NASHVILLE, TN (April 1, 2021) – Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Co. (Citizens Bank) announced today the addition of Kandace Harris to its leadership team as Vice President of Retail Banking. Citizens Bank has served the Nashville community since 1904 and is the oldest, continuously operating African American-owned bank in the United States.
As Vice President of Retail Banking, Harris holds responsibility for daily operations of full-service branch offices in Nashville and Memphis, including consumer lending, product sales and customer service. After announcing leadership changes in 2018, Citizens Bank has successfully improved its capital and market position. Earlier this year, Citizens Bank was one of six Black-owned banks in the U.S. to receive an equity investment from Wells Fargo as part of the national bank’s pledge to invest up to $50 million in Black-owned banks and received a similar donation from Bank of America towards the end of last year.
“We are honored to announce Kandace Harris, a well-known face in the Nashville banking sector, as the latest addition to our growing leadership team,” said Sergio Ora, president and CEO of Citizens Bank. “She will be an engaging hands-on leader for our retail banking team, with a strong personal commitment to helping Nashvillians achieve financial independence and wealth equality.”
Kandace Harris joins Citizens Bank from The Nashville Entrepreneur Center, where she worked directly with entrepreneurs and small business owners, helping them become bankable and providing insight on loan readiness. She has worked previously with Regions Bank, where she served as manager of the North Nashville branch and Studio Bank, where she focused on retail standard operating procedures, credit policies, loan approval processes, and commercial lending. She began her banking career in 2010 as a teller with Regions Bank.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to bring my passion for serving the Nashville community to Citizens Bank,” said Kandace Harris. “I am dedicated to providing educational, technical, and financial opportunities to underserved communities, small business owners, and entrepreneurs – and Citizens Bank has shown throughout its 100-plus-year history the same commitment to giving back.”
Citizens Bank was founded in 1904 by three prominent African American Nashville citizens – R.H. Boyd, Preston Taylor, and J.C. Napier. The institution was originally named the One-Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company to emphasize the importance of every customer, no matter their financial worth.
A Montgomery, Alabama native, Harris attended college in Nashville, earning a Master of Business Administration from Lipscomb University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Fisk University. She was honored by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as one of Nashville’s Top 30 Under 30 Young Professionals in 2018 for her work to improve financial literacy in the region.
