Empowering others is part of Baranco

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Baranco, executive vice president and chief operatinh officer ofthe , got her start in the car businesw when she and her husband, Gregory, purchased the former dealershi p in East Point in 1978, just in time for a The deal reached with callex for the Barancos to move the dealership out of East Point and build a new facilitg in Decatur. “It was she said. “I don’t understand to this day how we pulleit off.” MARTA’s move to buy the forme r East Point dealership site for its rail line Baranco said. A Louisiana native, Baranc o and her husband moved to Atlanta to buythe dealership. She saw it as a way to gain economic parityfor African-Americans.
“I still have a passioh for women business ownersand African-America n business owners,” she Arlethia Perry-Johnson, ’s special assistant to the presidenty for external affairs, know s that firsthand. “I really learned civic servicde from her and what that shouldlook like,” said who met Baranco in 1994 when Perry-Johnson was interviewingf for a job with the Board of Regentzs in Atlanta. Baranco was a board membert atthe time. Baranco’s list of civic and communitgy serviceis long. She has served as a directo r of since 2003 and is a membe r of the board of directors of and the board of trusteedsof .
Baranco has also served on the boardx of directors of the and the Baranco was thefirsft African-American woman to serve as chairman of the Boardr of Regents. “She’s very empowering and motivating,” Perry-Johnson said. “An d she’s very supportive of women inthe workplace.” Baranco has been a mentod to countless people, particularly women, through the said Perry-Johnson. “Juanita says to ‘You don’t deserve to sit at the table ifyou aren’ willing to make change,’ ” Perrgy Johnson said. “I’ve trierd to live by that. You don’t deserves the opportunity if you are not going to affecypositive change.
” Becky Blalock, senior vice president and chietf information officer of Southerh Co., met Baranco in 1997, when Barancpo was on a panel to discussx leadership for the class. She told Blalock’s clases that leadership is not given, it is taken. “Don’tt wait for someone to make it happen. Leadership is abouty figuring out how to makeit happen. It was very empowering to hear her saythoswe words,” Blalock recalled. Baranco is willing to make changw and stand up to make things around her Blalock said.