May 16—TIFTON — Tony Tucker of Camilla received the Outstanding Business Leader award from the ABAC Alumni Association at the recent homecoming awards luncheon at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

A 1991 ABAC graduate, Tucker is the President/CEO of Mitchell EMC and has served in that role since 2010. Prior to this position, he was the Office Manager for Irwin EMC in Ocilla. Tucker serves on the Board of Directors for Georgia Transmission Corporation and is the President of the Board of Directors for the Georgia EMC's Credit Union.

"One of the highlights of Homecoming every year is the opportunity to celebrate outstanding ABAC alumni," Deidre Martin, ABAC's chief advancement officer, said. "From young alumni just beginning their careers to individuals with a lifelong history of excellence, we honored an outstanding group of alumni who are truly making a difference in their professions and their communities."

Tucker has worked in the electricity industry for his entire 40-year career. He served with Irwin EMC for seven years, working in accounting and member services managerial positions. He received the "Business Professional Award" in January 2018 from the Camilla-Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce for his success in management during four major storms in 2017.

These storms included two back-to-back tornadoes in January 2017, a large storm in April 2017, and Tropical Storm Irma in September 2017. Under his leadership, Mitchell EMC was able to overcome the obstacles and organize efforts that enabled power restoration to a large portion of cooperative members in an unprecedented amount of time.

During these times, Tucker was able to reach out to his fellow EMC managers throughout the state to recruit more than 200 additional linemen to assist in rebuilding power lines within the service area.

All the knowledge Tucker obtained from the 2017 storms allowed him to provide leadership during Hurricane Michael in October 2018. Under his direction, all 5,500 miles of downed power lines were rebuilt in 14 days.

Tucker coordinated the day and night efforts of 675 linemen to help restore power to the 25,000 outages of EMC members. Throughout all of this, he arranged shelter, food, and clothing for the out-of-town lineman with the help of hundreds of local volunteers. Under his fiscal direction, Mitchell EMC was able to overcome a substantial financial loss, due to five storms, with limited impact on the members.

Along with providing reliable electricity, Tucker has led Mitchell EMC's Foundation to award financial gifts to organizations providing relief efforts, economic development initiatives, educational programs, and nonprofit projects.