ATLANTA - Metro Atlanta Chamber president Sam Williams announced his retirement on Tuesday. According to a release, he told the Chamber's executive committee he will retire at the end of 2013 or when a replacement is hired.

Williams has served as the Chamber's president since December 1996, and had been at the forefront of a number of initiatives, including helping the city meet the standards of the Clean Water Act, to helping to attract more high tech, logistics and bioscience firms to Metro Atlanta.

At 68, Williams has served three years beyond the commitment he made in 1996 to serve until age 65. At the encouragement of the Chamber's executive committee, Williams has agreed to extend his contract until the end of the year, or until a replacement can be hired in 2014.

Metro Atlanta-based MOSAIC Group [Architects and Remodelers] has been awarded a 2013 Guildmaster Award for exceptional customer service. The company is owned by William Fadul and Rick Goldstein. GuildQuality, an independent customer satisfaction surveying company, has powered the Guildmaster Award since 2005 to celebrate service excellence in the building, remodeling, contracting, and home services professions.

Over the past few months, GuildQuality reviewed numerous survey responses submitted by clients of Guildmaster candidates. In granting awards, GuildQuality considers two primary metrics for each candidate: the percentage of customers who would recommend and the percentage of customers who responded. MOSAIC Group achieved a recommendation rate of greater than 90 percent from their customers, who were surveyed through GuildQuality.

(ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE) -- Metro Atlanta leaders will seek to grow the region's global business opportunities through a new initiative kicked off Wednesday by JP Morgan Chase and the Brookings Institution.

The Global Cities Initiative, which is part of a five-year, $10 million multi-city effort ultimately will forge new city-to-city partnerships to create trade and economic relationships to prosper from the growing urbanization of the world's population. 

Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed said the initiative takes advantage of growing businesses through exporting and by recognizing that the "Made in USA" brand is becoming increasingly valuable in the world. 

The two-day conference, held at the Academy of Medicine on the Georgia Tech Campus, will lead to a new Metropolitan Export Plan for Atlanta.