Outstanding employees 60+ and their employers from across metro Atlanta were honored recently during the annual Metropolitan Atlanta Employee Experienced Leaders 60+ Awards luncheon. The top award – Employee of the Year – went to Pete Risse, Georgia Power. Georgia Power was named Employer of the Year.

Mr. Risse, a senior engineer at Georgia Power's network underground for more than 57 years, has played a major role in developing and designing much of the company’s underground electrical infrastructure throughout the state. Risse proved his worth year after year. He designed and installed 115-kV pipe-type transmission cable from Butler Street to Simpson Street in downtown Atlanta in the early 1960s, the first time pipe-type cable had been installed in Atlanta. Later, he was the architect of Georgia Power's high-pressure oil-filled cables that run 12 feet below Interstate 75/85 in downtown Atlanta.

“When I was told that I had been named the Experienced 60+ Employee of the Year I sat there in complete disbelief,” Mr. Risse said. “I enjoy the heck out of my work, and Georgia Power has been such a good company to me. Even after 57 years with Georgia Power I feel like there are still things I want to accomplish. Everyone in Network Underground is like a big family. I also enjoy helping new people and being a mentor to them.”

Employer of the Year, Georgia Power, has been feted nationally as well as locally as an employer that has unlocked a powerful management tool by retaining or rehiring its experienced workers to ensure that everyone benefits from the experienced employees’ skills, institutional knowledge and expertise. They actively engage long-tenured workers in formal knowledge transfer initiatives, reverse mentoring, workforce planning and diversity inclusion strategies. They have also created flexible workplace options to support return to work and have proven win-win workforce solutions by managing departures and maintaining a multi-generational workforce.

The annual Experienced Leaders 60+ Awards luncheon calls attention to the more than 400,000 older adults in the region, 40 percent of whom are still active in the work place. Six other individuals were recognized with Distinguished Service Awards for their outstanding achievement as mature workers: Lance Dunn, The Kroger Co.; Haskel Hutcherson, the Westin Buckhead Atlanta; Beth Hildebrand, WellStar Health System; Bill Morgan, Senior Connections and Kathy Smoyer, Publix SuperMarkets.

The Metro Atlanta Older Worker Project and the Atlanta Regional Senior Employment Collaborative, which consists of the Atlanta Regional Commission; AARP–Foundation–Work Search; Your Tools for Living, a division of Jewish Family & Career Services; and Experience Works, sponsored the luncheon.

More About Older Adults in Metro Atlanta

The number of older adults in the region has grown over the last decade at a rate slightly higher than the general population, outpacing it in six of the 10 counties in the region. By 2030, one in five people in metro Atlanta will be 60+. Employment of workers 65+ increased by more than 100 percent between 1977 and 2007, compared to 59 percent for total employment (16 and over.)