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Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Developer Tom Cousins misses his company’s annual meeting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s a first.
Tom Cousins, founder of Cousins Properties, missed his first-ever annual meeting of the company - which is celebrating its 50th year in business.
Cousins has been in Florida helping his wife, Ann, recuperate from an emergency appendectomy. His wife told him he should come to Atlanta, but he wanted to stay.
“Tom felt like it was better for him to stay in Florida,” Cousins CEO Tom Bell told shareholders
After the meeting, Bell admitted that it just didn’t feel right without his predecessor in the room, particularly for the 50th year anniversary.
Cousins Properties’ annual report took full advantage of the 50th. It was printed in the visual style of Life magazine, full of photos with the history of the company. All the printed materials at the annual meeting carried the same theme — showing a decades-old photo of Tom Cousins with a model of the Citgo building in Buckhead. That building is now called Two Live Oak Center.
By the way, Cousins Properties does have a woman on its board - Lillian Giornelli, who is Tom Cousins’ daughter. But it doesn’t have an African-American.
And Bell didn’t seem to be in a hurry to add to the board.
“I think we’ve got a great board, and they do a great job for shareholders,” Bell said, adding if any directors retire, new directors could come on board. But for now, he said: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This one works.”
Among the directors on the Cousins board: Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina; James Edwards, a former managing partner of Arthur Andersen until 2002; Taylor Glover, president and CEO of Turner Enterprises; James Hance, former vice chairman of the Bank of America Corp.; William Harrison, chairman of JPMorgan Chase; Boone Knox, managing partner of Knox Ltd.; and Billy Payne, chairman of Augusta National who has been with Gleacher Partners since 2000. Payne also headed up Atlanta’s Olympic efforts.
Are there any African-Americans you feel would be good directors for the Cousins’ board?
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Charlie Loudermilk wants to diversify his board…again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After Aaron Rents annual meeting this morning, I asked founder Charlie Loudermilk why he didn’t have any women on his board.
Back in 1995, Loudermilk had put Coca-Cola’s Ingrid Saunders Jones on his board, but she stepped down several years later.
Since then, it’s been an all-male board. But it’s not an all white board. Ray Robinson, a former president of AT&T Georgia, is an African-American.
“We should have a woman on our board,” Loudermilk acknowledged. “The lady must know a lot about accounting and banking. There are a lot of capable women now. Ten years ago, there weren’t as many.”
Loudermilk does take pride in his board, which includes architect/developer John Portman; retired Delta Air Lines CEO Ron Allen; Atlanta Braves President John Schuerholz; business consultant Leo Benatar; retired Mohawk Industries executive David Kolb as well as four inside directors.
Other than Loudermilk, the longest serving director is Earl Dolive, a retired vice chairman of Genuine Parts, who has been on Aaron’s board since 1977. According to the company’s proxy, Dolive is 89.
Asked whether the board has retirement age, Loudermilk laughed: “No. Otherwise I’d be off the board.” Loudermilk, 80, founded Aaron Rents in 1962.
Do you have any suggestions on who would be a good woman director for Aaron Rents?
