CEO of Atlanta-based airport concessions company announces retirement
The CEO of Atlanta-based Concessions International announced Wednesday she’s flying off into the sunset, retiring after a 42-year career with the airport food and beverage management firm.
Donata Russell Ross, the chief executive of Concessions International since 2013, said she will retire Oct. 6. The company is among several founded by her late father Herman Jerome “H.J.” Russell, an Atlanta developer and philanthropist who broke racial and economic barriers in the 1950s.
Ross, the eldest of Russell’s children, recently told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that her father’s legacy lives on in the work done by his charities and companies, an ethos embedded among Concessions International employees.
“They really are part of the family because they understand who we are and what we represent,” Ross said in a February interview. “They embrace that, want to be part of it and help to continue the legacy that H.J. started.”
A CEO search committee that included Ross and her brothers — Michael B. Russell and H. Jerome Russell — selected Nikki Tinsley Harland as the next CEO of CI. Harland served 12 years as chief operating officer at Vinings-based travel retailer and restaurateur Paradies Lagardère. She will assume her new role Oct. 6.
“We couldn’t have found a more perfect candidate to be my successor,” Ross said in a news release. “With her Atlanta roots, knowledge of the industry, leadership skills, innovative spirit and proven track record, she is the ideal person to lead CI into the future and take CI to the next level.”
Founded in 1979, CI provides food and beverage concession services to major airports in the U.S. The company was able to grow as a disadvantaged business enterprise under a federal program, since projects funded by the Department of Transportation have goals for contracting with such firms.
The company gained traction. In the 1990s, it outgrew the disadvantaged business program and became large enough to hire its own minority partners.
“My dad never wanted to just be a minority partner who had an equity interest,” she said in February. “He wanted to develop anything that he was into, in to a bona fide business.”
During her tenure as CEO, Ross oversaw CI as it grew its airport presence, increased the number of national brands in its portfolio and strengthened women and minority business participation. She also navigated the company through the COVID-19 pandemic, a tumultuous time for the travel and airline sectors.
CI is now a $120 million company with about 1,100 employees. It operates nearly 40 food and beverage locations across eight airports, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Ross will continue to serve as the chair of the board of H.J. Russell and Co., her family’s namesake development firm.
Harland said she’s prepared to pick up the baton from Ross.
In the news release, she said she’s excited to “build upon the incredible foundation and legacy established by those who came before me, particularly by Donata, who has served as an industry role model for so many of us.”
About the Author
Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He's been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people's lives.
