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Please join us for the an exciting, interesting & thought-provoking meeting of the HBS Club of Atlanta's Entrepreneur Special Interest Group @ Georiga Tech's ATDC

7:30AM-8AM NETWORKING  8AM-9AM SPEAKER  

SPEAKER: Doug Ellis, HBS '63, Former CEO Southern Mills

 

Sale Preparation

If your company isn't destined to go public, how do you plan an exit?  Preparing the company for sale, brings up many different issues and decisions.  Who are the right buyers?  What are the key issues?  What about current employees?  Those were issues Doug Ellis dealt with prior to selling his company in 2004.  Come hear from a fellow HBS alum explain how he prepared for an exit of the family business that met his goals and desires for the business.  

Speaker's Bio:   Doug Ellis, HBS '63, Former CEO Southern Mills

 

Former CEO of Southern Mills, Doug Ellis prepared the company for a successful sale in 2004 to Royal Ten Cate, their European equivalent.  Southern Mills is an industrial fabrics manufacturer with four factories in Georgia. Southern makes press covers, industrial laundry products; turf pads for stadiums, grass-catching bags for lawnmowers and flame-retardant material used by fire departments, race-car drivers, the military and NASA.

In 1963 after finishing his MBA at HBS, Doug joined the company his father had founded.  Ellis was COO until taking over as CEO in 1983.  When he joined, the company had $5 million in sales, but had $100 million by 1998. 

Ellis is former president of American Textile Manufacturers Institute.  He is, and has been, in active leadership positions for decades in Atlanta's non-profit & philanthropy community with First Presbyterian Church, Westminster Schools, United Way, Rotary, Cerebral Palsy Center, Boy Scouts of America, Woodward Foundation, & Year Up.  He is a former director at Royal Ten Cate US, NationsBank South & John Wieland Homes.  He served in the US Navy and has an AB in Economics from Princeton, a BS in Textiles from Georgia Tech, and an MBA from HBS.

Doug is an avid marathon runner, mountain climber, and pilot with Angel Flight. He is the father of 3 daughters and he and his wife have been married for 44 years.

RSVP REQUIRED Click here to Register

Cost is $5 cash at the door & includes continental breakfast.

 

Location: GEORGIA TECH ATDC BOARDROOM 75 5th Street, NW   BOARDROOM Atlanta, GA 30308

75 5th Street, NW
Atlanta, GA 30308

***Please note that the Centergy One Parking Garage is no longer open.  You can find some street parking or park at the Georgia Tech Hotel @ 800 Spring Street NW Atlanta, GA 30308***

Directions from Southbound I-75/I-85 Downtown Connector:

• Take exit 249D toward Georgia Tech/US-78/US-278/N Ave.
• Merge onto Williams Street.
• At the red light, turn right at North Ave.
• Turn right at the first road onto Techwood Drive. Continue on Techwood Drive and then turn right at 5th Street.
• After you cross over the bridge on 5th Street, take your first left onto Williams Street.
• Then take your first right and turn left into the Centergy One parking garage.

Directions from Northbound I-75/I-85 Downtown Connector:

• Take exit 84 (10th Street/14th Street).
• At the top of the exit ramp, turn right onto 10th Street and follow it one block to Spring Street.
• Turn right onto Spring Street.
• Turn right into the building driveway in front of the LA Fitness and then turn right into the Centergy One parking garage.
• Walkway from the parking garage to the building:
  • When leaving the parking garage, take the elevator to the fifth floor, then follow the covered walkway to the courtyard between the ATDC Building (Centergy One) and the Technology Square Research Building. The ATDC Building (Centergy One) will be to the left. Enter the ATDC Building, and the main ATDC office will be straight ahead in Suite 100. 

Directions back to I-75/I-85 Downtown Connector:

• On exiting the parking deck, turn right. Immediately turn right again, onto Williams Street. (Williams Street is one way at this point).
• Stay in the right lane.
• Travel two blocks to 10th Street.
• Turn right onto 10th Street and travel one block to Spring Street.
• Turn right onto Spring Street. (Spring Street is one way southbound).
• Follow Spring Street across Fifth Street and across North Avenue.
• For northbound I-75/85, an entrance ramp will be to the right of Spring Street at Pine.
• For southbound I-75/85, stay on the left side of Spring Street and follow the signs to the southbound entrance ramp.
• For northbound I-85, quickly move into one of the four left lanes of the I-75/85 Downtown Connector, as I-85 splits off soon after the entrance ramp. I-75 will split off to the right.