“Sands Is Driven to Improve Communities,” Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

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PROFILE: In her newly created position, Michelle Sands oversees Barnett Bank's efforts to meet the federal Community Reinvestment Act, a law to ensure banks make their loans and services available to the entire community — including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods in the areas where they operate. D3

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PROFILE
Sands is driven to improve communities
By Linda Rosley Dailey, Staff Writer

In her new job, Michelle Sands looks at numbers and sees faces.

Census data aren't statistics to her, but people — with families, homes, businesses.

“It sort of brings it to life,” said Sands, the vice president for community affairs at Barnett Bank of Southwest Georgia.

Sands is trying to do more than just enliven census reports. She wants to invigorate the communities in which she works.

In her job, a newly created post, she oversees Barnett's efforts to meet the federal Community Reinvestment Act, a law to ensure banks make loans and services available to the entire community — including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods where they operate.

“What's most important is to know that what we do affects people's lives,” said Sands. “If they can get a home loan, they're homeowners. They have a stake in the community. That breeds success for everyone.”

Sands realizes, though, her challenge can't be met overnight.

“Community development is ... a long-term process. It's not an event,” said Sands, who joined Barnett in November.

Sands offers a unique perspective on economic development, bringing not only banking experience, but also several years of work at the Columbus Chamber of Commerce.

MICHELLE RODGERS SANDS
Age: 31
Job: Vice president for community affairs, Barnett Bank of Southwest Georgia
Education: Master's of business administration, Atlanta University, 1989; bachelor's degree, Emory University, 1984
Work history: Vice president for governmental and minority affairs, Columbus Chamber of Commerce, 1991-1994; commercial banking representative and credit analyst, Pittsburgh National Bank, 1989-1990; internships at banks in Detroit and Houston, 1987 and 1988; tax examiner, Internal Revenue Service, 1985-86
Family: Husband Tom Sands, and 2-year-old son Kendall
Hobbies: Reading, gardening

“She has good insight into the needs of the community,” said Alice Daws, senior vice president and director of retail banking at Barnett.

But there's more than one community on which Sands must focus. In addition to Columbus, Barnett has banks in Manchester, Cairo, Thomasville and Valdosta.

“I have the opportunity to get out on the road and talk with folks throughout southwest Georgia,” said Sands.

Southwest Georgia isn't too far from home for Sands, who's held posts from Detroit to Houston.

A native of Anniston, Ala., Michelle Rodgers Sands majored in history at Emory University and got her bachelor's degree in 1984.

After working for the Internal Revenue Service in Atlanta for a couple of years, she went to graduate school and earned her master's of business administration degree from Atlanta University in 1989.

In her youth, Sands was aware of civil rights struggles. Her father, Gordon Rodgers, a dentist, was the first African-American to serve on Anniston's city council.

As she sees it, the momentum of the civil rights movement has slowed since the '60s, but the effort continues. Her generation faces different challenges than did her parents, who participated in voter registration drives.

“Now ... the less blatant inconsistencies in society is where the focus needs to be,” Sands said.

Her work at the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, as vice president for governmental and minority affairs from 1991 to 1994, made her more acutely aware of hurdles yet to leap, she says.

“Being at the chamber and working with minority business and women's business, you realize economic empowerment is the next big frontier. Working at a bank, dealing with access to capital, is one way I feel I can play a part in dealing with that issue,” Sands said.

Thus, Sands regards her personal work not just as banking, but as public service, of sorts.

And public service was where she once thought she would make a career.

Growing up, she didn't know exactly what she would do. “I just knew I was going to do it well,” Sands said.

“I guess that was the one thing I came away with from my childhood ... confidence in yourself and your abilities,” said Sands.

For Sands, motherhood is a challenge like no other. “I want to be great at it. It's not the same as a career,” she said. She and her husband, Tom Sands, have a son, Kendall.

“If your kids turn out to be nice people, you've done a good job,” Sands said. The job requires that parents not only meet kids' needs, but also provide security, comfort, love and the knowledge “that they are special and have special gifts,” she said.

She balances that sense of

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-ject.

“I've updated my perspective. If you're in a position to help someone, you should. To improve your community is something that you should do. It doesn't necessarily have to be a big deal — but just the day to day. You should make it a part of your life,” she said. “I'm doing what I can for Columbus and the community.”

A former co-worker was killed in the USAir plane crash near Pittsburgh last fall, and the incident has created a new awareness of mortality. “You realize life is short. You have to make the most of it and enjoy everyday and all th[cut off]
within. So I try to d[cut off]
Sands, who is trying [cut off]
for herself and hobb[cut off]

There's much tha[cut off]
to accomplish in he[cut off]
the 'Net.' Pick up e[cut off]
Make her mark — i[cut off]
way possible.

“The bottom line I [cut off]
think about (is) if [cut off]
your last, what cou[cut off]
about you?”

She points to a se[cut off]
wallet-sized card [cut off]
“The Barnett Vision” —
she always carries.

“We improve the [cut off]
customers and the w[cut off]
our communities.” [cut off]
Said Sands, “That's [cut off]

[continued from D3] boss, Barnett President Mike Collins uses to describe Sands.

When Collins worked with Sands while she was still at the chamber, he noted how her meetings always started on time and had an agenda.

“She has a diplomacy that's unusual,” said Kenneth B. Crooks Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Metro Columbus Urban League, who is the Urban League's board secretary, can ask hard questions tactfully, he said.

“In just a few months on the board of the Lower Chattahoochee Regional Development Center, Sands has distinguished herself as someone capable of quickly grasping issues and communicating ideas,” said Ron Starnes, the center's executive director.

While at the chamber, Sands was astute at “zeroing in” on issues of importance, said the Columbus chamber's president, Mike Gaymon.

“That impressed me,” said Collins, who praised her poise and rapport in dealing with governmental and civic leaders.