Mayor Dickens on Kathy Waller: ‘She rolls up her sleeves, gets the work done.’

Kathy Waller has emerged as one of Atlanta’s most influential leaders. But it’s easy to overlook her many contributions because she’s too busy shining the light on others. Waller is the fourth executive director of the Atlanta Committee for Progress (ACP), a powerful group of 40 of the region’s key business, civic and academic leaders, who work with mayor of the City of Atlanta. On Friday, Oct. 16, Waller had a conversation with John Ahmann, president and CEO of the Westside Future Fund, who was the first executive director of ACP when Shirley Franklin was mayor. Kathy Waller laughs during a conversation with John Ahmann, president and CEO of the Westside Future Fund, on Oct. 16. (Photo by Maria Saporta.) “I am a native of Atlanta, which is very important to me,” Waller told people attending the monthly meeting of the Transform Westside Summit at the Gathering Spot. “I went to Frederick Douglass High School.” Then she left Georgia to go to college in Rochester, N.Y., whe