Jane Simpson, of Lizella, manager of the Georgia Department of Labor’s Houston County Career Center in Warner Robins, has been named the department’s Manager of the Year.

A 22-year veteran of the department, Simpson received the award at the GDOL’s State Managers Training Conference in Augusta last week. She has served as the career center manager for the past 11 years.  

“Jane Simpson is certainly one of our best career center managers and deserves this recognition,” said State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “While she’s committed to providing good service to all of our customers, she is especially conscientious about making sure that the needs of our employers are met.”

Prior to joining the GDOL, Simpson worked for 22 years with Snelling Personnel as a recruiter, counselor and manager of the company’s Macon office. She began her career with the GDOL in the Macon Career Center in 1993 and advanced through the ranks with the department. She was promoted to manager of the Houston County Career Center 11 years later.  

A source of pride for Simpson is her efforts on behalf of the Middle Georgia Employer Committee, which has won the GDOL’s Committee of the Year award for six straight years. Simpson has seen the local employer committee grow from 40 to 100 employers in the past decade. Employer committees are groups of local business representatives who establish and maintain working relationships between employers and GDOL career centers.

And, as manager of the career center, Simpson served as a member of the Middle Georgia Consortium’s Workforce Investment Board.

A native of England, Simpson holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from the London School of Economics.

Simpson is married to Jay Simpson, a retired English professor at Middle Georgia State University in Macon. She plans to retire on Sept.1, and they plan to eventually move to Seattle, Wash., where their two children and two grandchildren reside.