Arthur Blank’s stated desire to step back from day-to-day management of his businesses, including the Atlanta Falcons, has led him to hire the head of luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz’s United States operation for a new position that will assume many of the owner’s responsibilities.
Blank announced Monday that Steve Cannon, currently president and chief executive officer of Mercedes-Benz USA, will become CEO of AMB Group, the parent company of the Falcons, the new Atlanta United professional soccer team and Blank’s other businesses.
Cannon will assume “day-to-day leadership” of Blank’s for-profit businesses on Feb. 1, according to the announcement. Blank will remain chairman and owner, “working closely with Cannon on overall strategy” for the businesses.
Blank, 73, first told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in August of his plan to reduce his role and hire a CEO.
Interestingly, he wound up hiring the executive with whom the Falcons earlier this year reached a naming-rights deal for their downtown stadium slated to open in 2017, Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
For the Falcons, the change means team president Rich McKay will report to Cannon, rather than to Blank. However, the leaders on the Falcons’ football operations side — head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff — will continue to report to Blank. That structure matches what Blank outlined to the AJC in August.
Cannon “will lead all business operations” of the Falcons, Atlanta United, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and two other Blank businesses, PGA Tour Superstore and Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Montana, according to Monday’s announcement.
“While I will always be heavily involved in our business strategies, I now feel that the best role I can play in our businesses is one of founder, chairman and most senior cheerleader,” Blank said in a statement. “I have a strong desire to spend more quality time with my family, as well as to concentrate more of my time on our philanthropic endeavors, and Steve’s hiring will allow me to do those things.”
Through a spokesman, Blank and Cannon declined interview requests Monday.
Cannon, 54, moved to metro Atlanta this year, leading the relocation of Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) headquarters here from New Jersey. The company is temporarily based in Dunwoody and plans to build a new headquarters campus in Sandy Springs.
Mercedes-Benz USA named Dietmar Exler, formerly vice president of sales, as Cannon’s successor, effective Jan. 1. Cannon will remain with MBUSA as a consultant until Jan. 31 and then leave the company.
Blank first met Cannon when Atlanta business leaders were pitching Mercedes-Benz executives to move the German automaker’s U.S. headquarters here. Blank and Cannon got to know each other better during the naming-rights negotiations, which wrapped up about the time Blank was beginning the CEO search.
Cannon has no prior experience in sports management.
In the August interview with the AJC, Blank said he was seeking a person with CEO-level or similar experience for the new position and wasn’t limiting the search to specific industries.
“I’m less concerned about, are they coming from the sports industry or the entertainment industry or the consumer industry or branding,” he said at the time.
Cannon is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He joined Mercedes-Benz after completing his military service in 1991 and worked in various marketing and business development roles before leaving the company in 2000 for jobs with auto-industry consultancies. He rejoined MBUSA as chief marketing officer in 2007 and held that position until becoming chief executive in 2012.
Blank’s statement Monday described Cannon as “a proven, results-driven executive who understands how to build and deliver a premium customer experience.”
“That, along with his high-energy approach and experience, will translate very well to all of our businesses,” Blank said.
Cannon, in a statement, said he “made an immediate connection” with Blank “because we have very similar value systems and a shared vision for what the customer experience can and should be.”
Still, the management change is a significant one for Blank’s businesses, which he has led in a hands-on, visible manner, and for him personally.
Some who know Blank well have expressed skepticism about whether he’ll find it possible to step back, as he intends, on day-to-day involvement — a point he addressed in the earlier interview.
He said he would be fulfilled by remaining involved in strategy and as a “cultural ambassador” for the businesses and would welcome spending “more time doing things I want to do than things I have to do.” He added: “If I was disengaging from the businesses, I think it would be (difficult), because I’m not the kind of person who would do well sitting under a tree reading books all day.”
