Coca-Cola Consolidated Leader Discusses Faith and Values

J. Frank Harrison III takes his faith and business very seriously in today’s troubled world.

“We want God’s blessings upon the company,” Harrison told hundreds of Mississippi College School of Business students on Thursday.

Harrison serves as chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, the company is the nation’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler.

Quoting Bible verses and encouraging his audience to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, Harrison mixed his faith with his business practices as the headliner at the school’s Executive Lecture Series.

Over the years, Harrison brought the first chaplains to Coca-Cola plants. Now there are 40 to 50 chaplains working at Coke bottling plants nationwide. They are trained counselors and ministers who help employees strengthen their marriages, work to prevent suicides and assist with a number of family issues.

While Coca-Cola Consolidated remains a public company, Harrison believes God serves as the owner. The Chattanooga native says he sees himself as a “chief steward,” who is accountable to God. The University of North Carolina graduate believes he must use the resources he has been entrusted with to make a positive difference for the company’s 6,000-plus employees.

First going to work for the company in 1977, Harrison and his family have roots with Coca-Cola dating back to 1902. That’s when his great-grandfather J.B. Harrison first introduced Coca-Cola to the Carolinas.

In 2008, Harrison and his late son, J. Franklin Harrison IV, founded With Open Eyes, a non-profit ministry offering assistance to people in war-torn Sudan. He opened the lecture with a video showing the tremendous medical and education needs in Sudan. More than 90 percent of the women cannot read or write. The water is usually filthy. The video also spoke of the burning of Christian churches in Sudan and presented the need to distribute Bibles and share the Gospel. Harrison has led teams to Sudan.

Harrison’s visit to the Clinton campus is part of a series examining the business world through the eyes of faith, said School of Business Dean Marcelo Eduardo. The program is designed to show the consistency between a business career and faith, he said. Harrison heads “an extremely successful company,” he noted.

MC business students were impressed with Harrison’s remarks. He closed the packed session at Self Hall’s Ed Trehern Lecture Hall in prayer.

“This is the best speaker I’ve heard in my three years here,” said MC junior Taylor Stringer, 20, of Tylertown. “We got a sermon and business advice at the same time,” added the business administration major.

Harrison, who obtained his MBA from Duke University, has headed Coca-Cola Consolidated as chairman and CEO since 1996. He leads a giant company committed to serving customers, he says, “in mind, body and spirit.” It’s also one with a mission to “honor God in all we do.”