The Charlotte Regional Business Alliance board tapped retired Bank of America executive Andrea Smith to serve as interim CEO as the organization seeks a permanent leader.
Smith replaces Janet LaBar, who announced last month she was leaving the organization she led since 2019.
Smith worked for Bank of America for 34 years, retiring in September 2023 after almost nine years as chief administrative officer. Before then, she had spent five years as head of global human resources. She has been chair of the Bank of America Alumni Network since January 2023.
“I am proud to support the CLT Alliance and the board as we continue the important work to grow the economy, advocate for business, and help create opportunities for everyone to thrive,” says Smith in a statement by the organization.
Smith begins her new role Monday. LaBar’s last day is May 17.
Smith’s decades of leadership will be helpful to the alliance during this period of transition, says Ali Summerville, board chair of the CLT Alliance and business administrative executive at Ally.
“We know she will help us create even more impact during a time of great economic opportunity for this region,” said Summerville in a statement. “Andrea’s consistent commitment to supporting local leaders, especially women- and minority-owned businesses, has provided more people in our community the opportunity to advance and thrive.”
Smith has been a key civic leader in Charlotte for years. Smith was one of the last senior-level BofA executives with deep roots in Charlotte, where the bank is officially headquartered, when she retired. Now BofA leadership is scattered across the nation, but with most senior executives based in New York or Boston.
Smith also was chair of the Executive Committee for the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce in 2017, one of the CLT Alliance’s two predecessor organizations. The Alliance was formed in 2018 through a merger of the former Charlotte Chamber and Charlotte Regional Partnership. The CLT Alliance promotes economic growth in 10 North Carolina counties and four counties in South Carolina.
The group had a net deficit of $1.38 million in 2022, after posting a positive return of $464,000 in 2021, according to the most recent tax filing. Revenue totaled $7.9 million in 2022, including about $5.9 million in membership fees.
The 2022 loss related to the end of COVID-related federal funding that helped organizations keep employees paid during the pandemic. The alliance and its affiliated foundation had a balanced budget in 2023, spokeswoman Tanya Mendis says.
LaBar received compensation of about $434,500 that year. Danny Chavez, the organization’s chief business recruitment officer, left the Alliance in December and has not been replaced.
As a trailblazer for women in banking, Smith helped transform the bank’s hiring, employee benefits, and diversity and inclusion efforts. Recognitions include being named American Banker’s Most Powerful Women in Banking, Business North Carolina’s Most Influential Business Leaders in North Carolina and Charlotte Business Woman of the Year by Queens University.
In 2021 Smith was named the Citizen of the Carolinas, the CLT Alliance’s most prestigious award.
The CLT Alliance also announced that Thaddeus Jones, the founder and managing partner of Nexus Search Partners, has been retained to conduct the search for the organization’s full-time CEO. Since launching the firm in early 2023, Jones and Nexus have placed several top executives at leading corporations nationwide, including Sue Glass, who took the role of CEO for the YMCA of Greater Charlotte in January.
“We are also grateful to have Thadd and his firm’s specialized expertise conducting a thoughtful search for our next full-time CEO who will lead us into our next phase of growth,” says David Longo, vice chair of the CLT Alliance board and CEO of CBI|Workplace Solutions.