South Metro Advisory Roundtable with Mayor Tom Reed, City of Chattahoochee Hills

Tom Reed
Mayor
City of 

Tom Reed is a serial entrepreneur who has spent his working life creating and building successful startups – 3 of which have been on the Inc. 500/5000 lists 7 times and on the Bulldog 100 list five times.

Most recently, he founded DPM Fragrance LLC (now CURiO Brands), a domestic manufacturer of high-end specialty candle and fragranced products sold nationwide to upscale independent retailers like Nordstrom and Anthropologie under the Capri Blue and other brands. The company has over 600 employees in its Minnesota and Mississippi manufacturing facilities. While he retired from day-to-day operations several years ago, he retains a position on the company’s Board, and remains a shareholder in the company.

Previously, he was President of ELF, a manufacturer of packaging machinery, where he led its expansion into the international marketplace, with facilities in the US, South Korea, China, Hungary, Argentina, France, Poland, and the UK, and co-founded Fas-Pak, a leading national contract packaging company. 

Tom is also an active civic entrepreneur – in 2007 he was president of the Chatt Hills Organizing Committee, which led the referendum drive to incorporate the City of Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia. He has been a driving force in the development and implementation of the City’s cutting-edge zoning program, which will preserve over 70% of the 40,000-acre municipality as permanent green space in a national model of conservation-oriented development. He has served as the Mayor of Chattahoochee Hills for 12 years, and has been President of the South Fulton Municipal Association, President of District 3-SW of the Georgia Municipal Association and serves on the Executive Committee of the Aerotropolis Atlanta Board, all roles where he brings his entrepreneurial background to bear on local and regional planning and equity issues. He is a founder of the Chatt Hills Charter School, and mentors young entrepreneurs through his role on the Board of the UGA Entrepreneurship Program, among many, many other corporate and volunteer roles.