Atlanta-based blow molder CKS Packaging Inc. may be the family business, but Georgia Sewell is the company's first woman plant manager.
Sewell managed the 350 PET plant from late 2013-2016. It was profitable within its first six months and No. 1 in safety and profitability. Since early 2016, she has been the plant manager at the 400 Colgate plant, which became a top contender for most improved between 2017-2018.
She attended Georgia Southern University, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis on small business entrepreneurship. Sewell is currently enrolled in Kennesaw State University's executive MBA program.
She is also involved in CKS's Women's Leadership Program.
Sewell said she looks up to her father, CKS President and CEO John Sewell. But eventually, she would like to take over as CEO.
"Our family has taught us to work hard for what we want out of life, to live with integrity, to lead and to learn everything there is to know about this company from the ground up," Marie Sewell Davis, sister of Georgia Sewell and operations analyst and project manager at CKS, said in an emailed statement. "She embodies what our dad and grandfather [Charles Sewell, who founded the company,] have taught us. Georgia is an inspiration to the women here at CKS Packaging."
Davis added that because Georgia Sewell was the first woman plant manager at CKS, she "opened the door for more women to obtain their dreams in this company and in the plastics industry as leaders of the future."
Read Plastics News' viewpoint on Women Breaking the Mold, and find links to other profiles.