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March 2017 Luncheon – A Conversation with Andrea Smith
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March 2017 Luncheon – A Conversation with Andrea Smith

March 2017 Luncheon – A Conversation with Andrea Smith

Submitted by Ryan Ramey

Andrea Smith, Chief Administrative Officer at Bank of America, and the 2017 Charlotte Chamber Chairman joined CREW Charlotte on Tuesday, March 14th to share some thoughts about her career and what’s ahead for the business community and the City of Charlotte.

With nearly 30 years’ experience at Bank of America, Andrea Smith oversees several critical functions that support the strategic and operational foundation of the company. She is responsible for the overall global corporate strategy and managing the market presidents. She also leads global real estate services, global procurement, and supplier diversity. Her supplier diversity program has been recognized as one of the best in the country spending more than $2 billion each year with women and minority-owned businesses.

When asked about the success of her career, she attributed it to taking risks and not being afraid to take on new challenges. Andrea started her career out of college as a computer programmer for First RepublicBank Corp. and strongly believes in mentoring and bringing people along. Her commitment is solid as Bank of America and Vital Voices Global Partnership recently announced that they are bringing their Global Ambassadors Program to the U.S. The program is a week-long mentorship initiative, which will bring women leaders of small businesses and social enterprises from the Carolinas and around the world for mentoring and workshops.

Outside of the bank, Andrea Smith currently chairs the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. She hopes to broaden the chamber’s mission to be more inclusive and innovative. Her goal would be to bring more voices to the table to better represent Charlotte’s business community. “Gone are the days of the chamber being your grandfather’s chamber,” says Andrea. There is a new vision of a chamber that connects people, helps connect people to nonprofits, helps connect businesses to people and connects the work that’s going on all around Charlotte.

Andrea was named 2016 BusinessWoman of the Year, serves on the Board of Directors of both the Charlotte Ballet and the Charlotte Sports Foundation, was appointed to the Board of Trustees for Discovery Place, and is the 2017 Chairman of the Charlotte Chamber.