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  • Lawrenceville college student wins position at LEGOLAND

    In the ultimate job interview, Joshua Bohn beat out over a hundred other hopefuls to become Master Model Builder at LEGOLAND Discovery Center Atlanta.

     

  • Hot job sectors

    Hiring is particularly strong in the healthcare, financial services and manufacturing industries, with mobile marketing quickly gaining traction.

     

  • Walmart honors Gwinnett-based carrier

    Full-service transportation provider Averitt Express named Walmart’s 2011 Regional LTL Carrier of the Year.

     

  • Transit alternatives study underway

    To identify effective, sustainable and locally preferred solutions, the study will evaluate a wide range of transit options.

     
 
GBJ Staff

Walmart honors Gwinnett-based carrier

L-R: Chris Sultemeier, Walmart senior vice president, transportation; Mike Wise, Averitt vice president of corporate business development; Beth Donham, Averitt director of corporate business development; Courtney Sparks, Walmart carrier compliance manager; and Ken Braunbach, Walmart senior director, carrier relations.

Walmart has named full-service transportation provider Averitt Express its 2011 Regional LTL Carrier of the Year.

Annually, WalMart recognizes transportation suppliers that demonstrate excellence or exhibit significant improvement in meeting core business objectives, including small parcel, less-than-truckload (LTL) and intermodal. This is the second time in the past three years that Averitt has been recognized by Walmart.

From its Lawrenceville service center, Averitt delivers to area WalMart stores several times a week. In addition, this carrier is integral to WalMart’s regional logistics network. Picking up products from vendors in the area like Biolabs, Continental General Tire, Akzo Nobel, Pennington Seed and others, Averitt delivers to WalMart distribution centers for transportation throughout its vast network or makes direct deliveries to the retailer’s metro Atlanta stores.

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GBJ Staff

Lawrenceville college student wins position at LEGOLAND

Joshua Bohn, new Master Model Builder at LEGOLAND Discovery Center Atlanta, photo by Firestine Photography

During the ultimate job interview witnessed by kids young and old, Joshua Bohn beat out over a hundred other hopefuls to become Master Model Builder at LEGOLAND Discovery Center Atlanta. A lifelong LEGO lover and five-year brand veteran, this Georgia Gwinnett College student and Lawrenceville resident has the Brick Factor to make the LEGOLAND Discovery Center Atlanta experience engaging and fun for guests of all ages.

Through a series of creative LEGO challenges, Bohn displayed great innovation and enthusiasm; he was charged with creating three themed models, all out of LEGO bricks. His animal creation featured a koi fish during feeding. Bohn continued to impress with Atlanta icon The Fox Theatre and then solidified his position as Master Model Builder with an inspired homage to art. His final creation showcased the classic drama faces, symbolizing comedy and tragedy, paid tribute to the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet and showcased the artists’ tools of the trade – an art tablet displaying a masterpiece in progress.

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GBJ Staff

New state law changes business license process

Businesses in Gwinnett County will soon receive occupation tax certificate renewal forms in the mail, but before certificates can be renewed, applicants must comply with new state requirements that went into effect on Jan. 1. During the 2011 legislative session, the Georgia General Assembly passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act (House Bill 87), placing new requirements on local governments and businesses to ensure they comply with federal and state immigration laws.

The first requirement calls for any person, corporation or LLC seeking a public benefit—such as an occupation tax certificate (business license), alcohol license or contract—to submit a Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) affidavit and present a secure and verifiable document as approved by the state Attorney General. Examples of the approved documents include a driver’s license, passport or legal immigrant documentation.

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GBJ Staff

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta named employee favorite for seventh year

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has been ranked among FORTUNE magazine’s elite list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America.  It is the seventh consecutive time the not-for-profit pediatric health care system has been named to the list.  Landing at No. 49, Children’s is the only hospital in Georgia to appear on the list, and one of only four companies headquartered in Georgia (joined by Aflac, Alston & Bird and InterContinental Hotels Group.)

When broken down by size, Children’s placed 19th in the midsized company sub-category, and earned special recognition for being a top company for women and minorities. Additionally, Children’s placed 25th and 41st in sub-categories recognizing top pay for hourly and salaried employees, respectively.

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GBJ Staff

Renowned 80-year-old artist to exhibit in Lawrenceville

“First Light” is an oil on canvas, ©Robert Christie – all rights reserved.

Legendary artist Robert Christie will greet patrons at the opening reception of his one-man show from 5 to 7 p.m., January 24 at the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse in Lawrenceville, Ga.

