Jim Kennedy Inducted Into GA Trend Hall of Fame

Cox is proud of our chairman, Jim Kennedy, for being honored by Georgia Trend magazine as one of the 2020 inductees into its Most Influential Hall of Fame.  

Each year the magazine of Georgia business, politics and economic development selects two Georgians to be inducted into its Hall of Fame ranks. 

Kennedy was recognized for his commitment to growing Cox’s businesses and for his philanthropic initiatives in metro Atlanta and Georgia. Kennedy is the former CEO and current chairman of Cox Enterprises. When he took the helm of the company in 1988, it was a $1.88 billion company in annual revenues and today it is a $21+ billion business. 

His optimism, talent and servant leadership has made an indelible mark on the employees at Cox, who always strive to do the right thing for our customers and our communities and build a better future for the next generation.  

Kennedy is an active philanthropist who is passionate about sustainability, healthcare and education. He serves on the board of the PATH Foundation, an organization dedicated to creating an interconnected network of greenway trails throughout metro Atlanta. His personal and foundation contributions to the organization total more than $38M since its establishment in 1991. Kennedy is also one of the largest private donor supporting the Atlanta BeltLine, one of the nation’s largest rails-to-trails redevelopment programs. In 2007 he launched Cox Conserves, the company’s national sustainability program that seeks to send zero waste to landfill by 2024 and become carbon and water neutral by 2044.  

Kennedy has given more than $60 million to Emory University to address Alzheimer’s disease, patient-centered cancer models and cancer research, as well as several Georgia universities, including University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State to further education initiatives.  

“He dedicated his life to building that business,” Nancy Rigby, president of Cox Foundations, told Georgia Trend. “And along the way, he was a championship athlete and involved in community activities. He’s always been a part of important initiatives to make Atlanta and Georgia better.”  

Kennedy joins the ranks of other accomplished Georgians, past and present, including John Lewis, Arthur Blank, Monica Pearson, Bobby Cox, Andrew Young and more.  

Read the Georgia Trend feature here and learn more about Kennedy’s legacy.