Gris Bailey and Manolo Betancur provide vivid examples of the ingenuity and influence of Latino and Hispanic entrepreneurs and workers in Charlotte’s economy.

Bailey grew up in Southern California, where she hoped to become a lawyer. She did, in fact, go on to earn a law degree and practiced immigration law, but consulting and business development became her career focus, taking her all over the country and developing expertise in a range of fields, including companies that provide college planning for students and parents.

Those steps brought Bailey to Charlotte in 2018. Two years later, the pandemic shut down many of her consulting options as Covid-19 wreaked havoc on business travel. Bailey, after the temporary grounding, realized she needed a job with less travel to allow her more time with family. At that point, she thought she might move back to California.

She wound up staying after being encouraged to apply in 2020 to lead the Latin American Chamber of Commerce Charlotte, where she is president and CEO.

Betancur emigrated from his native Colombia to the United States in 2000. He arrived in Miami with $900 and a couple of changes of clothes; he did not speak English. Within five years, Betancur would earn a college degree from King University in Tennessee, get married, and move to Charlotte, where he became part of a family bakery on Central Avenue.

The Great Recession nearly killed the bakery but, over the next decade, Betancur became the small business’ de facto CEO and sales recovered. Annual revenue went from $300,000 in 2008 ($427,000 adjusted for inflation) to $1.8 million last year. Over the same span, the bakery grew from six employees to 40.

Betancur’s in-laws started the bakery and sold it to Manolo and his ex-wife in 2014. Soon after that, he bought out his ex-wife and changed the name to Manolo’s Latin Bakery. Along the way, he’s become a tireless advocate for east Charlotte while making national and international news for humanitarian campaigns including trips to Ukraine to help bakers revive their businesses through equipment donations.

Bailey and Betancur are immersed in the Hispanic — and broader — business community.

And that community is significant. During the last 10 years, the Charlotte area’s Latino workforce grew by a whopping 40%. And, based on continuing population gains, their influence is expected to keep getting stronger in the years ahead.

According to the latest Census figures, Hispanic and Latino people account for 11%, or 315,000, of the Charlotte metro area’s 2.76 million people. Analysis by the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance of data collected by labor tracking firm Lightcast found that the Hispanic population increased 20% between 2018 and 2023.

Bailey added that Charlotte is unique because its Latino population is more diverse, much less concentrated than in South Florida (Cuba, Puerto Rico) and Southern California (Mexico, Central America), for example.

“I didn’t know the richness and the culture of Latinos here in Charlotte,” Bailey said. “Very unique in Charlotte is that we have Latinos from all over Latin America. We have people from Colombia, from Guatemala, from Mexico, from Venezuela, it’s an array.”

Bailey and Betancur this month appeared on CBJ’s Two Views podcast to discuss the growth and financial muscle of Latino business leaders, workers, and consumers across the region as well as their challenges.

Immigration, political influence and equal opportunity to accumulate and build personal wealth and stability were among the topics discussed.

The Charlotte Business Journal’s Two Views podcast is brought to you by Segra, one of the largest independent fiber network companies in the Eastern United States based right here in Charlotte.

Businesses across the region in all industries are in the midst of setting expectations — and budgets — for 2024. Good luck to them all.

Projecting what could happen in the economy next year following a 2023 that can best be described as a series of mixed messages, scrambled numbers and consistently inconsistent outcomes does not foretell certainty on the horizon.

That's where this month's CBJ Two Views conversation comes in.

CBJ invited two economists steeped in knowledge of the Southeast to bring clarity to what's happened over the past 10 months and offer a vision for what lies ahead. Mark Vitner, of Piedmont Crescent Capital, and John Norris, of Oakworth Capital Bank, discussed in detail the opportunities and challenges to Charlotte’s growth and why there's plenty of reason for cautious optimism.

