‘My mother’s death was the galvanizing moment’

Find previous columns from Unger and Kempner at our premium website for subscribers at www.myajc.com/business.

Like several other CEOs interviewed for this column, Hala Moddelmog was relatively young when one of her parents died. And like the others, Moddelmog kicked her independent streak into overdrive, proving once again that how you react to adversity is one of the keys in life.

Now, as president and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Moddelmog is trying to lure more businesses here at a time when Georgia has the highest unemployment rate in the nation.

Moddelmog, 58, has led the area’s most important business group since January, after rising up the marketing ranks in the fast-food industry to head two Atlanta-based chains — Church’s Chicken and Arby’s. She also was president and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a nonprofit that raises money to fight breast cancer.

Moddelmog discusses her career path, as well as boosting economic development, increasing the number of women CEOs and overcoming personal hardships.

Q: Would you please talk about the dramatic change in your life when you were a teenager?

A: I grew up in a small Georgia town, Hartwell. My mother was the secretary to the school superintendent for Hart County and my father was an electrician for the power company.

At 17, my mother died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack. It was a real wake-up call.

Nothing is given. Nothing is for sure. It made me very determined to learn how to take care of myself. It really drove my independence.

I said to myself that I’d love to get married and have children someday. But I’m not getting married until I know that I can make it on my own financially. My mother’s death was the galvanizing moment.

Q: What happened when you went to college?

A: I went to Georgia Southern. I paid for my undergraduate and then graduate school at UGA.

My father would have given me money to go to school, but I was determined I was going to do it myself. I got some academic scholarships.

Q: After graduating, you became a sales analyst at Arby’s. You were quickly promoted to a manager’s job but decided to leave after a few years. Why?

A: I woke up in my mid-to-late 20s and said, "Wow, I haven't lived anywhere but the state of Georgia. If I consider myself a risk taker, I need to move somewhere else."

I met the owners of a small real estate investment company in Tucson, Ariz., and eventually took a job doing the marketing there.

In retrospect, it solidified the idea that the sweet spot for me is bigger companies, like Arby’s. That’s where it’s big enough that you can have a really great staff, but not so big that it’s bureaucratic. You always have to turn on a dime in fast food.

Q: So you returned to Atlanta and eventually to Arby’s after working at a few other marketing jobs. Why?

A: There's a saying in the industry, "Once you get a little mustard on your tie — of course, it's a saying about men — it's hard to get it out of your system."

Fast food is very consumer-driven. You basically have a new marketing campaign every four weeks. I loved it.

I learned, especially with franchisees, that it’s really about influencing and persuading and having the data to back up what you’re selling to them.

Franchisees are very key to success in the fast-food business. You have a contract with them, but it’s about relationships. They deserve to know why your new idea is going to work.

Not every promotion goes well. So, you’ve got to have those relationships that build trust.

Q: Why did you leave Arby’s for Church’s, which was getting out of bankruptcy at that time?

A: I got a call offering me the job as vice president of marketing. It was a step up because I only was doing a portion of the marketing at Arby's — the product development and strategic planning.

The lessons I learned at Arby’s helped me at Church’s, where franchisees felt disrespected at that time. I had more holistic conversations with the franchisees than they were used to with a marketing person.

My relationships with the franchisees helped me become president of Church’s.

Bonus questions

Q: You led Church’s for about a decade, leaving after it was purchased by a private equity firm in 2004. How did you end up leading the Susan Komen organization in 2006?

A: I got a call out of the blue from a headhunter. I had never done a nonprofit.

I had breast cancer myself. I was very quiet about it when it happened because I did not want to be defined by cancer. It was 2001 and I was president of Church’s.

But I will admit that I felt a little guilty when I went to Komen that I hadn’t been more public about it, because one of the issues is women not talking about it.

For example, women in parts of the Middle East and Africa were dying because it wasn’t allowed to be talked about. If a mother had breast cancer in parts of the Middle East, she kept it a secret because she worried that her daughter’s chances of marriage would be lessened.

Q: Do you have any advice for someone confronting a medical or other serious issue?

A: I approached it just like everything else in life. OK, this is a problem. I need a plan and I've got to work the plan.

I did a little research and learned that there was a pretty good chance of survival from the type of cancer I had.

I can tell you that I never shed a tear. I still haven’t. I got great docs, worked the plan and moved on through it.

Q: At Komen, you raised money for scientific research and operated Race for the Cure events around the world. Then you ended up back at Arby’s for a third time. Ever burn a bridge?

A: I really can't imagine being foolish enough to burn any bridge. I have found in my career that taking the high road works.

When the president’s job at Arby’s came open, the brand was in a turnaround situation. The woman leading the search (for a president) was someone I had worked with at Arby’s back in 1981.

Talk about not burning bridges, it just proves that relationships matter.

Q: How did you approach your Arby’s job this time?

A: Arby's lost 20 to 25 percent of its top line revenue during the recession. We started building the top line during the three years I was there.

I think a turnaround is easier than taking a stable company to the next level. It’s not mysterious. You can see pretty easily what’s broken, and you get really busy, really fast on those things.

Q: Speaking of turnarounds, Georgia has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. How are you going to help change that as the Atlanta chamber’s leader?

A: My mission is to take us to a bigger and better place. I'm focusing on economic development and quality of life issues.

Transportation is on the top of our list. We, the business leaders, need to articulate what not having a 21st century transportation plan is costing us from an economic development standpoint to the political leaders who can make a difference.

What we have going for us on economic development is that we have 16 Fortune 500 companies in metro Atlanta that are enormously diverse. We also have so much going on in the entrepreneurial and high-tech area.

That’s our differentiator from other competing cities. The smaller tech companies can have access to the big companies, which can help them sell their products or services.

Q: You were the first woman to lead Church’s and Arby’s, and you’re now the first woman CEO of the Atlanta chamber. But there is a shortage of women CEOs at large public companies. What are you trying to do about it?

A: One of my crusades is getting women on public company boards. The board hires and fires the CEO.

When they’re on boards, women are going to bring another voice to look at all candidates, and sometimes all candidates are not looked at. Until we get women on boards, I think the C-suite will continue as it is.