Arthur M. Blank is Chairman, President & CEO of the Atlanta Falcons. He acquired the franchise in February 2002. Blank is also Chairman, President & CEO of AMB Group, LLC, and Chairman of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. Both companies are part of the Arthur M. Blank Family Office, with the common purpose of giving back to society through financial contributions and personal involvement.
Blank is widely known in the business community for his success in building the world's largest home improvement retailer. He co-founded The Home Depot in 1978 and retired from the company as Co-Chairman in 2001. At the time of his retirement, The Home Depot was a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and one of Fortune Magazine's "Global Most Admired Companies." During Blank's last year as CEO of the company, The Home Depot ranked first in social responsibility
Blank believes in the importance of making a difference - professionally and personally. In addition to the company's financial success, during his 23 years with The Home Depot the company donated more than $113 million to communities, and Home Depot associates provided hundreds of thousands of hours of personal volunteer time. Blank is extending his experience and values to the Atlanta Falcons in building a competitively and financially successful franchise and through the works of the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation and community involvement activities.
Blank is also dedicated to his own giving back. Through his generosity, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, along with his and his wife's personal giving, have donated over $73 million to various organizations, including Outward Bound, The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Piedmont Park Conservancy, Zoo Atlanta, Hands On Atlanta and Boys & Girls Clubs of the Lowcountry. Mr. and Mrs. Blank were named as the 2000 Georgia Philanthropists of the Year by the National Society of Fund-raising Executives.
Blank is recognized throughout the country for his personal and professional achievements. He was honored in 1990 by the California-based City of Hope medical research and treatment institution for his Fund-raising leadership in the home center industry, and in 1994 he received the Brotherhood/Sisterhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Babson College inducted him into its Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs in 1995 and conferred on him an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 1998. In 2001, Blank was inducted into the Junior Achievement Atlanta Business Hall of Fame and was a co-recipient, with his wife, of the Abe Goldstein Human Relations Award from the Anti-Defamation League.
Blank serves on a number of boards including: North Carolina Outward Bound School, a nonprofit corporation; the Board of Trustees of The Carter Center, Inc.; the Board of Trustees of Emory University; and the boards of Cox Enterprises, Inc.; Post Properties, Inc. and Staples, Inc.
Blank was recently appointed to Governor Barnes' Georgia Council for the Arts. He also serves as Co-Chair for the capital campaign for the Atlanta Olympic Museum, and he is Chairman of the capital campaign for the new Atlanta Symphony Center.
In September, 2001, Blank joined the faculty of Emory University's Goizueta Business School as its first Distinguished Executive in Residence. He will begin serving as Chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in 2003.
A native of Flushing, N.Y., Blank received a B.S. Degree in Business Administration with Distinction from Babson College, where he was active in a wide variety of extracurricular activities.
Blank has six children. He and his wife, Stephanie, and their three children live in Atlanta. A strong believer in work-life balance, Blank still makes time daily for working out and remains an avid runner. His favorite T-shirt appropriately reads, "There is no finish line."
