Another seamless transition underway at the Woodruff Foundation

Few organizations in Atlanta rival the impact and influence of the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and its related family of foundations.

But if foundation leaders have their way, people will barely notice that Erik Johnson, 48, became the new president of the Woodruff Foundation on Feb. 1 following the Jan. 31 retirement of Russ Hardin, 67. Johnson, who has worked for Hardin for the past 18 years, said one should not expect his style of leadership to be different than Hardin’s.

“I would tell you, there’s not a lot of daylight between the two of us, and there never has been,” Johnson said. “You’re not going to notice any difference with the transition. It will be seamless.”

Johnson first joined the foundations in 1999 when he was only 22 years old. Johnson had just graduated from Emory University, and he became a Woodruff Foundation fellow — serving in that role for a year before working on a legal career.

Then, in 2006, Hardin became president of the foundation, and he urged Johnson to join his team at the Woodruff Foundation, which also includes the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation and the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation, all created out of stock from the Coca-Cola Co. The Foundations became under unified administrative leadership in 1972.

“Erik will be the fourth president of the foundations,” Hardin said during his last day as president during a joint interview with Johnson. 

The presidents of the Foundations have been Boisfeuillet Jones, who was president from 1972 to 1988; Charles H. “Pete” McTier, who was president from 1998 to 2006; and Hardin, who became president in 2006.

“Erik is stepping in behind Russ in a seamless transition — just as there was with me and Russ,” McTier said in a telephone interview. “Erik has worked with Russ for 18 years. Russ worked with me for 18 years, and I worked with Boisfeuillet for 17 years. At the Woodruff, Whitehead, Evans Foundations, the commitment to transition has been one of the greatest features.”

For Hardin, the “time is right” for him to step down as president. But Hardin will now become a trustee of the Woodruff Foundation, just like McTier did when he retired. In a dinner at the Peachtree Golf Club with the trustees and staff on the night before he retired, Hardin called it a privilege to have served as president.

“This work is a privilege and a responsibility,” Hardin said. “As I told the trustees, I feel privileged to be able to continue to be involved in a different capacity.”

The four foundations are among the largest philanthropic institutions in the Southeast. 

As of the end of 2024, the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation had $4.2 billion in assets; the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation had $1.9 billion in assets; the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation had $2 billion in assets; and the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation had $4.8 billion, of which $4.2 billion is restricted to a handful of beneficiaries.

It is hard to overstate the role that the foundations have had on the Atlanta region and the State of Georgia — and will continue to have.

To appreciate the scope of impact Johnson and the foundations have had, Hardin shared the following in an email:

“Over the years, Erik has held almost every major role on our staff, and in recent years he has been my thought partner and has assumed primary responsibility for significant foundation investments in health care (Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Winship Cancer Institute, Grady, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Marcus Autism Center), parks and land conservation (Trust for Public Land — Chattahoochee Riverlands, Atlanta Beltline), homeless services (Regional Commission on Homelessness, Partners for Home, Atlanta Mission), Downtown revitalization (Metro Atlanta Chamber — Downtown Reimagined, Georgia State University) and affordable housing (Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta’s Affordable Housing Fund, Westside and the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership).”

The tone of the foundations was set by Robert W. Woodruff, who led the Coca-Cola Co. for decades until his death in March 1985. His motto was: “There’s no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” 

As a result, the foundations stay out of the public eye — preferring to let the recipients of their generosity get credit for the work they are doing in the community.

Hardin called Johnson “trustworthy, discerning, principled and humble” — all attributes that are in line with how the Woodruff Foundation does business.

“There is no greater occupational hazard in philanthropy than hubris,” Hardin said. “By virtue of his character and personality, Erik is immune to that disability. Erik is a natural leader, in part because he listens more than he speaks.”

During the interview, when Johnson was asked how he felt about becoming president of the foundations, he instinctively said: “I sure hope you are not going to write a story about my emotions.”

Johnson then talked about the “really, really good team” Hardin had assembled at the foundations — all people who could make more money doing something else. Instead, they chose to make a career at the foundations where they have an opportunity to make an impact.

