First, tell us about yourself and walk us through your background. Max: This is always a difficult question to nail-down in a 15-30 second elevator speech, so I’ll do my best to keep this as short as possible. I consider myself quite fortunate for having received international exposure already as a child and was expected to carry on my mother’s side of the family business of public service. For a long time, I was being groomed for and excited about entering the Diplomatic Corps; however, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented itself while working on my bachelor’s degree at Indiana University that drastically changed my career trajectory and pointed me towards Wall Street Banking instead in order to make a difference in the world. Early responsibilities on Wall Street included managing Europe Middle East Africa (EMEA) accounts and eventually expanded around the world. My primary areas of expertise focused on Corporate Turnarounds, Global Growth Strategies, and Mergers and Acquisitions, having worked on some very high-profile initiatives that gave me significant visibility and took organizations to higher performance levels. I always enjoyed being presented with a problem, a challenge, or a new initiative, then thinking strategically and coming up with outside-the-box ways of executing and consistently exceeding expectations. While at KPMG, I rescued a project team
confirmed me in my current role as President and CEO the day we all went into lockdown. However, we’ve used this time wisely to pivot and realign our mission with our long-term goals and vision. We’re successfully laying the foundation for an explosive growth over the next few years. The World Trade Center Atlanta promotes and facilitates international trade and investments, providing the access, programming, services, and commercial environment that bring executives, entrepreneurs, governments, NGOs, businesses, and markets together. What are some present, and future goals of the WTC Atlanta? Max: Over the past several years, we had evolved into a mostly events and annual conference organization. However, this past year has given us the opportunity to reevaluate our value proposition. We looked back at how the WTC Atlanta played a central role in the international business community in the 1990s and early 2000s. We not only want to get back to that, but we want to blow past it. Since the 1996 Olympics, Atlanta has stepped out of the shadows and on to the world stage. The international business community and the international trade and investment community have grown exponentially. In the Greater
Max Sutherland, President World Trade Center Atlanta
tasked a Customer Profitability Solution by redesigning their proposed solution, making it far more user-friendly and efficient, and most importantly, marketable. That Profitability Solution is now part of SAP’s CRM Module. with designing Unfortunately, not long after that 9/11 happened, and Wall Street was upended. I decided to go back to school for my MBA and got into the Duke University, Fuqua School of Business program. Fast forward to October 2017, I was invited and approved to join the Board of Directors of the World Trade Center Atlanta. I believe in the brand and the mission and quickly immersed myself to see how I can add value to the organization. Within a year I joined the Executive Committee and became the Executive Vice President. A year later and only a few months before the onslaught of the pandemic, my predecessor stepped down, I stepped up, and the board
Page 63
Powered by FlippingBook