Articles by Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on July 7, 2017
When Delta Air Lines held its annual meeting in New York City at 7:30 a.m. on June 29, former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin was not there.
Franklin had just spent the better part of two days attending events and meetings for Delta directors including a dinner June 27 to bid her farewell from the board. She, along with fellow director Kenneth Woodrow, had reached the mandatory retirement age of 72.
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on June 30, 2017
As The Coca-Cola Co. undergoes a transformation of its business and scales down by 1,200 positions — mainly at its corporate headquarters, there has been concern about the company’s commitment to Atlanta.
Never fear.
That’s according to the key individuals who head the company’s civic efforts: Bea Perez, chief public affairs, communications and sustainability officer who also chairs the Coca-Cola Foundation; and Helen Smith Price, vice president of global community affairs and president of the Coca-Cola Foundation.
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on June 30, 2017
The new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta — Raphael Bostic — could title his new post after Monty Python’s 1971 comedy film — And Now for Something Completely Different.
Bostic is the first African-American to ever be named as president of one of the 12 regional Fed banks. In addition to that, he also is an openly gay man who is well aware of the symbolism and reality of both positions.
By Maria Saporta The City of Atlanta has selected Charleston, S.C.-based Biohabitats to develop the Urban Ecology Framework for the city. Through the city’s framework, Biohabitats will determine what aspects of nature in Atlanta should be preserved, restored and accentuated by the public realm. Biohabitats’ founder and president, Keith Bowers, will be leading the work […]
Note to readers: Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and his administration Friday morning released a response to Maria Saporta’s Metro column that posted earlier this week. We at SaportaReport welcome the conversation about parks and green space, and the column was intended as a challenge for the next mayor to dream big. It was not intended to be a critique of the Reed administration and what has been the significant progress that has occurred in the past seven years – as the Mayor’s administration outlines in its release below.
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on June 23, 2017
Atlanta-based Friendship Force International is celebrating its 40th anniversary by launching a $1 million fundraising campaign.
Friendship Force is a pioneer in promoting global understanding through the citizen homestay experience. Its 40th anniversary campaign will seek to develop new initiatives to involve more people to travel with a purpose to create a more peaceful world.
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on June 23, 2017
History is being remade at the Atlanta History Center.
The Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama painting and the locomotive Texas now are anchored in the new Lloyd and Mary Ann Whitaker building — still under construction — on the Atlanta History Center’s Buckhead campus.
The move caps the extraordinary five-year tenure Sheffield Hale has held as president and CEO of the Atlanta History Center.
NEW YORK – The annual meeting of Delta Air Lines Friday morning became a high-flying affair as CEO Ed Bastian declared two all-time records.
The company’s market cap is approaching $40 billion, and Bastian said: “Last night, we closed at an all-time high.”
And then on Friday, Delta was expecting its busiest day ever.
“We will be flying 651,000 passengers,” Bastian said in a brief interview after the annual meeting. “It’s the highest in our history.”
The board of trustees of Morehouse College Monday voted unanimously Monday to name Harold Martin Jr. as the interim president of the institution.
Martin, who has been serving as secretary of the board, follows the sudden death of former interim President William J. “Bill” Taggart on June 7.
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on June 16, 2017
The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta has named Literacy Action and Trees Atlanta as the recipients of its 33rd annual “Managing for Excellence” awards.
The recognition is one of the most sought-after awards among Atlanta’s nonprofit organizations. The Community Foundation rewards nonprofits that are exceptionally well-run with outstanding management and governance practices combined with innovative thinking.
The Los Angeles-based CIM Group will develop at $1 billion mixed-use project around a renovated Philips Arena, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said in an exclusive interview Friday.
One of the key principals of the CIM Group is Richard Ressler, the brother of Tony Ressler, the majority owner of the Atlanta Hawks.
Reed confirmed the “transformative project” during an interview after the quarterly meeting of the Atlanta Committee for Progress, held at the Ponce City Market offices of Cox Enterprises on Friday morning. It also was Tony Ressler’s first ACP meeting.
After nearly a decade of legal battles between various parties, a settlement has been reached that will lead to the closing of the Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter, according to several sources close to the transaction.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall apparently signed a consent decree on Wednesday, but different parties did not want to discuss the settlement on the record until they had seen the signed agreement
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on June 16, 2017
Atlanta’s role as a leading hub for global health held center-stage during the 2017 Rotary International convention – an event where nearly 36,000 Rotarians, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and numerous other partners committed another $1.2 billion towards the efforts of eradicating polio over the next three years.
Atlanta was the perfect venue for that announcement. It was here where Rotary first launched its foundation 100 years ago – a centennial celebrated at the culmination of the convention with birthday parties on June 14.
Following the cue of several of his colleagues, Milton Little, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Atlanta, will be taking a three-month sabbatical starting June 21.
Little said he will use the time to do some traveling, perhaps overseas; help his 18-year-old son prepare to enter his freshman year at Howard University; and spend “a lot of time reflecting and planning for the United Way of the next 10 years.”
Friends, colleagues and family gathered at the Mason Art Gallery Sunday afternoon to remember one of Atlanta’s unapologetic liberals – Tom Teepen.
Teepen, editorial page editor of the Dayton Daily News, became an Atlantan when he joined the Atlanta Constitution’s editorial page in 1982, soon becoming its editor. He later served as a syndicated political columnist for Cox Enterprises until he retired in 2002.
UPDATED.
Stunned by the sudden loss of interim President Bill Taggart, leaders of Morehouse College pledged to do everything they can to keep the institution strong.
A service for Taggart, who died suddenly on June 7 of an apparent brain aneurism, was held on Friday at the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel on the Morehouse campus.
“Things happen for a reason,” said Willie Woods, who was elected chairman of the Morehouse Board of Trustee at the same tumultuous time Taggart was named interim president. “The sad part is that we are going to miss Bill’s leadership.”
By Maria Saporta The Piedmont Park Conservancy, through the generosity of the Vasser Woolley Foundation, has replaced the park’s popular “Climbing Magnolia” tree. The original Magnolia tree was one of most popular attractions in Piedmont Park – a perfect size with outstretched limbs that embraced children, and even adults, inviting them to climb. It also […]
General Electric Co. has named Russell Stokes, its highest-ranking executive in Georgia, as the new CEO of GE Power, the company’s New York-based unit responsible for power generation and water technologies. But Stokes — who will lead the Metro Atlanta Chamber in 2018 — will continue to be based in Atlanta.
Stokes, currently president and CEO of GE Energy Connections, will take over GE Power on July 3.
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on June 9, 2017
Retired Genuine Parts Co. executive and philanthropist Wilton Looney has given $1 million to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in honor of his late wife Martha Looney. “Fortunately we talked about it just before she died [in October 2016], and she agreed,” Looney said in a telephone interview June 6. “It’s just something we wanted to do.”
Memorial services for William “Bill” Taggart, an Atlanta business and civic leader who died suddenly on June 7, will be held on Friday, June 16 at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College at 830 Westview Drive S.W.
Since April, Taggart was serving as the interim president of Morehouse College. He also held several important roles in the community, such as chairman of the Atlanta Business League and on the board of the Westside Future Fund.
