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Stephenie Whitfield, the newly-appointed President of Bank of America Sarasota/Manatee, is bringing her impressive qualifications and passion for community support into her new role. She will continue her current role as Business Banking Marketing Executive while also overseeing the company’s eight lines of business and its efforts to grow market share. Whitfield has over 25 years of experience in financial services, but her strong work ethic began even before her career.

“I come from a family of educators. My parents were teachers. My aunts and uncles were teachers. None of my grandparents had an education beyond elementary school, so they encouraged all their children to pursue higher education, and both my parents earned advanced degrees. I grew up as an avid reader and writer, and I found, quite frankly, that when financial lives are better for people, it lifts individuals, families, and whole communities,” says Whitfield.

She earned a law degree and, immediately after graduation, opened her own financial consulting firm—a formative experience for her. Whitfield says this experience solidified her belief in the power of financial services to impact people’s lives.

Now, Whitfield hopes to bring that emphasis on impact and community to her new leadership position within the organization she joined in 2016. “As President of Sarasota/Manatee, I lead Bank of America's locally focused efforts to make financial lives better. We serve a lot of people, a lot of businesses, in many different ways, and my job is to help give everyone the financial solutions that they need to succeed,” says Whitfield. She sees her central role to be building the community through Bank of America’s financial services, but also through giving back by supporting local charitable organizations.

Looking ahead, Bank of America under Whitfield’s leadership will continue to emphasize its focus on serving three core pillars—clients, employees and the community. “The cornerstone of what leadership really is to me is inspiring and empowering and elevating people,” says Whitfield. She says that the bank will continue to deepen relationships with non-profits through grant awards and other methods of community engagement, but that she is also planning new projects to expand these efforts.

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