially opened its newest Tifton location March 7 and now employs 375 residents.

Founded in Pittsburgh in 1925, American Textile Company provides basic bedding products, supplying mattress protectors, pillow protectors, bed pillows, travel pillows, comforters, mattress pads, sheets and pet bedding to large and small retailers in the United States and Canada.

The 400,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art warehousing and distribution facility will more than double the company’s distribution capacity. The company’s Tifton footprint now consists of approximately 650,000 square feet.

American Textile began its relationship with Tifton in 2010 when company officials announced the opening of the first Georgia location. It opened in April 2011. In 2012, the company moved its North American distribution operations from Duquesne, Pa., to Tifton and the transition was completed in July 2012.

Lance Ruttenberg, American Textile Company president and CEO, speaking at the grand opening, said the facility will ship more than 30 million bedding products annually.

“We believe this operation will be the most sophisticated of its kind in our industry,” he said.

“Partnerships are extremely important in our economic development endeavors and American Textile Company continues to exceed expectations,” said Brian Marlowe, president and chief executive officer of the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce and president of the Tift County Development Authority, speaking at the grand opening. “They continue to provide quality jobs for our residents, invest in our community and their employees volunteer their time, effort and resources for the betterment of our community. Our partnership with American Textile could serve as a model for how public-private partnerships should work.”

Tifton’s top employer is its Target Distribution center with 550 employees.

Other Employers

Advent Christian Village, a retirement community in Dowling Park, Fla., is one of the top five employers in Suwannee County.

Darleen Hinrichs, senior director of donor engagement, said ACV currently employs about 485 people. 

“Around 25 percent of our staff has worked here for 10 years or more,” Hinrichs said.

Due to the wide variety of jobs, an average salary was not available, but the company tries to pay competitively. 

“We have to be competitive, so we do review these benchmarks periodically to make sure that we are competitive in each of the different fields,” Hinrichs said.

ACV was originally a home for orphaned children and retired ministers and missionaries but has grown into a retirement center for everyone. 

“It’s a great place to work for people who want to make a difference,” Hinrichs said.

ACV currently serves 800 seniors in three different levels of care. About 500 seniors are living independently in their homes, apartments or duplexes. The seniors living in Dacier Manor receive some assistance and the Good Samaritan Center nursing home offers rehabilitation, long-term care and memory care.

ACV is Florida’s first retirement community, and it will observe 105 years in December, Hinrichs said. The village was established in 1913.

Seniors on campus have many amenities within a short drive or walk from their residence. On campus, there is a grocery store, bank, post office, hotel, gift shops, resale shops, café, wellness and fitness center and medical center with a clinic, pharmacy, outpatient rehab and dentist office. The amenities are also open to the public.

ACV just completed the construction of Taylor Commons, which features two-bed apartments with an open floor plan. Hinrichs said those apartments are already full.

The business also offers the equivalent of condos with a homeowner association.

She said the condos will be low maintenance for the seniors because the maintenance will be included in association fees.

“We offer a wide variety of living options so that anyone can virtually afford to live here,” Hinrichs said.

Looking to pass on the knowledge and experience to the next generation, ACV will start a mentoring program with high school freshmen this year, according to the company. Students will meet monthly with mentors throughout high school. Senior year students will receive scholarships for college or trade school.

The GEO Group has about 300 employees who are largely guards at the Riverbend Correctional Facility. It is the second largest employer in Baldwin County.

The SunLight Project team consists of reporters Jason A. Smith, Patti Dozier, Charles Oliver, Jessie R. Box, Will Woolever, Alan Mauldin, Stuart Taylor and Thomas Lynn. The SunLight Project is overseen and edited by Jim Zachary and Dean Poling. To contact the SunLight team, email sunlightproject@gaflnews.com.

Largest Employers in SunLight Project areas: 

Whitfield County

Shaw Industries: 6,593

Mohawk Industries: 4,100

Engineered Floors/ J+J Flooring: 3,100

Hamilton Health Care System: 2,500

Beaulieu Group: 2,000

Thomas County

Flowers Foods: more than 500

Cleaver-Brooks: more than 250

Oil-Dri: 250 

Hurst Boiler: about 230 

TECT Power: 175 and 80 in the corporate office, according to PDA

Baldwin County

Aerospace Engineering: roughly 650

GEO Group: roughly 300

Mohawk Industries: nearly 300

Walmart and Kroger: roughly 200 employees each.

Colquitt County

Sanderson Farms’: 1,450

National Beef: 500

WalMart: 350

Turning Point Hospital: 325

Tift County

Target Distribution: 550

Heatcraft Refrigeration: around 550

American Textile: around 375

Kelley Manufacturing: 235

Orgill: nearly 300

Lowndes County

Elead One/Fresh Beginnings: 1,582

Wild Adventures: 900-1,000

Lowe’s Distribution Center: more than 900

Walmart Super Center: roughly 850

Convergys: 380 prior to April. 

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1257.