If you're looking for a job, there's a good chance Terry Elam can help you get one.

And if you're a business looking for workers, he's also the one to go to. Nearly every student at Augusta Technical College, where Mr. Elam has served as president for a decade, will leave with a job.

According to the Department of Technical and Adult Education, 98.6 percent of the college's students left with either employment or plans to further their education last year.

That's what makes the president proudest, he says, knowing that Augusta Tech not only teaches students, but also affects their lives and prepares them for a career.

Mr. Elam, 57, grew up in the country, near mile post nine on Georgia Highway 56, and for 25 years has worked at Augusta Tech, the past 10 as its president.

As president, he has guided the college through growth and an evolution in technology while sticking to its mission: economic development.

Under his leadership, Augusta Tech has grown from one campus to three with one on the way in Columbia County and both its programs and the way it delivers instruction have evolved.

Campuses in Burke and McDuffie counties have joined the main campus in Augusta, the number of computers at the college have grown from 400 to 2,400, and enrollment in online classes has grown from zero to 26 percent of all students taking at least one class online.

But the mission remains the same - economic development and the development of a work force, Mr. Elam said.

When students graduate, they should have a better chance at a career, he said.

That commitment goes beyond the four walls of his office. Mr. Elam serves as vice chairman of the Richmond County Development Authority, one of many positions he holds in the community. In those positions, he has helped lure businesses to the area.

"Without a trained work force, you will not have any economic development. Period," said Walter Sprouse, the executive director of the development authority. "That's No. 1 on everybody's list."

When wooing a business to the area, the authority can rely on Mr. Elam to provide the work force the business is looking for, Mr. Sprouse said.

"There's a lot of people who respect Terry a great deal, including me," he said.

Mr. Sprouse's counterpart in Burke County agrees.

"He respects other people, and they respect him," Jerry Long said.

When Quick Set, a company that makes locks, came to Burke County, Augusta Tech trained the workers, Mr. Long said.

"We work hand in hand with businesses," Mr. Elam said.

The college president also is proud of his students. Each morning when he walks into his office building, he opens the door and sees a sleek custom- made motorcycle.

Students designed and built the bike from little more than metal tubing and flat metal. Mr. Elam said it makes him proud seeing a tangible product of students' hard work.

Mr. Elam isn't ready to slow down, and he's working to fulfill his vision for the college.

"I've had a long tenure, but I've got projects and I've got things that I want to get done before I go home," he said.