Articles from the Atlanta Business Chronicle
By Maria Saporta
Friday, January 27, 2012
Two-thirds of metro Atlantans donated money to causes that were important to them in the past year, 50 percent of local residents donated their time and 36 percent participated in political activities.
Those are just some of the findings of a new study done for the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta on the level of philanthropic investment and engagement in the Atlanta region.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, January 20, 2012
The tide has turned for the Georgia Research Alliance.
A year ago, the public-private research and innovation organization was fighting for survival. Gov. Nathan Deal had proposed in his first budget, which had been put together by the administration of former Gov. Sonny Perdue, to slash GRA’s funding from nearly $17 million to $4.5 million.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, January 20, 2012
A philosophical divide between Martin Luther King III and his younger siblings over plans to commercialize The King Center, a not-for-profit foundation, led to his decision to resign as president on Jan. 17.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, January 13, 2012
The historic Imperial Hotel is under new ownership.
A joint venture between Atlanta-based Columbia Residential and Columbus, Ohio-based National Church Residences negotiated an agreement with the state of Georgia and city of Atlanta to buy the building at 355 Peachtree St. downtown and rescue it from full foreclosure.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, January 13, 2012
In the 20 months that Martin Luther King III has been president and CEO of The King Center, he has been putting together a $100 million investment package for a major renovation of the 30-year old facility as well as plans to preserve his father’s legacy for generations to come.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, January 6, 2012
When Ed Heys becomes the new chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 9, he will take over an organization that has changed in several significant ways in just the past couple of years.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, January 6, 2012
Working closely with Gov. Nathan Deal and the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce is unveiling its ambitious legislative priority list in advance of its annual meeting Jan. 9 and its Eggs & Issues breakfast Jan. 10.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, December 30, 2011
The Atlanta Ballet is enjoying this holiday season, and it’s not just due to its annual crowd pleaser— “The Nutcracker.”
The Goizueta Foundation has awarded the Atlanta Ballet a $2 million grant — the second-largest single gift that the company has received in its 82-year history.
Arthur Jacobus, executive director of the Atlanta Ballet, said receiving the Goizueta gift was “a shining moment” for the organization.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, December 30, 2011
On his first day as the new president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of America on Jan. 2, Jim Clark will be in Hartford, Conn. — the site of the founding of the organization in 1860.
And on his second day on the job, Clark will visit the A. Worley Brown Club in Norcross, a demonstration of how important metro Atlanta is to the nation’s top nonprofit youth organization — a title it has held for 16 consecutive years.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, December 16, 2011
When Delta Air Lines Inc. recently hired Tad Hutcheson to be its new vice president of community affairs, it sent a welcome message to Atlanta and its key markets — the airline is strengthening its civic commitment.
Hutcheson recently resigned as vice president of marketing and sales of AirTran Airways, where he had been for nearly 15 years and become the discount carrier’s key person in Atlanta.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, December 16, 2011
When Lawrence Schall first saw the Gothic-style campus of Oglethorpe University in 2005, he thought to himself: “This is what colleges ought to look like.”
Indeed, today Oglethorpe University has found a successful niche as a private liberal arts college in an urban setting. It is exceeding just about every measure of academic achievement and financial security among its peer institutions.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, December 9, 2011
Because of the economic climate, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights will be built in phases rather than at one time.
The center’s board recently met and made two decisions — to go forward with the project with the money it has in hand and to have a business plan that will make the facility 100 percent self-sustaining the day it opens.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, December 2, 2011
The high-profile boutique law firm of Dillard & Galloway is dissolving as real estate attorney Doug Dillard and two other partners are joining the firm of Weissman, Nowack, Curry & Wilco.
At the same time, Dillard’s law partner for 28 years — Woody Galloway — is forming the Galloway Law Group, which
By Maria Saporta
Friday, December 2, 2011
After 100 days in Atlanta as the new president of CredAbility, Phil Baldwin is a study in contrasts — rural versus urban, rich versus poor, local versus national and international.
Baldwin is welcoming his new role of leading the Atlanta-based national nonprofit credit counseling organization as a way to help change the economic equation for Americans living on the financial edge.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, November 25, 2011
The perception of downtown is rising, according to a new survey commissioned by Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District.
The perception of public safety has shown strong improvement with 69 percent of the respondents saying that downtown was either “very safe” or “somewhat safe.” In 2002, only 61 percent felt that way; and in 1996, that number was only 55 percent.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, November 25, 2011
It’s a tale of the two Woodruffs — a relationship that spans the past five decades.
The latest chapter of the tale culminated with a $15 million gift from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation to the Woodruff Arts Center as a “vote of confidence” in the cultural organization’s transformation in governance and financial management.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, November 18, 2011
Southwest Airlines is sending a signal about its role as a civic player in Atlanta by accelerating and expanding AirTran Airways’ pledge to the Grady Health Foundation and Grady Memorial Hospital.
AirTran had made a five-year, $250,000 pledge to Grady in 2009, and it had already fulfilled $100,000 of that pledge when it was acquired by Southwest Airlines in May.
Southwest now is not only honoring AirTran’s pledge, but it is adding another $50,000 to the pot. It also is providing the entire gift at one time.
“AirTran did have this commitment to Grady, and we knew how important Grady is to Atlanta,” said Debra Benton,
By Maria Saporta
Friday, November 18, 2011
A major transformation is under way at the Atlanta History Center.
First, the center has initiated an international design competition to create a whole new look for its building on West Paces Ferry Road while improving several of its physical offerings. It has picked five design finalists, and the Atlanta History Center plans to select the winning architect and design by Dec. 1.
The center also is in the midst of a $27.4 million capital campaign to implement the new design. The campaign also will refresh and modernize the center’s Atlanta History Museum. The campaign includes $5 million to go toward the center’s endowment.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, November 11, 2011
One of metro Atlanta’s greatest economic engines is none other than Emory University.
The university recently commissioned New York-based Appleseed Inc. to conduct an independent, third-party review of its economic impact.
Emory President Jim Wagner said Nov. 8 that the university is the fourth-largest employer in metro Atlanta, with more than 23,300 jobs. Emory directly and indirectly supports nearly 50,000 jobs statewide.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, November 11, 2011
A small architecture firm in downtown Atlanta has become an international leader in the green building world.
The Epsten Group Inc., founded by Dagmar Epsten in 1991, also has developed two out of the 10 LEED Platinum projects in Georgia. Both of them have been for the firm’s own offices along Edgewood Avenue in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward community — just feet away from the Martin Luther King Jr. historic sites.
Platinum is the highest possible designation provided by the U.S. Green Building Council, which oversees the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications.
