Although you may have never won a prize from the Georgia Lottery, chances are some young student in your family has benefited or perhaps will.
Since Governor Zell Miller bought the first lottery ticket on June 29, 1993, some 52,981 local students have attended Berry College, Georgia Highlands, and Georgia Northwestern Technical College on a HOPE Scholarship or HOPE Grant – totaling over $179 Million in lottery funds. The scholarship program is packing our classrooms of higher learning.
Currently, the Georgia Lottery provides $1.516 billion to the state of Georgia each year for Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. Since its beginning in 1993, the Georgia Lottery has returned more than $26.8 billion to the state of Georgia for education. More than 2.1 million students have benefited from HOPE scholarships and grants, and more than 2 million 4-year-olds have attended lottery funded
Pre-K.
Rome resident Gretchen Corbin became president and CEO of the Georgia Lottery Corporation in 2018. Her business goal is to fulfill the corporation’s mission to maximize revenues for HOPE and Pre-K, ensuring that Georgia’s students continue to have access to these important educational programs.
Corbin’s leadership has had a direct impact on Georgia. Since becoming president and CEO of the Georgia Lottery, approximately 479,000 students have received HOPE scholarships and grants, more than 454,600 4-yearolds have attended Georgia’s Pre-K program, and over 460 Georgia Lottery players have become millionaires.
Before her role at the Georgia Lottery, Corbin was commissioner of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG). At TCSG, Corbin oversaw the state’s 22 technical colleges, 135,000 students, 46,000 economic development trainees, 15,000 employees, an $800 million budget, and a host of economic and workforce development programs, including Georgia Quick Start, the nation’s top-ranked workforce training program.
During Corbin’s tenure, TCSG grew dual enrollment of high school students taking TCSG college courses to 22,000. The TCSG graduation rate increased by 9 percent from 2015 to 2017. Additionally, Corbin partnered in developing the HOPE Career Grant to provide free tuition to students in 17 high-demand areas.
The agency saw numerous advances under Corbin’s leadership, including new options for GED completion and transcript acquisition, a tax credit program for employers who encourage GED completion, the opening of the Georgia BioScience Training Center and other new facilities, and a mobile app to facilitate college registration.
Corbin joined TCSG from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA), where she served as commissioner. At DCA, she oversaw 65 programs and was responsible for more than $71 million in investment in Georgia communities.
Before DCA, Corbin served 15 years at the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), holding various roles, including deputy commissioner of global commerce. Her work within Georgia and throughout the world brought nearly 69,000 jobs and over $13 billion in capital investment to Georgia.
Corbin is involved in many outstanding professional and civic organizations, including Leadership Rome and Leadership Georgia, where she has served as president and chairman. She is a member of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute External Advisory Board, the University of Georgia’s Board of Visitors, the Rotary Club of Atlanta Board of Directors, and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. She is the lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium and recently served a two-year term as president of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL).
For the past ten years, Corbin has been cited as one of Georgia Trend magazine’s 100 Most Influential Georgians, one of the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Top 20 Women Who Mean Business, and by James magazine’s Most Influential Georgians for the last six years.
“The most important thing about the Georgia Lottery,” she says, “is to remember that every ticket you buy is a winner for Georgia students and education. You can’t beat that.”
