By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on November 15, 2013
When it comes to new stadium negotiations, the Atlanta Braves and Cobb County officials are in the early innings of what could be a long game.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on November 1, 2013
The Atlanta Girls’ School has named Ayanna Hill-Gill, currently head of the Purnell School in Pottersville, N.J., as its new head beginning July 1, 2014.
Hill-Gill has worked at Purnell in various positions for 19 years and served as its head of school since 2007. The all-girls boarding school serves about 100 students in the ninth to 12th grades.
By Guest Columnist JIM KEGLEY, president and CEO of U.S. Micro — the four-year presenting sponsor of Art on the Atlanta BeltLine
Study after study confirms what we instinctively know: talent – particularly young, mobile talent – is drawn to dense, walkable, city neighborhoods. Companies increasingly seek these urban environments that encourage the sort of chance encounters between talented people that lead to innovation and boost productivity.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on October 4, 2013,
The Woodruff Arts Center has tapped Steve Cahillane, president of Coca-Cola Americas, to head its 2014-2015 annual campaign. He will succeed William H. Rogers Jr., president and CEO of SunTrust Banks, who is the current chair of the campaign.
Atlanta’s business and civic leaders are generally satisfied with the performance of the mayor and most councilmembers, according to a score sheet of incumbents and challengers released in advance of the Nov. 5 municipal election.
Mayor Kasim Reed received a score of 99 out of 100, for a rating of “excellent.” Council President Ceasar Mitchell received a score of 92, “excellent.”
In the campaigns for three citywide council posts, Councilmember Aaron Watson received a score of 95 and challenger Mary Norwood, a former councilmember and mayoral candidate, received a score of 86; Councilmember H. Lamar Willis received a score 92 and challenger Andre Dickens received a score of 83; Councilperson Michael Julian Bond, who is unopposed, received a score of 91.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on September 20, 2013,
The United Way of Greater Atlanta decided to go virtual this year when kicking off its annual fundraising campaign on Sept. 18.
It also is making another major change — it is revising its annual campaign goal to include only workplace giving and not government and philanthropic grants.
Gov. Nathan Deal announced Thursday, on the first day of his trade mission to Asia, that a leading Chinese phosphates producer will open its U.S. headquarters and a manufacturing plant in Effingham County.
The agreement continues Georgia’s traditional efforts to secure foreign direct investment. This trip also intends to foster China’s tourism to Georgia, and nurture the relationship with Georgia’s second-largest export market.
The trip represents Georgia’s attention to China, the world’s largest travel spender and soon-to-be top oil importer. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed led a trade mission to China in March 2012, aiming to focus the country’s importers on metro Atlanta’s offerings such as bio-tech products and engineering services.
By Maria Saporta
The decision to build a new football stadium on the north or south site is heading down parallel tracks this week.
The Georgia World Congress Center and the City of Atlanta will be meeting to talk about the situation with Mount Vernon Baptist Church, which would have to be acquired for the stadium to be built on the south site.
The state and the church, according to the latest reported offers, are $14 million apart. The state had offered Mount Vernon $6.2 million while the church was asking for $20.3 million. Mount Vernon will be holding a family meeting to discuss the situation among themselves on Aug. 13.
By Guest Columnist STACEY KEY, president and CEO of the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council
Atlanta has a long history of significant business ventures that transform the face of the city. From Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, our legacy is rich with opportunities for diverse participation in large-scale projects. Our next opportunity will occur with the new Falcons Stadium.
The Falcons recently released an Equal Business Opportunity plan (EBO) for the design and construction of their new facility that spells out the plan for achieving a 31 percent participation goal for minority and women-owned businesses.
We applaud the Falcons and the City of Atlanta for their efforts thus far to incorporate inclusive procurement practices. The plan honors Atlanta’s heritage, sets goals and has ambition, but to achieve true supplier diversity, success lies in the details. The EBO plan must be a start – not the goal.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, June 14, 2013
If the Woodruff Arts Center had failed to make its $9.2 million goal this year, it would have been totally understandable.
The Atlanta economy is still in a recovery mode. It has been Virginia Hepner’s first campaign as CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center. It has been the first campaign in 35 years without the leadership of Beauchamp Carr organizing the effort.
And as if that weren’t enough, shortly after the campaign was launched, the Woodruff Arts Center disclosed that a former employee had stolen more than $1 million by issuing fraudulent invoices.
How many economic development plans does it take to market a region?
It depends. If it’s metro Atlanta, the answer is countless.
