The Georgia Department of Labor issued the following news release:
State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond announced today that Gregory Schmieg of Coweta County has been named the executive director of the Georgia Department of Labor's Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation (RWSIR). His appointment was effective June 1. Schmieg is currently the vice president for marketing and development at Christian City, a non-profit organization serving children and senior adults in Union City.
'Greg Schmieg has a long and successful history of providing services to people with disabilities,' said Commissioner Thurmond. 'His background gives him rare insight into the programs he will oversee at the Institute. I'm confident that Greg is the right person to provide the leadership necessary for the institute to continue accomplishing its mission.'
Schmieg said, 'I am very honored and privileged to have been selected by Commissioner Thurmond to carry on the fine tradition of the Institute. I was awestruck with a sense of history when I first visited the facility, and I am humbled to know that I am now a part it. It is my desire to continue the tradition of service and to grow the Institute into the new century.'
The Institute has a 79-year tradition that dates back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who founded and served as chairman of the original Georgia Warm Springs Foundation from its start in 1927 until his death in 1945. Schmieg becomes the ninth chief executive officer in Institute history.
Schmieg holds both a bachelors and masters degree from Southern Illinois University. He began his professional career as deputy director for Youth Services at Granite City, Illinois, while attending college in the early to mid 1970s and became a therapist for four years following graduation in 1976. In 1980, he was named human services director for Missouri Goodwill Industries in St. Louis, and five years later he became vice president for vocational services with the Easter Seal Society in Manchester, New Hampshire.
From 1987 through 1995, Schmieg served as an administrator and CEO at both Northbrooke Hospital in Milwaukee and at Crescent Pines Hospital in Atlanta, two specialty hospitals affiliated with National Medical Enterprises, currently TENET Healthcare Corporation.
He served as executive vice president for Behavioral Health Partners, owned by DeKalb Regional Healthcare System until 1999. Since then, he has managed his own independent consulting company, Schmieg Consulting, Inc., of Atlanta, while more recently adding the marketing and development duties at Christian City in 2004.
A former Petty Officer, 2nd Class, in the U.S. Navy and a Vietnam veteran, he is a past recipient of the Navy League Award and lists hospital start-up and repositioning, healthcare system consultation, regional access system design and implementation, and organizational turnaround as part of his professional expertise.
Schmieg has been named to replace Frank Ruzycki, who retired last May after 30 years at Roosevelt Warm Springs, including the last 19 as executive director.
In addition to the Institute, the Georgia Department of Labor's Division of Rehabilitation Services administers the state's Vocational-Rehabilitation program, the Business Enterprise Program, and the Georgia Industries for the Blind.