 Vitner retired from Wells Fargo almost exactly a year ago after a three-decade career with the bank. He became the voice of Wachovia and later Wells on local, regional and national economic issues in major publications and financial networks and has long been a valued source of wisdom for many Charlotte Business Journal reporters. Mark launched Piedmont Crescent Capital in December. The local boutique advisory firm provides economic consulting services to a wide range of businesses, trade groups and municipalities in the local and outside region.

Norris oversees Investments and Thought Leadership for Oakworth Capital Bank, a Birmingham, Alabama-based boutique bank that is building a Charlotte presence including opening an office in SouthPark. Prior to helping start Oakworth, he was chief economist, chairman of the Investment Strategy Committee, and a senior fund manager for Regions Financial Corp.’s Morgan Asset Management subsidiary.

Vitner and Norris joined CBJ Editor Robert Morris at Segra's podcast studio at the Charlotte-based company's Ballantyne headquarters.

The Charlotte Business Journal’s Two Views podcast is brought to you by Segra, one of the largest independent fiber network companies in the Eastern United States based right here in Charlotte.

On Nov. 9, when NCAA Women’s Final Four teams Iowa and Virginia Tech play in Charlotte at the Spectrum Center, it’s likely to be the highest revenue-generating regular season game in the history of the sport.

Danny Morrison, executive director of the Charlotte Sports Foundation, has been touting that anticipated milestone in recent weeks, and Morrison’s track record for living up to his promises is pretty solid.

Morrison took charge at the nonprofit sports foundation in 2019. He came out of a brief, quasi-retirement of teaching a couple of classes at the University of South Carolina and living at the beach to succeed Will Webb, the sports foundation’s top executive from its inception in 2013.

The sports foundation’s mission is to promote the city, enhance quality of life, and support local businesses through tourism spending.

Morrison is the former president of the NFL Carolina Panthers and a longtime college sports administrator whose resumé includes running a conference and serving as athletic director at TCU.

Former Bank of America Corp. Chief Administrative Officer Andrea Smith, who spent 36 years at the bank in a variety of executive roles before her recent retirement, is co-chair of the sports foundation’s board.

She often combined her interest in sports with her day job during her tenure at BofA. A notable example came in 2019, when she led the bank’s role backing the then-newly created Augusta National Women’s Amateur tournament, now played annually at the home of the Masters.

Smith began serving on the board of the PGA of America in 2018. The PGA of America presides over the PGA Championship and Ryder Cup, among other major golf events. At the time of her appointment, the PGA of America noted that, among other things, Smith’s work portfolio included managing the bank’s 80 million square feet of real estate around the world.

Morrison and Smith recently appeared on CBJ’s Two Views podcast to discuss surging interest in women’s sports, taking risks with new events, and why they expect to remain in the business of staging neutral site college football games for years to come.

The Charlotte Business Journal’s Two Views podcast is brought to you by Segra, one of the largest independent fiber network companies in the Eastern United States based right here in Charlotte.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and retired Trane Technologies CEO Mike Lamach have become key figures in an ambitious civic campaign to undo systemic racism. The Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative started in the fall of 2021, inspired by the horrors of George Floyd’s death in 2020.

The initiative relies on a tried-and-true local formula: combining investments and leadership from city and county government with matching efforts by major employers and nonprofits. Buy-in, so far, has been impressive. To date, $245.5 million has been raised toward a $250 million goal, including more than $150 million from private sources.

The Foundation For The Carolinas spearheaded the fundraising, including commitments of nearly $200 million on day one. Contributors include Ally Financial Inc., Atrium Health, Bank of America Corp., The Duke Endowment, Duke Energy Corp., Lowe’s Cos. Inc., Nucor Corp., Truist Financial Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co.

The initiative targets four areas to improve upward mobility and help Black residents economically: lifting Johnson C. Smith University’s academic standards and offerings while instilling a career-oriented study path; bridging the digital divide by providing computers, internet access, and assistance on how to make the most of those tools; creating tracks for Black professionals in mid-career to advance into the executive ranks while bolstering overall diversity across the board; and investing in the Corridors of Opportunity, six areas designated by city government as historically underfunded.

