Author Archives: Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood likes his job, and he likes Atlanta.

Both facts were obvious on Tuesday during the 26th International Air Cargo Forum & Exposition, which is being held in Atlanta through Thursday. Interestingly enough, Atlanta was the site of the very first International Air Cargo Forum in 1962, and the convention returned to the city 50 years later.

After being introduced by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, LaHood told the crowd that Reed was one of his favorite mayors.

By Maria Saporta

Although he was not physically present, Ted Turner was a guest of honor at Monday’s 20th birthday celebration for the Cartoon Network.

Turner, however, did appear on video, saying he was sorry he couldn’t be with the hundreds of employees who gathered in a large studio on the Turner campus off 10th Street. When he said he couldn’t be there, there was a disappointed “ahhh” from the crowd.

Turner reminded the Cartoon Network employees and executives that they were standing in “the very spot where we launched the network 20 years ago.” And then he asked everyone to have a piece of cake for him.

By Maria Saporta

Although Georgia is becoming a national center for the diagnosis and treatment of autism, the state lags behind most of the other states in the nation when it comes to providing insurance for autism.

And there’s little hope that will change anytime soon.

In a story about Atlanta being designated as an Autism Center of Excellence by the National Institutes of Health, philanthropist Bernie Marcus, founder of the Marcus Autism Center, put it this way — although 33 states offer insurance coverage for children with autism, “Georgia is not one of them.”

By Maria Saporta

MARTA’s Beverly Scott has been chosen as the new general manager of Boston’s MBTA, according to the State House News Service on the website of WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation board voted unanimously to hire Scott following public interviews with Scott and her fellow finalist, Dwight Ferrell, MARTA’s COO. Ferrell had been a finalist to succeed Scott as MARTA’s general manager, but he did not make the cut to the final two candidates.

Scott will begin her job running one of the top five transit systems in the country on Dec. 15, almost the exact date of when her five-year contract with MARTA runs out. According to WBUR, Scott will earn $220,000 a year under a three-year contract.

By Maria Saporta

An Atlanta-based coalition of institutions will receive a grant of $8.3 million from the National Institutes of Health — creating a new Autism Research Center of Excellence, only one of three in the country.

Gov. Nathan Deal will announce the “transformational grant” on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 10:30 a.m. in the north wing of the Georgia State Capitol.

The grant only reinforces the work that is underway on autism research and treatment through an Atlanta coalition that includes the Marcus Autism Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University’s School of Medicine and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory.

By Maria Saporta

Long-time Georgia economic development leader Annie Hunt Burriss is leaving the state to become CEO for George Mason University’s Prince William campus — an institution with about 4,000 students on a 134-acre campus about 30 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.

Most recently, Burriss has been director of economic development for the Georgia Health Sciences University, where she has worked since 2007.

“I never dreamed I would be leaving Georgia,” Burriss said. “I’m an 8th generation Georgian.”

By Maria Saporta

Community empowerment was the theme at the fourth annual Neighborhood Summit held Saturday at the Loudermilk Center.

More than 400 people from 23 metro counties came to learn about how they could effect change within their communities by accessing new web-based tools that now are bringing sophisticated information to help them better understand their neighborhoods.

“This is my favorite day of the year,” proclaimed Alicia Philipp, president of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, which put together the event. “This is what community is all about.”

By Maria Saporta

At its 9th annual luncheon, for the first time ever, the Turknett Leadership Character Awards gave a “Lifetime Achievement Award” — an honor awarded to the deserving Frank Skinner, a long-time leader and a retired CEO of BellSouth Telecommunications.

The awards were held today at the Georgia Aquarium at an event put on by the Turknett Leadership Group, a talent management firm based in Atlanta. The company has been presenting leadership awards since 2003.

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta Gas Light has new president — Bryan Batson — who has been serving as AGL Resource’s senior vice president of commercial operations.

Batson is succeeding Steve Lindsey, who is leaving the company to join the St. Louis-based Laclede Group. Interestingly enough, Lindsey became president of Atlanta Gas Light last December after his predecessor, Suzanne Sitherwood, left to become Laclede’s president. She was named Laclede’s CEO earlier this year.

In addition to serving as president of Atlanta Gas Light, Batson also will serve as president of Chattanooga Gas and Florida City Gas as well as vice president of Southern Operations for AGL Resources.

By Maria Saporta

The fourth annual Neighborhood Summit will have representatives from all 23 counties when about 400 metro residents will convene Saturday morning, Sept. 22 at the Loudermilk Center in downtown Atlanta.

The summit, which is being put on by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, is themed: “Information: the Power to Transform Communities.” Participants will attend workshops on how to harness the power of information, including data, stories, maps and knowledge to better understand and transform their communities.

By Maria Saporta

Update: MARTA’s board of directors announced its two finalists this afternoon. The press release is at the bottom of this story.

Any day now, MARTA is expected to publicly announce its two finalists for general manager. Beverly Scott, who has been general manager for the past five years, is leaving at the end of the year.

The two finalists are thought to be: Keith Parker, president and CEO of VIA Metropolitan Transit in San Antonio; and Stephen Bland, CEO of the Port Authority of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh.

By Maria Saporta

Athens — The third annual GeorgiaForward forum provided a spotlight on what victory looks like.

Three of the 12 regions in Georgia voted to pass a regional transportation sales tax during the primary vote on July 31.

One of those regions was the River Valley District — also known as the Greater Columbus region. In fact, voters in the Columbus region passed the tax with the highest margin of the three — 54.3 percent in favor versus 45.7 percent against.