CWA Spotlight: Beth Alexander, CapStar Bank (Nashville, TN)
As a national sponsor of Mentoring Monday, we are spotlighting remarkable women across the country who served as mentors for the event.
Download the PDF of this interview here.
Beth Alexander is a Private Banker at CapStar where she provides personalized service to clients who need a little extra attention and discretion. When she’s not taking care of her customers, she’s serving the Nashville community on the boards of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Friends of Warner Parks, and the Blake McMeans Foundation. She is a past board chair of Nashville Public Library Foundation and sits on the board for Junior League. Beth takes pride in the vibrant philanthropic culture that makes Nashville’s arts, music and social service sectors thrive.
How long have you been with CapStar?
I’ve been there 7 ½ years. I started as a Private Banker and Director of Community Relations. The title of Director of Communications was added as more responsibility was given to me.
I was brought to CapStar by Claire Tucker. When she was appointed as CEO, she had a unique vision to put together bankers from different sectors – some very experienced bankers with one outlier – me. She envisioned that I could be a private banker, and it has been a lot of fun and also immensely rewarding.
Tell me about your career path.
I think life takes you on its own path based on the opportunities that present themselves as well as ones that you seek. As an English major, I felt I was qualified to do anything because you can do anything if you can communicate well.
I started at the United Methodist Publishing House but really began my career (in earnest) after my two boys were old enough to drive. I heavily volunteered while my boys were growing up and was able to leverage this experience into my role as a Volunteer Coordinator for Bank of America. I was then recruited to United Way to be Vice President of Advancement, which was very challenging and rewarding at the same time. From there, I became Editor of nFocus for the next 7 years before I joined CapStar.
What challenges do you encounter in the workplace?
The greatest challenges are usually interpersonal and related to clarity of communication. When misunderstandings occur, it’s hard to back up and clear up something. It is so important to be clear on the front-end about expectations and roles both with clients and employees.
Do you have any advice for women just starting out in their career?
Find a mentor. It has been so rewarding to meet with young women, especially the ones who attended Mentoring Monday. All were prepared with questions, open to receive information, curious about others’ perspectives, and eager to apply what they learned, which made the time really valuable for both parties.
What has been a key to your success?
A belief that you can learn just about anything. I’m always excited to try and learn something new, which has really given me the flexibility to change careers and take on new roles. I just heard a statistic the other day that 50% of the careers that exist today will not exist in 15 years. We’ve all got to be ready and flexible for that fast moving future when it comes.
How has volunteer work influenced your career?
Non-profit involvement is a vital part of a balanced life to me. Volunteer work provided an opportunity to try on new roles from teacher to lobbyist to sales to TV talk show host. To me, volunteering is a safe place to try and fail, and I think you have to have the possibility of failure to find out what your limits are.
What is the one piece of advice you want to leave us with?
Take time to be involved in your community.
Interview Conducted By: Amy Strange
CBIZ Benefits and Insurance of Tennessee
CBIZ Women's Advantage celebrates the uniqueness of the woman business professional. Internally, we direct the development of our women professionals through focused leadership, mentoring, networking and professional development programs. Externally, we provide women decision makers access to a network of highly skilled, seasoned, professional women to assist their every business need. We are "CBIZ Women Helping Women Succeed in Business." For more information, visit www.cbiz.com/cwa.