Category: Contributors

Many in Atlanta’s business community were shocked May 20 when Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed unexpectedly terminated Miguel Southwell, aviation general manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

We obtained the city’s termination letter to Southwell.

Newly updated
CHARLOTTE – Atlanta has won the Super Bowl for 2019.

A relieved contingent of Atlanta leaders celebrated after the 32 owners of the National Football League awarded the city the Super Bowl – Atlanta’s third ever.

Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons, at a press conference after the four-ballot vote, said he felt as though he was at the Academy Awards – needing to thank everyone who had played a part in getting Atlanta to this moment.

A marquis member of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration is out of a job.

The City of Atlanta issued a release late Friday stating that “Miguel Southwell’s service as Aviation General Manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has ended.”

The statement did not explain why Southwell was leaving the post.

The new president and chief operating officer of privately-owned Chick-fil-A ­– Tim Tassopoulos – is part of the chain’s family that one can be without being related by blood.

He was only 17 in 1977 when he first started working as an hourly employee for a Chick-fil-A store at North DeKalb Mall. He had applied there as a back-up when applying for a job at Rich’s and decided to have lunch at his favorite restaurant.

A special guest attended Home Depot’s annual meeting Thursday morning – co-founder Arthur Blank
It was only the second annual meeting that Blank had attended since he left the company in 2002. The last time was in 2008 – the first year that Frank Blake was CEO of the home-improvement company.
“They are doing a fabulous job,” Blank said adding that “fabulous” was an inadequate word to describe how well the company was doing.

The Coca-Cola Co. took Atlantans back in time Monday when they adorned a building a Five Points with a life-sized photo depicting the long-ago demolished Jacob’s Pharmacy where Coke was first served and sold on May 8, 1886.

Jacob’s Pharmacy stood at 12 Marietta St. at Five Points, what has been the historic heart of Atlanta.

As Atlanta’s top business and civic leaders officially welcomed Operation HOPE moving its global headquarters in the city, the conversation quickly turned to equity.

The welcome luncheon was held Monday at the Federal Reserve of Atlanta, a rather elegant setting to talk about poverty along with financial inclusion and literacy. Operation Hope also announced Atlanta Uplift 2020 – to help make it a model city of lifting people out of poverty.

The Dallas metro area showed regional Atlanta leaders Friday that connecting suburban cities with rail transit can invigorate and strengthen those communities.

Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, who was mayor when the LINK delegation last came to this Texas city in 1999, said the Atlanta region and the Dallas-Fort Worth have much in common.

“We are two regions that have a lot of high class problems,” said Kirk, referring to the two fast-growing Sun Belt cities that are trying to have their infrastructure keep up with their growth.

Somewhat grudgingly, the mayors of Dallas and Fort Worth on Wednesday paid tribute to Atlanta when addressing the LINK group visiting their respective cities.

But both mayors were quick to remind the 110 regional Atlanta leaders that they were in the presence of strong competition.

On the 20th anniversary of the regional LINK trips to different North American cities, the 2016 delegation arrived ahead of schedule Wednesday – giving the group an opportunity to tour Sundance Square in downtown Forth Worth.

“Look how clean it is,” remarked Emory Morsberger, head of the Stone Mountain Community Improvement District. “I don’t even see any cigarette butts on the ground.”