The Atlanta Committee for Progress held its first meeting of 2024 on March 8 with the first woman chairing the board in the powerful organization’s history.
Carol Tomé, CEO of UPS, became ACP’s chair at the start of the year. ACP is where the mayor of Atlanta helps convene the top business leaders in the region.
“It was my first meeting as chair,” Tomé said in a brief interview after the meeting. “It’s an honor and privilege for me to serve.”
The March meeting was not as well attended as the December meeting, but Tomé attributed that to several people being on Spring break.
Still, having fewer people allowed more people to be involved in a dialogue with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. The mayor, however, was not available to sit down for an interview after the quarterly meeting.
“Mayor Dickens is so forward-looking,” Tomé said. As an example, Tomé spoke of how the mayor laid out the city’s plans for hosting the 2026 World Cup. Participating in that discussion was Rich McKay, an executive with the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United, who is a new ACP member.
“It was a super meeting,” Tomé said. “I want to support the mayor’s agenda — housing, the homeless situation, making Atlanta a great place to raise a child and dealing with the blighted parts of the city. We are there to support him. We are making a difference.”
Tomé has been on ACP’s board since she became CEO of UPS in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic.
Of course, Tomé has to balance her leadership of ACP with her duties of running one of the largest global companies based in Georgia.
“Last year was a great year for us, but it was a tough year,” Tomé said of UPS. “Small package delivery went down. The industry has shrunk. We are looking forward to 2024.”
As she sits there with her $30k purse.
Carol wants Atlanta to be a great place to raise a child, however she doesn’t want that for her own company/employees.