blvd. | people
A champion for the underdog FORMER SOFT-DRINK COMPANY CEO DALE F. HALTON CONTINUES TO LEAVE HER MARK ON CHARLOTTE, THIS TIME AS CO-FOUNDER OF A SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM. by Vanessa Infanzon
32
|
SOUTHPARK
I’d been doing the advertising before taking over as president. I can be a very good organizer if I want. I had a lot of experience working with numerous groups. I think that must have helped. But we already had the people in place, they just weren’t allowed to do their job. I couldn’t have done it without [General Manager] Darrell Holland. I’d known him since 1970. He was our adult Sunday school teacher and the last one to stop wearing white gloves to church on Sunday. We knew and respected each other. We had such a great team. In fact, after I sold (Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co.), we met the first Friday of every month at Pike’s Drugs. We had to stop during the pandemic, but we’ve started again. We go to Rooster’s in SouthPark.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY DALE HALTON PERSONAL PAPERS AND BUSINESS RECORDS, MS0567, J. MURREY ATKINS LIBRARY, THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE
W
hen Dale Halton stepped in as president of PepsiCola Bottling Co. of Charlotte in 1981, she was a rare female CEO. The business was close to insolvency, and Pepsico’s leaders were threatening to pull the franchise from her family, which had been affiliated with the soft-drink company for more than 70 years. Within several years, the franchise was ahead of its larger CocaCola rival in soft-drink market share in the Charlotte region, she says. Saving the company from ruin was personal for Halton, whose grandparents, Henry and Sadie Fowler, opened the business in Charlotte in 1905, 12 years after New Bern pharmacist Caleb Bradham created “Brad’s Drink.” (It was renamed Pepsi in 1898.) In 2005, after serving more than two decades as president, Halton sold the company. It was then Charlotte’s biggest female-owned company, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. As a fierce supporter of the underdog, Halton, a Myers Park High School graduate, has wielded her influence to provide opportunities for athletes, dancers and students —– young people who may not have the means to obtain access to what they need. Her philanthropy has extended to numerous nonprofits, such as Charlotte Ballet, Central Piedmont Community College and UNC Charlotte. She’s served on countless boards, including Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and Historic Rosedale. In 2020, she was inducted into the inaugural class of UNC Charlotte Athletics Hall of Fame. Her latest passion is Aspire Carolinas Foundation, where she teamed with veteran Charlotte nonprofit executive Jennifer Nichols to create a school for 3rd through 8th graders with learning disabilities related to autism spectrum disorder. The Halton School opened in 2019 in Huntersville. With additional fundraising, Halton envisions the program starting a charter school focusing on vocational training for trades such as plumbing and culinary arts. Halton has an extensive collection of Native American and western American art from her days living in Telluride, Colo. While she grew up in a privileged family, Halton says country clubs aren’t her style: She prefers hosting a group of longtime friends for lunch in her Myers Park home, which boasts a sweeping view of the city’s tree canopy. And in case you were wondering, she still enjoys Pepsi products. Comments are edited for length and clarity.
