Tag: Atlanta’s 55 Most Powerful

Erick Erickson, the conservative blogger turned CNN pundit turned WSB radio talk show host, has carved out a niche as Georgia’s answer to Rush Limbaugh, encouraging and hectoring conservative politicians to see things his way.

When she arrived from Austin last year, Atlanta Public Schools superintendent Meria Carstarphen inherited a system reeling from a scandal of historic proportions. With the cheating trial finally over, she’s begun the slow process of raising graduation rates from 58.6 percent (now 59.1 percent) in a 50,000- student school system rife with economic inequality.

When Anderson took over at Delta Air Lines in 2007, the company had just emerged from bankruptcy. Since then, Delta has absorbed Northwest Airlines, scored the best on-time performance among major airlines, and earned record profits.

Between his gigs as host of the Ryan Cameron Morning Show on V-103 and Hawks PA announcer, “The Ryan King” could be described as the Voice of Atlanta.

Georgia’s senior U.S. senator commands respect from both sides of the aisle. The Marietta Republican has capitalized on his popularity; he’s currently the only senator chairing two committees.

Georgia’s first Republican lieutenant governor has had more than his share of ups and downs since taking office in 2006. He withdrew from the 2009 governor’s race, citing health reasons.

Young’s legacy as an Atlanta mayor, congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, and a key member of Martin Luther King Jr.’s inner circle during the civil rights movement has given him a standing unique among leaders of his generation.

Fulton County’s commission chairman has had an unlikely resurgence since winning reelection last year. After years of stalemates between the board’s northern and southern reps, Eaves has become the swing vote in an increasingly united body.

From his early days in the 1990s as an ACT UP rabble-rouser to his leadership of Georgia Equality since 2008, Graham has been one of this conservative state’s most active—and effective—advocates for the LGBT community.

Since taking office in 2011, Georgia’s state attorney general has stepped up prosecution of sex traffickers, and called for stricter regulation of “pill mills” to reduce prescription drug abuse.