David Smalls (’06)

David Smalls (’06)

Executive Director, South Carolina Artisans Center

David M. Smalls is currently the Executive Director at the South Carolina Artisans Center, “The Official Folk Art and Craft Center in South Carolina”.  Smalls served recently as the Legislative Delegation Director for the Colleton County Legislative Delegation.  Previously, he was the campaign manager for SC State Senator Margie Bright Matthews, who is now one of only two females in the SC State Senate.  Prior to that position, Smalls was the State Director for Communities In Schools of SC, which is one of the premier drop-out prevention programs in the country and was the President and CEO of the Walterboro-Colleton Chamber of Commerce, which is located in a historic community along the coast of South Carolina.  Prior to the chamber, he spent 16 years in the banking industry between Texas and South Carolina which culminated in serving as City Executive for BB&T, which is now Truist Bank.

Smalls serves on the boards of the South Carolina Arts Alliance, PURE Theatre, the Technical College of the Lowcountry, Immediate Past Board Chair of the South Carolina Association of Technical College Commissioners, advisory board member of South State Bank, the South Carolina Research Authority and the President-elect of the Walterboro Rotary Club.  In the past, he has served on the boards of the South Carolina Climate, Energy and Commerce Advisory Committee, the Coastal Community Foundation, and the Lowcountry Advisors for the Donnelley Foundation.  Smalls is a member of the inaugural classes of the Liberty Fellowship of South Carolina, a partnership with The Aspen Institute/Aspen Global Leadership Network and the Diversity Leadership Academy – South Carolina Lowcountry, a program with The Riley Institute at Furman University.  Smalls received a B.S. in Marketing/Business Administration from the University of South Carolina and graduated from the Institute for Organization Management at Colorado College.