“I mention that because it’s not so much about what I’m feeling,” Johnson said. “If I do my job right, and they continue to do their jobs the way that they will, you’re not going to notice any difference in the transition.”

Hardin was a little more open about his feelings, admitting it felt “weird” to be cleaning out his office after “37 years of coming to the office and devoting my life to this, this work.”

But he was especially pleased that he was able to recognize McTier as his mentor.

Hardin vividly remembered how McTier first pitched Billy Payne’s idea to create Centennial Olympic Park to the trustees in 1994. Their initial reaction was no. There was not enough time to build a park in time for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Shortly thereafter, thanks to McTier’s prodding, the foundations announced a total of $30 million to assemble and develop the park, which became a centerpiece during the Olympics and later helped transform that part of Downtown.

“That’s why I give Pete an awful lot of credit because he was selling something that sounded preposterous,” Hardin said.

In the phone interview, McTier said that during his tenure at the Woodruff Foundation, he got to know Robert W. Woodruff and Atlanta’s top leaders (almost all were men during those days), including Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., Jimmy Williams, Jimmy Sibley, Wilton Looney, Randall Rollins among countless others.

“We are in a different era,” said McTier, who is the only living person who worked with Robert Woodruff in his philanthropy. So far, Woodruff’s mantra continues to dominate — “doing good with humility.” 

Hardin also credits Sibley for how the foundations make donations. 

“We were boasting about the efficacy or impact of some particular program,” Hardin remembered. “Jimmy said: “We don’t invest in programs. We invest in people.” I’m talking about being opportunistic. We invest in leadership, whether it’s in the public or private sector, wherever we find it. You make bets on leadership that can be effective in the community.”

The Woodruff family of foundations doesn’t have a team of experts who form their own ideas.

“We’ve got folks with good sense who listen well and understand the community,” Hardin said. “But we don’t have a grand plan for Atlanta. That’d be presumptuous of us. One of those lessons that Pete taught me early on is that you’re much better off if you go find folks who’ve got their own ideas, are passionate about it or committed to it.”

Both McTier and Hardin expressed concern that generations from now, future trustees could drift away from the values set by Woodruff and the foundations — something that’s occurred at some of the largest national foundations.

But in Johnson’s mind, the core Woodruff philosophy will live on.

“I may be the fourth president of the foundations, but the foundations are set up to exist in perpetuity,” Johnson said. “So, there are going to be 400 presidents of the foundations, and the fifth, the sixth, the 10th and the 40th will need to be able to work as effectively as I think we have up to this point in time.”

A short history of giving

Russ Hardin shared a timeline of the various investments the foundations have made over the decades by working behind-the-scenes. These initiatives are only a few of the hundreds of grants the foundations have made over the years.

1960s:

The foundations were formed. The Trebor Foundation was Robert Woodruff’s personal foundation that became the Woodruff Foundation after he died. Interesting to note, “Trebor” is “Robert” spelled backward. It supported Mayor Ivan Allen and the construction of the Memorial Arts Center.

1970s:

Robert Woodruff personally matched the state’s commitment of $4 million with $4 million toward the purchase of Ossabaw Island. The Emily and Ernest Woodruff Foundation, established by Robert Woodruff’s parents, donated $105 million to Emory University in 1979 — the largest gift in the history of higher education at the time.

1980s:

After Woodruff died, the assets of the Woodruff Foundation mushroomed in size. After absorbing the Woodruff estate, it created the Jones Center at Ichauway, an ecological research enterprise.

1990s:

The Woodruff Foundation helped launch the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, funded Centennial Olympic Park, preserved thousands of acres of wildlife management areas statewide, extended the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area and encouraged the merger of Atlanta two children’s hospitals to create Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

2000s:

The Woodruff Foundation encouraged the creation of the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, provided $200 million to help save Grady Hospital, established Achieve Atlanta and helped make Winship Cancer Institute the first National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Georgia.

2010s:

The Woodruff family of foundations helped provide funding to create Historic Old 4th Ward Park, develop the Atlanta Beltline and helped Georgia Tech create Tech Square.

2020s:

The Woodruff family of foundations allocated $100 million for the development of affordable housing in Atlanta, and they announced an $80 million grant to help transform the Downtown campus of Georgia State University.