The Atlanta Business Chronicle recently profiled Atlanta’s 100 most influential people, as selected by the editors of the paper. The list included the usual individuals – Governor Nathan Deal, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, and Donna Hyland, president and CEO, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Georgia Tech is proud to have a number of alumni as part of this distinguished group including a graduate of the College of Engineering – Douglas Hooker, executive director, Atlanta Regional Commission. Also named to the list were GT alums Jimmy Carter, former president, Thomas Fanning, president of The Southern Company, and Sam Nunn, former U.S. Senator from Georgia.
Engineering alumnus Douglas R. Hooker, bachelor's in mechanical engineering and master's in science, technology & science policy, was elected as the Executive Director of the Atlanta Regional Commission in October 2011. Hooker is the first African-American to head the ARC in its history. The Atlanta Regional Commission is the official planning agency for the 10-county Atlanta Region, including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties as well as the City of Atlanta and 67 other cities. In addition, he has also served as the former executive director of the Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority and former commissioner of public works for Atlanta. He served on the inaugural board of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District and the Governor’s Advisory Council for the ACT and ACF River Basin Compacts. Hooker is married to Patrise Perkins-Hooker, a GT graduate in management.
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Former President Jimmy Carter attended Georgia Tech before attending the U.S. Naval Academy. Thirty-one years after leaving the presidency; Carter is still a factor in global politics. The Carter Center, which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary, has been working to improve the lives of people from more than 70 countries. The center has also tackled the eradication and elimination of diseases. The Carter Center has monitored 81 elections in 33 countries since 1989. It has worked to resolve conflicts in Haiti, Bosnia, Ethiopia, North Korea, Sudan and other countries. Carter and the Center actively support human rights defenders around the world and have intervened with heads of state on their behalf. (More Information)
Thomas Fanning, president and CEO, Southern Company, was an industrial management major at Georgia Tech. Elected by the board of directors in July 2010, Fanning became president of Southern Company in August 2010 and assumed the additional responsibilities of CEO and chairman. Fanning earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial management from Tech. His executive education includes programs at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland, Harvard University School of Business and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Fanning has worked for Southern Company for 29 years and was most recently chief operating officer, where he was responsible for Southern Company’s generation and transmission, engineering and construction services, research and environmental affairs, system planning and the company’s competitive generation business units. (More Information)
Sam Nunn attended Georgia Tech before transferring to Emory University. Currently the co-chairman and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a charitable organization working to reduce the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, Nunn served for 24 years as a United States Senator from Georgia (1972 until 1997). In addition to his work with NTI, Nunn has continued his service in the public policy arena as a distinguished professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech. There, he hosts the annual Sam Nunn Policy Forum, a policy meeting that brings together noted academic, government, and private-sector experts on technology, public policy, and international affairs to address issues of immediate importance to the nation. (More Information)