The exhibit runs through Apr. 10, 2012 and is open to the public weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Robert Christie has become one of the best-known dog and sporting artists in the South. A graduate of Pratt Institute where he studied illustration, Christie concentrated his post-graduate study of portrait painting at Pratt and at The Art Students League, both in N.Y.

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GBJ Staff

GPCID community patrols generating solid results

Recently tabulated metrics point to 2011 being a banner year for cleaning and safety efforts spearheaded by the Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District (CID).

In the area of trash removal alone, CID staff and crews cleared 16.17 tons (32,340 pounds) of debris from area roadways – 1,617 (20 lb) bags of trash.

Other measured ongoing, CID-maintained efforts for 2011 include:

  • Graffiti – Reported 47 instances of graffiti to property owners/managers, all of which have been addressed and cleaned up.
  • Signs – Removed 1,320 signs placed illegally in the right-of-way.
  • Lighting – Reported 76 malfunctioning street lights.
  • Directionals / Signals – Reported 47 damaged street signs and 36 malfunctioning or burned out traffic signals to county services.

Executive Director Joe Allen said the CID is fortunate to have strong working relationships with the Gwinnett Police, Gwinnett Department of Transportation, Gwinnett Planning and Development, Gwinnett Code Enforcement, Gwinnett Water Resources and the public utilities of Georgia Power, Jackson EMC and AT&T.

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GBJ Staff

Catering to complainers?

Listening to a disgruntled customer can often times seem like hearing fingernails scratching a chalkboard. You flinch and cringe in anticipation of the fallout – they trash your product, service or how your company handles customer issues. And thanks to social media, it’s not long before these unhappy souls have trumpeted their dislike far and wide. But have you ever considered they just might be doing you a favor?

Customer complaints highlight areas of vulnerability. No, you don’t have to agree with their methods, isn’t it worth finding out if there is a genuine grievance driving their angst?

Silence, on the other hand, is more deadly because you may never know what caused your loyal customer to walk away. When you take stock of your customer activity and examine customer lists, what always jumps out are those clients you haven’t seen or heard from in a while. That’s a red flag that the relationship derailed somewhere along the track, but you didn’t realize it.

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GBJ Staff

Local franchise promotes healthy snacking

Everyone starts the New Year with a resolution to eat better or some variation on that theme. So the concept of eating healthy snacks from vending machines is somewhat alien. Vending machines aren’t typically associated with the words ‘healthy,’ ‘fresh’ or ‘nutritious,’ but Fresh Healthy Vending hopes to change your perception.

View the Gwinnett Magazine Special Report about this innovative concept and the new local franchise of this popular national company is starting a revolution by replacing candy bars with nutritious ‘on the go snacks’ like whole grain chips, fruit juices and snack mixes.

Nearly a dozen local schools and businesses have embraced this culture change. Cornerstone Christian Academy in Norcross installed a Fresh Healthy Vending machine in their lunchroom close to two months ago. Headmaster Colin Creel admits the new machine is now the talk of his school and so popular, the machine is restocked at least once a week.

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GBJ Staff

Transit alternatives study underway

The Gwinnett Board of Commissioners has set up a policy advisory committee to study transit alternatives for the Interstate 85 corridor. Citizens on the committee will work with staff and consultants to provide advice and feedback before the draft final study documents are presented for consideration by the Board of Commissioners.

“In combination with community forums and other public events, this committee is aimed at facilitating a successful planning process and improved transportation to benefit many generations to come,” said Kim Conroy, Gwinnett’s Acting Transportation Director. Last July, the Board contracted with Atkins North America, Inc., a national transit planning and engineering firm with offices in Atlanta, to lead the study.

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GBJ Staff

Catalyst for economic transformation

Calibratior II Stella Fritschi, WIKA Instrument Corporation

Gwinnett County ushered in 2012 as a Georgia Certified Work Ready Community. A master vision set in motion five years ago laid the groundwork for Georgia counties, like Gwinnett, to transform their economies. The first metro Atlanta ‘core’ county and the largest county in the state to achieve this designation, Gwinnett continues to attract new businesses by cultivating the talent necessary to staff existing jobs and to master future innovative technologies.

Georgia Work Ready began in 2006 when then Governor Sonny Perdue launched a statewide initiative to establish a purposeful link between industry and education to create a regional talent pool. The State’s commitment is three-pronged: provide a mechanism to understand skills of a company’s current workforce, develop training programs and establish reliable hiring criteria. To become certified, counties must meet education benchmarks and certify a percentage of the available and current workforce.

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