Category: Sections

By Maria Saporta

In the end, it all came down to becoming CEO.

Suzanne Sitherwood, who has spent 31 years at AGL Resources — most recently as president of Atlanta Gas Light, will join St. Louis-based Laclede Group, first as its president and then as its CEO.

Laclede, a natural gas holding company that’s remarkably similar in scope to AGL Resources, announced earlier this week that its chairman and CEO Douglas Yaeger was planning to retire Jan. 31, 2012.

Sitherwood will become Laclede’s president on Sept. 1, and then she’ll become the company’s CEO on Feb. 1, 2012.

In a wide-ranging interview, Sitherwood spoke of her mixed emotions in leaving Georgia and AGL Resources, where she has become one of the most important women executives in the state.

By Maria Saporta

After a couple of bleak years, it appears that charitable giving is coming back.

That was the message at a recent presentation by David King, a board member of the Giving USA Foundation, which conducts an annual study on philanthropic trends.

In 2010, there was $290.89 billion in charitable giving, a 3.8 percent increase in current dollars over 2009. The total giving in 2009 was $280.30 billion.

“Most definitely, things have turned around,” said King, managing partner and president of Alexander Haas Martin & Partners, after his presentation at Oglethorpe University. “The worst is over, but I don’t think we are going to get back to where we were in 2007 in the near future.”

By Maria Saporta

Now the hard work begins — shrinking a wish list of $22.9 billion worth of transportation projects into a list that is estimated to cost a total of $6.14 billion over the next 10 years.

But numerous questions remain.

At Monday’s Fulton County Transportation Summit, it was clear that a division exists among leaders in the county.

Virtually the whole meeting was dedicated to discussing the future of rail transportation in the region.

But several mayors in north Fulton have already been expressed their displeasure with the proposed tax because they already pay a one-penny sales tax.

By Maria Saporta

It’s official.

The Atlanta Board of Education voted Monday to name Erroll Davis, the outgoing chancellor for the Georgia Board of Regents, as the interim school superintendent (see previous posts in Latest Reports).

In an 8-0 vote (one board member was out of town), the school board picked Davis to succeed Superintendent Beverly Hall, whose last day will be June 30. By the way, Davis’ last day as chancellor also will be June 30, and he will become the interim on July 1.

Meanwhile, the board also is continuing its search for a permanent superintendent. It will interview three finalists for the position on Friday, but Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said he will not support any superintendent that has been selected under the current governance of the Atlanta Board of Education.

By Maria Saporta

The Atlanta Committee for Progress, at its regular quarterly meeting Monday morning, weighed in on the current situation of the Atlanta Public Schools by strongly supporting a plan to name outgoing Georgia Board of Regents Chancellor Erroll Davis as the interim superintendent.

“Because of his impeccable credentials, many of us see Mr. Davis as offering a lot of stability and affording us the time to do a national search for a best in class superintendent to serve the long term needs of the students in the Atlanta public schools,” said Phil Kent, ACP’s chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting.

Kent went on to say that Davis has strong support from Gov. Nathan Deal, the philanthropic community and a broad group of organizations, including 100 Black Men of Atlanta, which initially presented his name.

By Maria Saporta

In a luncheon talk to the Atlanta Press Club Wednesday, Bernie Marcus announced plans to build a school to serve children with autism.

Marcus, co-founder of the Home Depot and a leading philanthropist, founded the Marcus Institute in 1990 to serve children with developmental disabilities.

Since then, the facility has focused its efforts on children with autism. Also, Marcus then turned the Marcus Center to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to give it greater stability.

“This morning, I had a meeting about actually taking the Marcus Autism Center and taking it to education,” Marcus told the Atlanta Press Club Wednesday. “We are probably going to open a school very shortly for children with autism.”

By Maria Saporta

Shareholders of AGL Resources Tuesday morning approved the pending merger between the Atlanta-based natural gas company and Nicor Inc., which is based in Naperville, Ill.

The meeting was relatively short as more than 90 percent of the votes cast approved the merger. There were no questions from shareholders during the meeting.

About 95 percent of the shares cast approved increasing the number of AGL board seats from 15 to 16. Currently, AGL has 12 directors. The vote will permit ACL to add four members of Nicor’s board to the board of the merged company.

By Maria Saporta

The name of Erroll Davis Jr., former Chancellor of the Georgia Board of Regents, is being put forth to be the interim superintendent for the Atlanta Public Schools.

Among the organizations supporting Davis for the sensitive position is 100 Black Men of Atlanta.

Gregory Hawkins, chairman of 100 Black Men of Atlanta, sent a letter to the search firm involved in helping select the leadership for APS strongly recommending Davis for the interim post.

The letter stated that Davis “has a proven track record in the education and academic arena serving in his former position since early 2006.”

By Maria Saporta

There was lots of patting on the back at he Rotary Club of Atlanta’s luncheon Monday with Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as the keynote speaker.

Donohue was introduced by Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, who said Donohue was “making an incredible difference in Washington.”

Williams also told a story of when Donohue, president and CEO of the American Trucking Association, was being considered for the top chamber job in 1997.

By Maria Saporta

Transit and alternative modes of transportation should make up half of the project list now being put together by the Metro Atlanta Regional Roundtable.

That’s the position taken in a “white paper” prepared by the Livable Communities Coalition and its Fair Share for Transit Initiative that is being presented to the roundtable in time for its meeting Thursday morning.

The roundtable’s project list will be on the ballot in 2012 as part of the one penny regional transportation sales tax. The roundtable will have to complete its proposed list by Oct. 15 of this year.

By Maria Saporta

Forty years ago, voters in Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton counties said “no” to MARTA — and that led to the rail transit system being built in only two counties — Fulton and DeKalb.

Fast forward to 2011. On Wednesday morning, leaders in Cobb, Gwinnett and Fulton held a summit to encourage the development of a regional transit system — especially in the north metro area.

The Metro Atlanta Northern Crescent Transit Summit is the outgrowth of a growing partnership between the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce, the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce and the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce as well as government leaders in those jurisdictions.

By Maria Saporta

Maybe it’s a good sign for Home Depot that its annual meeting Thursday morning only lasted 70 minutes.

The low-key annual meeting hit a poignant emotional note when Home Depot Chairman and CEO Frank Blake introduced four associates from Joplin, Mo. Blake awarded them with the company’s “Angel Award” in the name of their fellow associate, Dean Wells, who died during massive tornado while trying to protect customers.

Shareholders gave the Joplin associates a long and enthusiastic standing ovation, and they applauded when Blake spoke about Joplin, saying: “We are committed to the community, and we’re rebuilding that store.”

Overall, the comments and questions from shareholders were respectful and thoughtful — sometimes from opposite ends of the