10-23-2022 W2W - Flipbook - Page 14
PHOTO BY KARL MERTON FERRON
Anna L. Smith
senior vice president of community involvement and family wealth, M&T Bank, Wilmington Trust
Anna L. Smith has spent much of her 41 years at
M&T Bank in wealth advisory, working with multiple
generations within families.
But four years ago, she also began leading the
bank’s charitable foundation in Maryland, greater
Washington and central Virginia.
“People say, ‘What a wonderful job. You get to give
away money,’” Smith said. “It’s a blessing and a curse.
The blessing is that M&T Bank is very philanthropic.
… The curse is that there are so many worthy causes
and so much need, and we can’t say yes to everything.”
The bank awards nearly $4 million in Maryland
each year to more than 400 nonprofits.
For Smith and the bank, philanthropy is hands-on
and goes beyond writing a check. The bank forms
partnerships with nonprofits that focus on health and
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human services, food assistance, diversity and equity,
education and arts and culture, and often supports
groups where employees volunteer.
“She is a natural connector,” said Augie Chiasera,
regional president for the bank. “She leverages her
personal contacts to find deep networks within the
not-for-profit community to connect with folks at
M&T.”
Smith, traces a strong belief in giving back to her
days growing up in Richmond, Virginia. Students at
the Episcopal school she attended were taught to live
by the school motto, “What we keep we lose, and only
what we give remains our own.”
After studying art history at Hollins University
in Roanoke, Virginia, she worked for a Washington
bank. She was planning to become a New York bond
trader when M&T predecessor First National Bank of
Maryland offered her a portfolio manager job.
She never left, and decades later, she works to
further the bank’s community investment mission.
Most recently, the foundation joined the Aspen
Institute to fund individuals doing “good works” in
Baltimore. The bank chose 10 finalists for last year’s
“Weavers” pilot, for activities such as mentoring
and cleanups, and is expanding to 20 to be awarded
$5,000 each this year.
“We’re out there looking for the next Bea Gaddy,”
Smith said, referring to the homeless advocate known
as the “Mother Teresa of Baltimore.”
“It’s community based and that’s Baltimore. Baltimore is a city of neighborhoods.”
— Lorraine Mirabella