Roger Harrison has been appointed as board secretary of the Georgia Piedmont Technical College Foundation’s Board of Trustees recently.

The foundation is the nonprofit resource development organization that supports Georgia Piedmont Technical College (GPTC). Mr. Harrison has served as a member of the Board of Trustees since fiscal year 2011.

A ninth-generation Georgian and native of Monticello, Roger A. Harrison is the President and CEO of Professional Recruiting, Inc. (PRI). PRI is a U.S.-based executive and professional placement firm with offices in Atlanta, Dubai and Greenville, where they source top executives and professionals for both permanent placements and contract assignments worldwide. In addition to Harrison’s overall leadership of the company, he directly manages PRI’s corporate training services, which offer unique curricula in managerial leadership, teambuilding and standardized interview practices.

Prior to taking the reins at PRI, Roger was the chief business development officer at Wagner Service Solutions where he was responsible for the executive recruitment division as well as the overall sales and marketing growth of the corporation. His broad base of international clients included Nisshinbo Automotive, Bridgestone Golf, Baxter Pharmaceutical, and Hettich North America. A former Public Service Faculty member in Economic Development at the University of Georgia, Roger began his career with the world’s most recognizable brand, The Coca-Cola Company, where he was a Business Development Manager for national accounts.

Harrison was the Covington/Newton County Chamber of Commerce’s vice president of Economic Development until pursuing another opening in 2013. He was hired by the chamber in 2010, and had a direct hand in recruiting four new industries: Vestar Technologies, Pasco Sprinkler, Stamptech Metals and Amesbury Extruded Plastics. He also helped with three expansions of existing industries: SKC, Bridgestone Golf and Nisshinbo Automotive. Harrison traveled to China, Japan and South Korea on a trip in 2011 that he said, to the News in 2013, was the first international trade mission undertaken by a Newton County official.

Harrison holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Presbyterian College and a Master of Public Administration degree from Georgia College and State University, and he has completed two years of coursework toward his Doctorate in Public Administration at Valdosta State University. He maintains his certification in Leadership Development from The University of Georgia, was a certified interviewer for The Coca-Cola Company and is certified by The Kauffman Foundation as a FasTrak® Entrepreneurial facilitator.

“Roger has been an active and engaged trustee, and we are fortunate that he accepted the leadership position vacated by the former Secretary of the GPTC Foundation,” said GPTC Director of Public Relations, Zaundra Brown. “The GPTC Foundation is expanding its reach and impact on the college and community. We are actively recruiting for trustees such as Roger to join the foundation and take a leadership role in major fundraising activities.”