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Author Archives: Maria Saporta

Maria Saporta, executive editor, is a longtime Atlanta business, civic and urban affairs journalist with a deep knowledge of our city, our region and state. From 2008 to 2020, she wrote weekly columns and news stories for the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Prior to that, she spent 27 years with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, becoming its business columnist in 1991. Maria received her Master’s degree in urban studies from Georgia State and her Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Maria was born in Atlanta to European parents and has two young adult children. She launched SaportaReport in February 2009.
Posted inLatest News

Doug Shipman to join new BCG-BrightHouse venture after Center for Civil & Human Rights

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The mystery is now solved.

Doug Shipman, who recently announced he would be stepping down as the founding CEO of the Center for Civil and Human Rights – without disclosing his next move, will be the new CEO of BrightHouse LLC.

BrightHouse is the Atlanta-based “purpose-driven” consulting firm founded by Joey Reiman, a veteran marketing professional in Atlanta for decades.

Here is the interesting twist.

The Boston Consulting Group announced on Thursday that it is buying BrightHouse to “create a unique offering to help clients define their true purpose….”

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

In Toronto, Atlanta leaders find a city on steroids

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 22, 2015

(Editor’s note: A group of more than 100 Atlanta business and civic leaders visited Toronto, Canada, in early May on the LINK trip coordinated by the Atlanta Regional Commission. The trip’s aim is to learn how other cities are dealing with issues and challenges like those facing Atlanta. Atlanta Business Chronicle reporter Maria Saporta traveled with the group.)

Toronto is a city on steroids.

Although metro Atlanta is almost as large as Toronto (which has a population of 4.25 million compared to Atlanta’s 6 million), everything feels magnified in Canada’s largest city.

Posted inLatest News, Main Slider

Atlanta BeltLine Partnership closes out $12.5 million campaign for Westside Trail

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A gift of nearly $600,000 from Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson and his wife, Susan, helped close out the $12.5 million campaign to fund the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside Trail.

The private fundraising campaign was crucial in securing an $18 million TIGER V grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which is accelerating construction on the Westside Trail by two to three years.

Posted inLatest News, Main Slider

Georgia Research Alliance – 25 years of partnerships between academia, business and government

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It was June 6 (D-Day), 1990.

The Georgia Research Alliance was holding its first board meeting with Larry Gellerstedt Jr. chairing the meeting in the “war room” at the former offices of Central Atlanta Progress in the Hurt Building.

An “iconic” photo memorializing that historic first meeting adorned the cover of the workbooks of GRA members attending the board meeting May 21 at the Commerce Club to celebrate the organization’s 25-year anniversary.

Posted inColumns, Main Slider, Maria's Metro

Documenting history of three Atlanta mayors – starting with Ivan Allen Jr.’s legacy

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Three Atlanta mayors – three different legacies.

Their stories now are being captured in documentaries that will provide three varying perspectives on a pivotal era that catapulted our city from a small Southern town to the biggest city in the Southeast.

The three mayors – Ivan Allen Jr., Maynard H. Jackson Jr. and Andrew Young – all left an important signature on our city – all mayors who passionately cared about being strong stewards of Atlanta during their tenure.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Metro Chamber launches new marketing campaign

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 22, 2015

The Metro Atlanta Chamber’s new marketing campaign — officially unveiled at its board meeting on May 21 — can be defined as much by what it is not than by what it is.

For starters, you won’t see it on television commercials. And you won’t see a blitz with famous Atlantans selling the Atlanta region.

You won’t even see the Metro Atlanta Chamber brand anywhere on it. Although the initial funding for the campaign has come from the chamber’s Forward Atlanta fund, the business organization wanted to include chambers and economic developers from throughout its 29-county region to be part of the effort.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Column: Zoo Atlanta gets one of its largest-ever individual donations

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 15, 2015

In an unexpected gesture of generosity, David and Cecilia Ratcliffe have made a $1 million gift to Zoo Atlanta capital campaign – one of the largest donations it has ever received from an individual donor.

Ratcliffe, retired CEO of Southern Co., is serving as one of the three co-chairs of the “A Grand New View for Zoo Atlanta: Elephants, Events and Expansion” campaign along with Paul Bowers, CEO of Georgia Power, and Jim Hannan, CEO of Georgia-Pacific.

