People, Companies & Deals

January 1, 2008

• Delta Air Lines President Ed Bastian will remain the airline's CFO, as new CEO Richard Anderson continues to shape the company's management structure. The decision to keep Bastian in both roles curtails a search for a new finance officer, a move that commenced after Anderson was hired last August. Bastian was promoted to president, and the airline initially said it would seek a new CFO.

With Bastian as permanent president/CFO, Anderson will lead Delta's overall operations, leaving Bastian to handle the money side. Bastian also will oversee route-planning and marketing functions.

The structure is somewhat unusual. At most airlines, the No. 2 position typically pairs the president and COO titles, while a separate CFO oversees financial duties.

In other Delta news, the airline is replacing its top operations executive, Joe Kolshak, with Stephen Gorman. Kolshak is retiring after 20 years with the company. Gorman was in charge of operations and maintenance at Northwest Airlines and most recently ran Greyhound Lines.

  • James J. Roberts has been appointed executive group president of office products and cleaning, organization and décor for Newell Rubbermaid. William A. Burke III will succeed Roberts as group president for tools and hardware. Also, Steven G. Marton has been named president of special assignments, after heading up the company's office products segment since 2004. The management changes are in addition to the recently announced appointment of Jay D. Gould as group president for home and family. All four executives will report directly to Newell Rubbermaid President and CEO Mark Ketchum.

• Mark G. Kill, AIA, has joined the architectural firm Cooper Gary as COO. Kill will strive for effectiveness in the firm's various practice groups and departments.

• Sara González, president and CEO of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (GHCC), will be stepping down, effective May 2008. Since González became president in 1996, the GHCC has grown in both endowment and membership, from 172 members in 1996 to nearly 1,500 members in 2007. In 2007, González received the Purpose Prize for her creative and effective work to tackle some of the nation's most pressing problems.

• Ron Hughes, senior VP with the private banking and investment group at Merrill Lynch in Atlanta, has been recognized in Worth Magazine's "Top 100 Wealth Advisors," Barron's "Top 100 Financial Advisors," and Registered Rep.'s "America's Top 100 Advisors." Hughes is the only private wealth advisor at Merrill Lynch and one of two financial advisors nationally to be named in all three 2007 rankings.

• Seyfarth Shaw was given the Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta's 2007 Law Firm of the Year Award for its contributions of time and legal expertise in helping Atlanta area nonprofits. w Atlanta-based Carter Brothers received the National Urban League's Inaugural Entrepreneurship Award during the organization's 51st Annual Equal Opportunity Day Awards Dinner.

• To follow up its recent expansion into the metro area, Computers for Youth, a national nonprofit organization that helps low-income children do better in school by improving their learning environment at home, named Simone Joye as its new executive director for the Atlanta office.