WILLIAM SHARP Sharp Advertising William Sharp is the retired president and founder of Sharp Advertising. Sharp Advertising is a full-service advertising and public relations agency. Before Sharp founded the agency in January, 1990, he served as senior vice president and general manager of the Atlanta office of Burrell Advertising. In that position he developed targeted advertising for the Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola USA, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), Underground Atlanta, and the Georgia Power Company. From 1972 to 1981, Sharp served as vice president/advertising manager for Coca-Cola USA. His experience also includes service as director of communications for the Office of Economic Opportunity in Washington, DC, a writer for TLK/SRG, copy supervisor for Leo Burnett, and group supervisor for J. Walter Thompson. Sharp is the recipient of numerous awards including "The Art Directors Club of New York" award and The One Show. He is the author of How To Be Black and Get a Job in the Advertising Agency Business Anyway. Sharp is listed in Who's Who In America, Who's Who in Advertising, and Who's Who of Leading American Executives. Sharp is past chairman of the board of directors of the American Advertising Federation. He is past chairman of the National Academy of Engineering's Telecommunication Sub-committee on Education and a past member of The Association of National Advertiser's Board of Directors. Currently, he serves on the boards of The Atlanta College of Art and The Ballethnic Dance Company. He is chairman of the Atlanta Educational Telecommunications Collaborative (AETC), the organization that manages and operates Atlanta's public television and radio stations. Sharp attended Wilson Junior College and Roosevelt University. He developed and taught the Basic Advertising Course, an educational program sponsored by the Four A's to train young African-Americans for professional jobs in advertising agencies. In this endeavor, he created the first curriculum, recruited faculty and students, and served as instructor/director for two years starting at Northwestern University.