Downtown Atlanta is getting a new top advocate. Kyle Waide, president and CEO of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, was announced Monday as the incoming leader of Downtown Atlanta Inc. — the organization operating collectively as Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District — taking over from AJ Robinson, who has led the group for 23 years. The transition takes effect Dec. 1, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The timing puts Waide in charge just as downtown rides the highest momentum it has seen in years. "Given all that momentum, we have a real — maybe once-in-a-lifetime — opportunity to really help move downtown forward in a way that we've never been able to in the past," Waide told the AJC.
A search built around this moment
Robinson announced his plans to step down in April, kicking off a formal search led by Sam Pettway of BoardWalk Consulting and a committee that included David Cummings, chair of Downtown Atlanta Inc. and one of the investors leading South Downtown's revitalization, plus Integral Group Chairman and CEO Egbert Perry, a prior Central Atlanta Progress chair. Cummings said in a news release that Waide is positioned to "harness the tremendous energy generated by Downtown's recent growth and FIFA success."
Waide joined the Atlanta Community Food Bank in 2012 and became its president and CEO in 2015, succeeding founder Bill Bolling. Under his leadership, the nonprofit quadrupled its annual food distribution and moved into a 345,000-square-foot facility in East Point, building one of the country's largest food bank operations. Althea Broughton, chair of the food bank's board, said the organization has "a strong succession plan and a highly engaged board" as it searches for Waide's replacement.
Following downtown's biggest champion
Robinson, a former Portman Holdings executive, has been widely credited as downtown Atlanta's most visible champion, presiding over a run of hospitality, sports and tourism investment that includes the Georgia Aquarium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the College Football Hall of Fame. He hands Waide a district in the middle of an unprecedented wave of investment: the $5 billion Centennial Yards transformation of the Gulch, the 10-block South Downtown redevelopment, the remake of the former CNN Center into The CTR, and a fresh slate of residential projects aimed at keeping downtown lively around the clock.
Waide's task now is to carry that momentum past this summer's FIFA World Cup spotlight into downtown's next chapter — a job downtownATL.com will be watching closely, given how much of the district's current growth traces back to the same civic infrastructure he's about to lead.
