Kyle Waide Named New President and CEO

June 10,2015

The Atlanta Community Food Bank, which provides fresh, nutritious food to more than 755,000 Georgians facing hunger each year across greater Atlanta and North Georgia, has named Kyle Waide as its new President and CEO.

Waide has served for three years as Atlanta Community Food Bank’s Vice President of Partner Operations, leading the organization to record-breaking years of food distribution to the community. He follows Founder and Executive Director Bill Bolling, who announced in 2014 that he would step down from his position, following 36 years of leadership.

“I am so honored and excited to serve as President and CEO of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. This is an opportunity of a lifetime. The Food Bank is one of Atlanta’s most trusted and beloved nonprofits. We have a tremendous team, a dedicated and committed board, an incredible network of partners, and tens of thousands of donors and volunteers who care deeply about our work. Bill Bolling has been an incredible leader, and the team and I will build on his legacy by continuing to work relentlessly to ensure all people in our region have access to the food they need for healthy, productive lives,” said Waide, who takes the helm on July 1.

Through Waide’s collaborative efforts to improve distribution best practices, the Food Bank has nearly doubled its distribution of food  in three years, providing an additional 24 million meals a year to those in need. The Food Bank also has built systems to increase the nutritional quality of its product offerings and dramatically grown the volume of fresh produce delivered to our neighbors in need.

Prior to joining the Food Bank, Waide held management roles at The Home Depot Inc. across diverse areas, including disaster relief, corporate responsibility, community affairs and store operations. Waide previously served as part of the management team that created and launched Charity Navigator, the nation's premier charity evaluation service, and he was a Teach For America corps member, teaching eighth grade math and language arts in Compton, CA. 

He is a graduate of Harvard University and resides in Decatur with his wife, Christina, and their three children.

The announcement of the Food Bank’s new leader follows a national search, conducted by Diversified Search and a governing board search committee, led by board chair Mary S. Moore, Founder and CEO of The Cook’s Warehouse.

“Bill Bolling and the executive leadership team at the Food Bank have been preparing for this change since Bill’s announcement. We are very proud of their work to ready the organization for a smooth transition. We are also extremely grateful for the search committee and their many hours of work, and for our board for their guidance in seeking the right leadership for the organization’s next phase of success,” said Moore. “From Diversified Search, we were pleased to have the opportunity to choose from many outstanding candidates. After much due diligence and thoughtful contemplation, in the end, we found the next great leader of the Food Bank here at the Food Bank.”

Bolling will assist with the leadership transition and plans to continue the work of addressing critical hunger and poverty-related issues.

“This is a great day for the Food Bank,” said Bolling. “Kyle has been instrumental in taking the Food Bank to a new level of growth and success. He is a great leader and has a deep commitment to both the organization and to the cause of fighting hunger.”