Category: Sections

By Maria Saporta

Aaron’s Inc. has elected a woman to its all-male board — fulfilling a commitment that founder Charlie Loudermilk had made 18 months ago.

The lease-to-own retailer has elected Cynthia Day, the senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Atlanta-based Citizens Trust Bank.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Cynthia as a member of our board of directors,” said Robin Loudermilk, CEO and president of Aaron’s, in a statement.

“Cynthia has achieved remarkable success as the first woman to hold a COO position with Citizens Trust,” Loudermilk continued. “Her 20-year career in banking and finance is a

By Maria Saporta

The City Hall press conference for the BronzLens Film Festival Wednesday provided an opportunity to voice support for tax credits and incentives for the film and video industry in Georgia.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed thanked Gov. Nathan Deal, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston for keeping those tax credits in place.

As a result, the mayor said that in the past year, more than 250 films and video projects took place in Georgia contributing $1.5 billion to the state’s economy, employing 25,000 Georgians.

By Maria Saporta

Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson gave the annual United Way campaign speech to the Rotary Club of Atlanta Monday, but he also shared his insights on the airline industry and the U.S. economy.

Anderson is the 2011 campaign chair for Atlanta’s United Way — hoping that the community will raise a total of $80.4 million for the region’s social and human services.

The relationship between United Way and Rotary dates back to 1913, according to Milton Little, president of Atlanta’s United Way. United Way, then called Associated Charities, been founded in 1905 to help Atlantans survive a devastating ice storm. But my 1913, the organization had been had fallen on hard times.

By Maria Saporta

Renee Lewis Glover, the nationally-acclaimed CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority, is negotiating her departure from the organization after 17 years at its helm.

A statement from AHA stated that “the new board members appointed by Mayor Kasim Reed have made it clear that they would like to have change in leadership at the AHA, which is fully within the prerogative of the mayor and the board.”

Glover and members of the board have been working “cooperatively” to come up with a “mutually acceptable terms of separation and an orderly transition,” the statement continued.

Ever since Reed was elected mayor, there has been an estrangement with AHA. The mayor never found time in his schedule to meet one-on-one with Glover. Also, he began appointing board members who regularly challenged Glover’s leadership and her policies in running the organization.

By Maria Saporta

Indianapolis, Ind. — Atlanta developer Tom Cousins witnessed first-hand the early phases of the “miracle” that he pulled off in the transformation of East Lake community at the Avondale Meadows community in the northeast section of Indianapolis.

In an effort to spread the success to cities across the country, Cousins founded Purpose Built Communities; and he was able to get philanthropic support from two business superstars — billionaire Warren Buffett and former hedge fund leader Julian Robertson.

On Wednesday, the three investors in Purpose Built Communities were able to cut the ribbon on Avondale Meadow’s community center at the East Village — a mixed income development that is replacing a neighborhood that had five public housing projects and had become a haven for crime and poverty.

By Maria Saporta

While most other industries in Georgia have been contracting, one industry is booming — the bioscience industry.

At Georgia Bio’s Life Sciences Summit at AmericasMart on Tuesday, the results of a new economic impact study by University of Georgia economist Jeff Humphries were released.

The study showed that the life sciences industry has a $19.5 billion impact annual in Georgia — leading to 18,000 direct jobs and 75,000 direct and indirect. Those jobs pay $4.4 billion in salaries and generate $500 million in state and local taxes.

By Maria Saporta

The City of Atlanta has won a major decision in the federal case involving the Metropolitan Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless.

The Task Force has owned and operated the homeless shelter at the corner of Peachtree and Pine streets in downtown Atlanta.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash ruled in favor of the city in every element of the lawsuit, concluding that the Task Force owed the city $147,288.73 in past due water bills.

By Maria Saporta

The Clean Air Campaign will soon have a new executive director — Tedra Cheatham, currently the chief operating officer for the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce.

Cheatham will succeed Kevin Green, who was selected in May to be president and CEO of the Midtown Alliance.

The Clean Air Campaign conducted a search with the help of the Goodwin Group firm.

“At the end of the day, Tedra was the perfect fit,” said Renay Blumenthal, who chairs the Clean Air Campaign’s board. “Tedra’s experience as a leader, a convener and a conduit for advancing positive growth will be instrumental as the Clean Air Campaign works to accomplish its mission.”

By Maria Saporta

The Latin American Chamber of Commerce of Georgia welcomed its newest star to town.

Alex Meruelo, president and CEO of Meruelo Enterprises, has reached an agreement to buy the Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena.

If the sale is approved by the National Basketball Association, Meruelo would become the first Hispanic majority owner of a NBA team.

At a reception Wednesday evening at the Buckhead Club, top Latin business leaders got an opportunity to visit one-on-one with Meruelo, whose diversified investment holding company based in Southern California.

By Maria Saporta

Georgia needs to extend the same kind of tax credits to the music industry as it has the film and video industry.

That was one of the themes that three veterans of Georgia’s music industry share with members of the Rotary Club of Atlanta at the Monday luncheon.

The members of the panel included:

Joel Katz, a high-powered Atlanta-based entertainment attorney with Greenberg-Traurig, has been a major player in Georgia’s music scene for decades;

Dallas Austin, a songwriter, music producer, filmmaker, movie producer and musician who helped turn Atlanta into a center for urban music through the hip hop label LaFace and working with a number of local and national acts; and

Chuck Leavell, a Georgia tree farmer and keyboardist who has played with the Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, George Harrison and has been touring with the Rolling Stones for three decades.

By Maria Saporta

The Georgia Department of Economic Development elected a new chair — Charles Tarbutton — at its board meeting on Sept. 16.

Tarbutton, who has been serving as vice chairman of the GDEcD board, is assistant vice president of the Sandersville Railroad Co., a short-line freight railroad primarily serving kaolin, forest products and plastics industries in Central Georgia.

In 2008, Tarbutton served as chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

Tarbutton succeeds Ben Hinson, who is president and owner of Mid Georgia Ambulance in Macon. He had served on the economic development board since 2007.

By Maria Saporta

The Metro Atlanta Chamber has named Paul Bowers, president and CEO of Georgia, to become its chair for 2013.

Bowers, who became president of Georgia Power on Jan. 1, has quickly emerged into one of the state’s key business leaders.

In addition to his upcoming role at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Bowers has been asked by Gov. Nathan Deal to help in the water negotiations between Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

Bowers also was instrumental is getting former Georgia Chancellor Erroll Davis to become the interim superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools; and he has become involved in efforts to raise money to develop the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta.

By Maria Saporta

One of the nation’s business leaders — Jeff Immelt — told Atlanta executives Wednesday that if they want their companies to thrive, they can’t sit on the sidelines unwilling to invest in the future.

Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE (General Electric), also is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, an appointment made in January.

“If you are not investing, you are going to lose because there’s no great tailwind,” Immelt said. “If you are waiting on Washington to be confident again, really you are better off watching reruns of a Falcons game. I don’t think it (an economic recovery) is going to come from Washington. It’s got to come from you. We need confidence.”

Immelt was the guest of the Metro Atlanta Chamber at one of its Insights on Leadership programs. He was interviewed by Metro Atlanta Chamber President Sam Williams on a variety of