Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard and her Coalition for Economic Development will host a public forum on Wednesday, May 9 focusing on the area’s workforce needs and hiring criteria across Albany-Dougherty County’s five major industry sectors.

“Albany-Dougherty County is fortunate to have a broad industry base with five target industry sectors in manufacturing, defense, distribution and logistics, call centers and healthcare,” said Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard. “It's important that our citizens know what opportunities are available to them here, professionally, and that they know how and when to begin preparing themselves to capitalize on these opportunities in order to gain employment at one of our local industries."

The town hall-style event will feature five panelists, each presenting information on behalf their organization, as well as their respective industry sector. Panelists include P&G Plant manager Werhner Washington on manufacturing, Deputy Commander at Marine Depot Maintenance Command Trent Blalock on defense, Southern Ag Carriers President Hugh Nall on distribution and logistics, Websturant Customer Solutions Team Leader Chris Mathis on call centers and Phoebe Health System Vice President of Human Resources Tracy St. Amant on healthcare.

The event will offer information on what these major industry sectors routinely look for in an employee and how community members can best prepare themselves to become an ideal candidate.  The program is an edition in a series of forums organized by the Mayor’s Coalition for Economic Development designed to increase public awareness of matters relating to economic development or economic impact in our community.

The May 9 forum is free to the public and will be held from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. in room 100 of the Government Center, located at 222 Pine Avenue in downtown Albany. Light refreshments will be served in the lobby following the event.