Steve Soltis

Education: B.S., University of North Texas; M.A., Mary Washington College

Steve Soltis is a senior adviser with MAS Leadership Communication, a company he formed in 2017 with partners Ken Askew and Charles McNair. Beginning in January, Soltis will also join the Darden team as an executive-in-residence, teaching management and leadership communication.

Soltis recently retired from The Coca-Cola Company, where he led both executive and internal communication for the past 11 years. In that role, he served as the lead communication strategist for chair and CEO Muhtar Kent, and was responsible for all of his executive speeches, town halls, videos, press briefings, correspondence, and external and internal appearances. In addition, Soltis was responsible for orchestrating the company's entire C-suite executive visibility efforts and for formulating its employee communication strategies and execution.

Prior to joining Coca-Cola in 2006, Soltis led executive communication efforts for 10 years at UPS, the world's largest transportation company. In that role, he was instrumental in developing the company's executive visibility programming and supporting three successive CEOs. During that time, Soltis was also responsible for helping develop that company's B2B customer thought leadership conference, Longitudes.

Soltis' corporate career began in 1994 as an executive speechwriter for MCI in Atlanta. In addition, he was part of the founding editorial team at Washington Flyer Magazine, a joint venture with the Metropolitan Washington D.C. Airports Authority and Ackerley Advertising. Soltis was also part of the founding editorial team at the Austin Chronicle, and later worked for futurist and author John Naisbitt in Washington, D.C. He began his career in journalism working for the Plano (Texas) Daily Star Courier.

Soltis graduated from North Texas State University in 1986 and received a master's degree from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1992. He is the author of two guide books, published by the Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch and The Boston Globe Company, respectively.

Soltis and his wife Stacy split time between Gulf Shores, Alabama, metro Atlanta and Charlottesville.