Listing highlights metro Atlanta’s change makers in business and civic leadership
ATLANTA — Benjamin Andrews, statewide program manager of Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), was selected to the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 40 Under 40 list for 2024.
The annual listing, now in its 21st year, recognizes Atlanta’s top rising leaders and their contributions to their professions and communities. Andrews and the other honorees will be celebrated at an awards event Nov. 7.
“I’m really honored to be recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and included in such a great group,” Andrews said. “It really speaks to the impact of the work we do at ATDC and the Enterprise Innovation Institute. I’m fortunate to work with such amazing people within an equally amazing organization.”
Andrews joined ATDC — a program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute — as community engagement manager in 2017 before being promoted to his current role the following year. He is one of two Tech staffers to be honored in this year’s list. Jacquelyn Schneider, managing strategy consultant at Tech was also named.
He also joins Debra Lam, executive director of the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, another Enterprise Innovation Institute program, who was a 40 Under 40 honoree in 2020. In 2022, Georgia Trend magazine named Andrews to its 40 Under 40 class.
“We’re so proud of Ben for all his work and commitment to impactful economic development across the state through his work at ATDC, as well as his civic engagement in his community,” said David Bridges, who is vice president of the Enterprise Innovation Institute and nominated Andrews. “He has been an integral part of ATDC’s success and championing startup innovation across Georgia.”
As statewide program manager, Andrews works to bring resources traditionally limited to large metro areas, such as Atlanta, to startups across the state. He manages a team of eight staff and has either led or been involved with efforts to bring more than $3.7 million in funding to ATDC since 2017, mostly from state funds and from corporate sponsorships.
Since becoming statewide program manager, Andrews has helped the ATDC reach more communities and increase the number of regional catalysts around the state from three to seven.
In the most recent Georgia Legislative Session, Andrews worked with Georgia Tech Institute Relations to secure $500,000 in state funds as an ongoing allocation to support startups and entrepreneurs around the state. While he had already worked with legislators to have these funds added to ATDC’s budget, during the 2023 Legislative Session he met with legislators and their staff to ensure the funds would be a recurring line item moving forward.
Prior to his work with ATDC, Andrews, who obtained his bachelor’s degree in management from Georgia Tech, spent six years working in economic development in rural Georgia. During that time, he became the youngest senior staff member in his hometown of Americus, Georgia.
He was the president of his hometown’s Habitat for Humanity Affiliate, a member of the local Rotary Club and Paul Harris Fellow, and was also involved in the county’s Historic Trust, a local cycling advocacy nonprofit, and the local Boy Scouts (now Scouts) Council.
After completing his MBA at Georgia Southwestern State University, Andrews returned to metro Atlanta in 2016, where he continued his civic engagement work.
Those efforts included joining an “Innovation in Education” working group through the Metro Atlanta Chamber. He also joined the board of directors of GeorgiaForward, a nonpartisan civic nonprofit that tackles policy issues across the state. As a board member, Andrews, who had been involved with the organization since 2012, led its alumni initiatives for several years, before focusing on programming.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he worked with GeorgiaForward’s executive director to host a series of online discussions focused on various topics, including education, housing, broadband, and healthcare.