When the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance hosts its annual meeting Dec. 13, the baton will be officially passed to Kieth Cockrell as the organization’s incoming chair for 2023.
And, since Cockrell is the proud parent of an Olympic track and field athlete, passing the baton is an apt description — or, at least, an irresistible pun for someone writing about him. (Okay, she is a sprinter and a hurdler, not a relay runner, but close enough.)
Cockrell became Charlotte market president at Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) in 2021, and his career with the bank has spanned multiple cities and roles over three decades.
His tenure in Charlotte includes serving on civic and nonprofit boards and volunteering at various events, including work with the Foundation For The Carolinas, Davidson College, Levine Museum of the New South and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. In 2020, he was co-chair of the successful city bonds campaign.
Cockrell is succeeding Ernst & Young executive Malcomb Coley as CLT Alliance chair, a role that goes to a different local executive each year. The chair helps steer the direction of the organization while putting a stamp on an issue or issues that he or she views as top priorities for economic growth.
During an interview this week at the CLT Alliance offices in uptown, Cockrell shared his perspective on corporate collaboration and civic responsibility, Charlotte’s “secret sauce” and what he hopes to achieve in the year ahead.
You’ve served on boards and been part of various civic programs. Now, you’re going to be chair of the Alliance. How will you balance this role with your day job?
It’s work, it’s what we do.
I’ve got the distinct pleasure of having a role that allows me the opportunity (to do this). We believe at Bank of America that healthy communities are good for business, so, this isn’t charity for us.
Fundamentally, if communities have the skills, the education, it leads to careers. When people are gainfully employed, there’s less crime. If they’re homeowners, the neighborhoods look better, they’re sustained, people care. This is not charity for us.
We are a for-profit business, but you can deliver profits with a purpose.
As you come into this role, what is the state of the CLT Alliance?
Oh, I think the Alliance is very strong. It’s been a very, very solid year.
You know the long history of leadership we’ve had of whatever we’ve called this organization in the past. (CLT Alliance was formed in late 2018 when the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce merged with the Charlotte Regional Partnership.) That has helped this community become what it is today.
Senior leaders here take it as an awesome responsibility to maintain a leadership role in helping to keep the economy healthy. As we close out this year and look ahead, it’s been a very successful year from a business recruiting perspective. Under Malcomb’s leadership, he really was focused on ensuring that we were truly a regional organization, not just in words or looking at a map. This is not a Charlotte-specific organization; we’ll continue that. There are still opportunities from a public-policy perspective.
I think we’ve also made great inroads there, both at the state level here in North Carolina as well as South Carolina. We’re coming off a successful federal visit. Those are relationships.
The ACC is a great example. Helping our state legislature understand that this wasn’t a competition between Charlotte and Greensboro. This was, we may lose the ACC to Florida. And how do we feel about that?
Equally, I would say there is always more we can do. But demonstrating that we are becoming that voice of business. And when I say business, I’m talking about the full spectrum, not just the household names like Honeywell or Atrium or Lowe’s or Bank of America. One of the opportunities as I look forward to working with the (CLT Alliance) team is to demonstrate to new businesses as well as those small businesses that are trying to grow that this is the place for them.
You mentioned education and transportation. Are there other areas that you want to focus on as chair? And whatever your focus, what kinds of things would you like to do?
We’ve got a long history — we’ve been successful at leading the bond campaign as long as you can remember. And so, first things first.
We want to continue to ensure that this community understands that we are growing (as a city), and we are committed to continue to keep the economy healthy and growing.
But growth does present different types of challenges and opportunities. With that, we have to do our level best in terms of leaning in on where we believe that we can make inroads to keep this flywheel going.
We don’t have to go very far to see what we don’t want to be. We’re still (committed) to going and learning and talking with others in terms of what approaches that they’ve had and where they’ve seen success.
Education, because it has a big impact on my life — so I don’t apologize for leaning in in terms of education. And I’m very proud of the collaborative nature that we continue to demonstrate from a public-private perspective. I’ve lived in many different regions across this country, and I haven’t experienced anything like this. I think it really is our “secret sauce.”
More of Spanberg’s sit-down with Cockrell, including what the bank exec has learned most from his civic and philanthropic work; a peek at plans for the Exploring Economies trip to Tampa, Florida; and the accomplishments that would make Cockrell’s tenure as CLT Alliance chair a success, can be found here.
