Former Coca-Cola UNITED CEO and Board Chairman Claude B. Nielsen was inducted into the Alabama Business Hall of Fame during a ceremony held Nov. 14 at Haven in downtown Birmingham. The event was attended by about 500 individuals, including business and community leaders, higher education leadership and former inductees.
Nielsen joined Coca-Cola UNITED in 1979 and held a variety of operational and managerial positions until 1991, when he was appointed CEO. He assumed the additional role of Board Chairman in 2003. In 2016, Nielsen retired as CEO while continuing to serve as Board Chairman until his Board retirement in 2023.
The Alabama Business Hall of Fame “honors, preserves and perpetuates the names and outstanding accomplishments of business personalities who have brought lasting fame to the state of Alabama.” Nielsen joins another former Coca-Cola UNITED leader in this honor, founder Crawford Johnson Sr., who was inducted in 1977.
Candice Todd, vice chair of the Alabama Business Hall of Fame Board, welcomed attendees and provided the invocation. Dr. Kay M. Palan, dean of the Culverhouse College of Business at The University of Alabama, introduced each inductee to the stage after the playing of videos highlighting the inductees’ careers and contributions to the community. Watch Nielsen’s video below.
