Joe Riley, Manager, Economic Development, Georgia Electric Membership Corporation, was named the 2016 Rip Wiley Award-winner for Professional Excellence by the Georgia Economic Developers Association.  Riley was selected based on his professionalism, integrity, leadership, commitment and contributions to the profession.

Riley represented Georgia’s EMCs since 1982 when he came to Georgia via Oglethorpe Power Corporation from the State of Kentucky, where he headed up the state’s operations in their first California Development Office.  He was an active member of GEDA and  a past member of the GEDA board of directors.

Joe’s tenacity was ever-present as he worked diligently for the past seven years, while undergoing treatment for a very aggressive form of brain cancer.  He never “skipped a beat,” and many have said that Joe worked harder after his diagnosis than many economic developers in perfect health. 

Riley was always most inspired when he would return to a community in which he had helped locate an industry.  Seeing the project’s impact and knowing that the people working in that plant were earning a good living so that they could care for their families and educate their children was enough to motivate Joe to “keep at it.”  Over the course of his career in Georgia, Joe helped to create some $1 billion in economic investment and  nearly 4,000 jobs.  Over the course of his Georgia-career, Riley has recruited, hired, trained and mentored nearly thirty economic development professionals, including Dennis Chastain, President, Georgia EMC.

The award was presented to Joe at his home by members of the GEDA Executive Committee on Wednesday, September 14, with Peg, his wife, and Lynn, his sister-in-law, in attendance. The announcement was made by Pat Merritt, Secretary-Treasurer of GEDA and Vice President, Economic & Community Development, Georgia EMC, at the GEDA Annual Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Savannah, Georgia on Friday, September 23.  Dennis Chastain and Pat Merritt submitted the nomination.