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About Juanita Baranco, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Baranco Automotive Group
June 3, 2008
Juanita Baranco is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Baranco Automotive
Group, consisting of Baranco Buick Pontiac-GMC in Lilburn and Mercedes-Benz of Buckhead. She and
her husband, Gregory Baranco founded the first Baranco car dealership in the metropolitan Atlanta
area in 1978. Mrs. Baranco, along with her husband and former Ambassador Andrew Young opened
Mercedes Benz of Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia in June of 2003.
Born in Washington, D.C., Mrs. Baranco was raised in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she earned
her Bachelor of Science and Juris Doctorate degrees from Louisiana State University.
A member of the American Bar Association and the State Bar Associations of Georgia and
Louisiana, Mrs. Baranco enjoyed a successful career in law – including a turn as assistant attorney
general for the State of Georgia – before she and her husband founded the first Baranco dealership
in the metropolitan Atlanta area in 1978.
Mrs. Baranco has been involved extensively in civic and community affairs, with a significant
portion of her time and energy dedicated to education-related topics.
In addition to teaching business courses at local middle and high schools, she served as
chairman of the DeKalb County Education Task Force. She was a member of the Georgia State
Board of Education from 1985-1991, she was named by former Georgia Gov. Zell Miller to serve on the
Board of Regents, and in 1995 she became its first African-American female chair. During her
tenure, the board experienced increased national preeminence for its sweeping reforms and
innovative higher education policies.
Mrs. Baranco also served as chairman of the Education Committee for the 1996 Olympics and
established a scholarship program for high school seniors seeking careers as automobile
technicians. Currently, she sits on the board of trustees for Clark Atlanta University.
An active business leader, Mrs. Baranco has been featured on several occasions in Georgia
Trend magazine’s annual list of the “100 Most Influential Georgians.” Her business
appointments have included director positions with the Federal Reserve of Atlanta and the John H.
Harland Co. She also served as a member of the Governor’s Human Relations Committee and on
Clark Atlanta University’s National Business Advisory Board, a board member of Georgia Power, the
Atlanta and DeKalb Chambers of Commerce, and as a director for First Union Bank.
Currently, Mrs. Baranco serves on the board of directors of Southern Company and Cox
Radio. In addition, she serves as a board member of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Georgia and
as Chairman of the Board at Clark Atlanta University.
Mrs. Baranco has received numerous awards for her business and community activities,
including recognition by the Dow Jones Company for entrepreneurial excellence; the first Trumpet
Award from Turner Broadcasting System for entrepreneurial excellence; Entrepreneur of the Year by
the Atlanta Business League; the DECCA Award from the Atlanta Business Chronicle; the YWCA’s Women
of Achievement Award; and the Atlanta History Center’s Defining Women in Atlanta Life Award.
Mrs. Baranco also has been featured in Essence Magazine as one of Atlanta’s women on the
move. In 2001 she was inducted into the Georgia State University Business Hall of Fame. In
addition, she was finalist for the 2003 Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award.
Mrs. Baranco and her husband, Gregory, live in Lithonia and they have four children.
Mrs. Baranco is active in her community through her support of the Scottsdale Child
Development Center, Project Impact DeKalb County, Partners in Education, the Pierre Toussaint House
and the Saints Peter & Paul Church. She also is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and
serves as a mentor and role model for young women in her community.