The most recent effort is the Atlanta Regional Economic Competitiveness Strategy that has been done for the Atlanta Regional Commission by Market Street Services.
The ARC’s effort is a requirement of the Economic Development Administration for each region to have a “Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy.” Although the ARC is required to go through this process every five years, it decided to take a more robust approach this time around.
By Maria Saporta
After 17 years as president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Sam A. Williams told the organization’s executive committee at a specially-called meeting Tuesday morning that he will retire at the end of the year or when his replacement is hired.
Williams, 68, has been one of the leading voices of the Atlanta business community for decades — at the Metro Atlanta Chamber, three years as president of Central Atlanta Progress and 22 years at the Portman Companies.
In his role as president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Williams has been instrumental in a number of civic initiatives — helping save Grady Hospital; working to change the Georgia flag; meeting the standards of the Clean Water Act; trying to reduce congestion and increase investment in transportation; revamping the region’s economic development strategies; improving the area’s quality of life; and trying to improve the outcomes of students attending public schools.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, May 24, 2013
HOUSTON – For metro Atlanta leaders who have been used to selling the economic jewel of the Southeast, visiting the largest city in Texas can be a humbling experience.
Houston, the fifth-largest metro area in the country, has been enjoying an economic resurgence that has become the envy of many, including Atlanta, the ninth-largest metro area in the United States.
Houston’s relative economic strength was a point that was brought up repeatedly during the 17th annual LINK visit from May 15 to May 18. The LINK trip involves a group of about 110 regional leaders from Atlanta going to another city to learn from it.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, May 10, 2013
The nonprofit All About Developmental Disabilities (AADD) has named a new executive director just in time for Mother’s Day.
The new director is Kathy Keeley, who has been serving as interim executive director since last August of the 50-year-old nonprofit. AADD provides support services, advocacy and training to more than 2,000 individuals and families living with developmental disabilities.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, April 12, 2013
In one of the more novel gifts that the Woodruff Arts Center has ever received, Wells Fargo is committing $2 million over the next five years to create a teen outreach initiative that will cross all four of the center’s divisions.
The first annual Wells Fargo ArtsVibe Teen Program — which will involve a two-day “teen takeover” of the Woodruff Center campus on April 26 and 27, will involve an American Idol-like competition for best Atlanta talent on Friday night as well as live music, dancing, workshops and other entertainment on Saturday.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, March 29, 2013
The economic recovery has not yet trickled down to United Way of Greater Atlanta.
When United Way holds its campaign celebration April 1 on the center court at Philips Arena from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., it will announce an expected shortfall of $2.7 million from its$80.7 million goal for 2012.
“The campaign is hard,” said Milton Little, president of United Way of Greater Atlanta. “The economy may have some positive signs for some, but for those of us raising money, it’s still a very difficult environment.”
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, March 22, 2013
Philanthropist Stephanie Blank is combining two of her passions — early education and the arts — by chairing the Alliance Theatre’s 2013 A Tony Evening Gala on May 18.
The event will benefit the Alliance Theatre’s educational programming for youth and families. Tony Award-winning actress Jane Krakowski, of TV’s “30 Rock”, will headline the Alliance Theatre’s gala this year.
By Maria Saporta
From nukes to nuggets.
Carrie Kurlander, vice president of communications for the Southern Co. since September 2009, is joining Chick-fil-A as its vice president of public relations.
She will start her new job in mid April.
Kurlander joined the Southern Co. system in February 2003 as director of corporate communications for the Alabama Power Co. Five years later, she was named assistant to the president and CEO of the Alabama Power Co. before moving to Atlanta to work at Southern Co.’s headquarters.
The effort to spur businesses that could be served by the future Atlanta Streetcar along Auburn Avenue got a lift Tuesday in the form of a state program that provides tax credits for new jobs.
A section of Auburn Avenue now is an Opportunity Zone. The designation will provide a tax credit of $3,500 for one new job to companies that create two net jobs. The tax credit lasts five years, according to the state Department of Community Affairs, which approved the new zone.
The designation is particularly important, coming as it does amidst a whirlwind of activity – both planned and halted – along the street that once was the center of black commerce in the south.
A prism of the Civil Rights Movement is on display at Emory University’s Robert W. Woodruff Library — an exhibit featuring archives from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
The title of the exhibit is: “And the Struggle Continues: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Fight for Social Change.”
And while the exhibit is an historical retrospective of the Civil Rights organization, the title also applies to the SCLC itself — an entity that has been searching for its own post-Civil Rights Movement identity and leadership in this new millennium.
