Posted inLatest News, Maria Saporta

Coca-Cola on track to reach water neutral milestone by year end

In 2007, the Coca-Cola Co. pledged to return 100 percent of the water it uses by 2020.

The soft drink company is announcing on Tuesday at the World Water Week in Stockholm that it expects to meet that ambitious goal by the end of the year.

Its combined efforts have put Coca-Cola on track to be the first global food and beverage company to replenish all the water it uses back to communities and nature.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Column: Georgia Power adds some juice to Zoo Atlanta campaign

By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 21, 2015

Zoo Atlanta continues to get help from its friends.

It has just received a $1 million gift from the Georgia Power Foundation as part of the $20 million capital campaign called “A Grand New View: Elephants, Events and Expansion.”

That brings the total fundraising so far to $6 million, according to Raymond King, president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta.

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Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed: We are going to find a way to preserve Gaines Hall

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed pledged to do all he could to preserve the historic Gaines Hall on the Morris Brown campus.

Gaines Hall, which was built in 1869 and was one of the original buildings in the Atlanta University campus, caught on fire last Thursday evening. Gaines Hall currently is owned by Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development agency which acquired the building earlier this year as part of the Morris Brown College property sale.

Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta

Mercedes Benz putting its name on new Atlanta football and soccer stadium

Mercedes Benz and the AMB Sports & Entertainment (owner of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United) announced a 27-year naming rights agreement Monday morning.

But neither side disclosed the dollar value of the deal – which will extend through 2042 – two years between now and when the stadium opens in 2017 plus 25 years.

Posted inLatest News, Maria Saporta

Preservationists: Save Gaines Hall – one of Atlanta’s most significant buildings

Gaines Hall – one of the most significant historic buildings in Atlanta – must be saved.

That is the “rallying cry” from two leading preservationists about the 1869 vacant dormitory on the Morris Brown campus that went up in flames Thursday night.

Mark McDonald, president and CEO of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation; and Sheffield Hale, president and CEO of the Atlanta History Center; went together to see Gaines Hall on Friday to see for themselves the extent of the damage.

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President Jimmy Carter – a man at peace with his life

A calm and composed President Jimmy Carter faced the media Thursday morning to update the world about his cancer and answer as many questions as he could.

The briefing attracted an onslaught of national and local media attention – probably more than the Carter Center has seen in decades – despite all the significant initiatives that the former president has launched from his base in Atlanta.

Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta

Atlanta reaches milestone – 100 million square feet in Better Buildings Challenge

Thanks to several new partners, the City of Atlanta’s Better Buildings Challenge has passed a milestone – 100 million square feet.

That means owners of buildings totaling 100 million square feet have agreed to reduce energy and water consumption by 20 percent by 2020 – using 2010 as a baseline.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Column: Atlanta groups to spearhead Gates-funded effort to save kids

By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 14, 2015

Several Atlanta public health organizations are leading an effort sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to curb infant mortality around the world.

Gates is funding the initiative – Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) – with a $75 million grant for the first three years. The intention is for the program to be in place for 20 years. As it steps up its operations around the world, it is estimated that it could cost about $50 million a year. That would total $1 billion – as large a gift as the Gates have ever made.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Merger of Coke bottlers will cost Atlanta Coca-Cola Enterprises’ HQ

By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 14, 2015

Ever since the formation of the “new” Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. in 2010, a lingering question has been whether the company would keep its headquarters in Atlanta. Despite all of CCE’s bottling business now being based Europe, CEO John Brock has insisted that keeping the headquarters in Atlanta made sense.

Until now.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Column: Board appointment strengthens ties between Coke, Delta

By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 7, 2015

Back in January 1991, when then-Delta Air Lines CEO Ron Allen was named to the board of The Coca-Cola Co., it provided a closer link between two signature Atlanta companies.

Now Delta has made a similar move. The airline announced July 24 that Kathy N. Waller, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Coca-Cola, is joining its board.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle

Georgia makes its pitch for GE headquarters

By Maria Saporta and Douglas Sams
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 7, 2015

State economic development officials have made their pitch to General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) to relocate its Connecticut headquarters to Atlanta.

The meeting with General Electric took place the week of July 27 in Fairfield, Conn. and involved the company’s committee investigating its options to relocate, Atlanta Business Chronicle has learned from sources familiar with the discussions.

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Atlanta to move on Peachtree Pine shelter as Obama administration intervenes on behalf of homeless in Idaho

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has said Atlanta will condemn a homeless shelter located at the corner of Peachtree and Pine streets because controversy has lingered, “too long.” Meanwhile, the Obama administration has filed a brief in a federal lawsuit in favor of the rights of homeless persons.

Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta

Coca-Cola names James Quincey as president and COO; stops short of saying he will succeed Muhtar Kent as CEO

The Coca-Cola Co. Thursday named James Quincey, president of its Europe Group who has spent 19 years with the soft-drink company, as its new president and chief operating officer.

“We haven’t had a president since 2007,” Coca-Cola’s Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent said in a media conference call Thursday morning. “It’s great to have someone of James’ caliber to take over.”

But Kent stopped short of naming Quincey the heir apparent of the company.

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