Abit Massey joined the Georgia Poultry Federation in 1960 as its executive director and was named its president emeritus in January 2012. He is the former director of the Georgia Department of Commerce, now the Department of Economic Development, where he created the Tourist Division and built the first Georgia Welcome Station. 

Mr. Massey has received awards for outstanding or distinguished service from the UGA Blue Key Honor Society, the UGA Ag Alumni Association, the UGA National Alumni Association, and the Agricultural Economics Association of Georgia. That last award was created especially for him. And to top all previous awards and accolades, in 2012 he received the Presidential Citation from Georgia Tech – for remarkable service to the state and the university. This was only the seventh such citation ever presented by Tech, and the first to a UGA alumnus.

Mr. Massey has been in the front row of Georgia politics spanning 14 Presidential Administrations and 10 Georgia Governors.

About Policy@Tech:

Policy@Tech is a consortium of Georgia Tech’s policy research centers. Its goal is to increase Georgia Tech’s policy impact by

• Shaping state and national discussions on critical global challenges
• Catalyzing Tech faculty/student interaction with decision-makers Increasing communication among policy research units
• Extending the network of policy-related centers and individuals across campus
• Raising the visibility of policy-related research on and off campus