“When my wife and I looked at the project, it is one of the largest transitions in the zoo’s history,” Ratcliffe said about his gift.

Posted inColumns, Main Slider, Maria's Metro

An open letter to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed about Fort McPherson

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Honorable Mayor Reed,

When you issued your press release last week saying you welcomed a conversation on Fort McPherson – that you encouraged debate and dialogue based on facts – not fiction, I was delighted and greatly relieved.

An open, honest and fact-based debate about Fort McPherson is long overdue.

As you know, I believe Fort McPherson represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Atlanta. We have only one chance to get it right.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Meet the woman who runs the largest Atlanta company you’ve never heard of

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 15, 2015

Meet Mary Laschinger. She likely will be the first woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company based in Georgia.

Now meet Veritiv Corp. (NYSE: VRTV) – the company she runs. When Fortune includes this newly-formed public company on its Fortune 500 list, it likely will be ranked near No. 300 due to its annual sales of more than $9 billion – a higher rank than Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks.

Veritiv was established on July 1, 2014 – following a merger of International Paper’s xpedx division and Unisource Worldwide. Because it hasn’t been in business as a stand-alone entity for a full year, Veritiv probably won’t make this year’s Fortune 500 list.

But it’s only a matter of time.

Posted inLatest News, Main Slider

Local designers win Atlanta Bridgescape competition

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Winners of a design competition to retrofit and enhance two of Atlanta’s bridges over the Downtown Connector were announced Friday at the AIA national convention that is meeting in town this week.

The two winning designs – one for the 10th Street bridge in Midtown and the other for the Courtland-McGill bridge in downtown – were selected “blindly” by a panel of design professionals.

Posted inLatest News

Intercontinental Exchange closes annual meeting to press

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One of Atlanta’s highest-profile companies – Intercontinental Exchange Inc. – held its annual shareholders meeting Friday morning, but the press was not allowed in the meeting.

ICE, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, has the legal right to close off the meeting to the press.

But for a company that wants to play in the big leagues, it needs to start acting like the public entity that it is and open up its doors to the outside world.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Column: Purpose Built gets new leaders, expands mission

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 8, 2015

Purpose Built Communities, the Atlanta-based nonprofit that helps transform struggling urban neighborhoods, is undergoing a leadership transition and expanding its mission.

Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, who has been serving as chair and CEO of Purpose Built, will now become the nonprofit’s executive chairman.

Taking her place as CEO of Purpose Built is David Edwards, who joined the organization in June 2014 as a senior vice president. Carol Naughton, who also has been serving as a senior vice president, is being promoted to president.

Posted inLatest News

Fulton’s John Eaves asks AG Sam Olens to investigate ethical questions on City Council’s Keisha Bottoms role as executive director of Recreation Authority

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Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves is asking Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens to weigh in on the “potential ethical violation regarding the appointment of City of Atlanta Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms to serve as executive director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority.”

Eaves delivered a letter to Olens on Thursday asking for an investigation by the AG’s Law Department to “determine whether any ethical or legal provisions have been or may be violated by such appointment.”

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Displaced by Falcons, historic Friendship Church finds a new home

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on May 8, 2015

A historic Atlanta church displaced for the new Atlanta Falcons stadium has found a new home.

Friendship Baptist Church on May 3 unveiled plans for its new church on a site that’s now part of the Atlanta University Center.

The church, which dates back to 1862, sold its previoius, historic location at Mitchell Street and Northside Drive to the Falcons, who paid Friendship $19.5 million for the property.

Posted inLatest News, Main Slider

Plans to host Nobel Summit in Atlanta face new challenges

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Atlanta’s prospects of hosting the Nobel Peace Laureates Summit in November have become even more challenging as the deadline to present a solution to the international body has been extended until May 13.

Further complicating an already messy situation, three members resigned Friday from the board of Yunus Creative Labs – the entity that has been in charge of putting on the Summit. The three board members were Laura Turner Seydel, who had been chairing the host committee for the Nobel Peace Laureate Summit; Jason Carter, the grandson of 2002 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jimmy Carter; and Willis Potts, former chairman of the Georgia Board of Regents.

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