Lyles is a Democrat in her third term. She became the city’s first Black female mayor when first elected in 2017. Prior to that, she served on City Council and, earlier in her career, worked on the administrative side of city government for 30 years.

Lamach, the former Trane CEO, co-chairs the Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative with Malcomb Coley, who is Charlotte Managing Partner and Central Region Private Leader at accounting firm EY. He also serves as head of the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, a group of CEOs and executives from influential area businesses who collaborate on investments and programs to boost education, workforce development, health, and community engagement.

The racial equity initiative was unveiled during an event on Nov. 1, 2021, on the Johnson C. Smith campus, an event in which the mayor, business and political leaders and philanthropists disclosed their financial commitments and urged others to rally behind the effort.

Lyles and Lamach recently joined CBJ’s Two Views monthly podcast interview program to discuss the racial equity initiative’s origins and share a progress report. They also shared their thoughts on related efforts to strengthen public education and increase the amount of, and access to, affordable housing. Below are portions of that conversation, lightly edited for context and clarity.

The Charlotte Business Journal’s Two Views podcast is brought to you by Segra, one of the largest independent fiber network companies in the Eastern United States based right here in Charlotte.

Clay Grubb, CEO of Grubb Properties, and Tim Sittema, managing partner of Crosland Southeast, are central players in Charlotte’s development evolution. Both are leading complicated urban projects in innovative ways.

And each has tackled a range of affordable housing initiatives – both as developers and in their nonprofit work.

Grubb, the CEO of Grubb Properties since 2002, has led the company through several evolutions, the latest taking his company into two of the nation’s most challenging multifamily markets, Manhattan and Berkeley, California. Grubb’s Montford Road development has become a model for recasting suburban office buildings by filling their surface parking lots with Link-branded apartment buildings — delivering a young, creative workforce to employers’ front doors.

Grubb’s book, Creating The Urban Dream: Tackling The Affordable Housing Crisis With Compassion was published in 2020.

Sittema isn’t taking a back seat in the challenge department; he’s leading Crosland Southeast’s Eastland Yards project, which involves a public-private partnership with the city of Charlotte to remake the former 80-acre Eastland mall site.

And just a 10-minute drive up Central Avenue, Crosland Southeast is in the middle of construction of Commonwealth, which includes this combination: 100,000 square feet of retail, a 383-unit apartment building, the adaptive-reuse of two 100-year-old manufacturing plants and a Class-A office building. All on a 12-acre site in the heart of Plaza Midwood.

Sittema is also a leader of the Freedom Communities initiative that is focused on preserving affordable housing and expanding access to quality early education in the Freedom Drive corridor in west Charlotte.

Grubb and Sittema recently joined CBJ’s Two Views monthly podcast interview program to discuss development, affordable housing and how the combination of the two will play an important role in Charlotte’s future.

The Charlotte Business Journal’s Two Views podcast is brought to you by Segra, one of the largest independent fiber network companies in the Eastern United States based right here in Charlotte.

Malcomb Coley, EY’s Central Region Private Leader and Charlotte managing partner, and retired Bank of America Corp. CEO Hugh McColl Jr. became friends a decade ago, soon after Coley relocated to Charlotte.

In 2020, they became business partners, investing with former Duke Energy Corp. executive Lloyd Yates in Bright Hope Capital, a firm created to invest in — and build — minority-owned companies.

McColl is white; Coley and Yates are Black.

Both are heavily involved and interested in civic matters. McColl is widely credited as the person most responsible for catapulting Charlotte into a large metropolitan region over the past 40 years, often using the bank’s financial muscle to nurture everything from arts and culture to big league sports as well as corporate philanthropy.

Coley has become a fixture in civic campaigns and on major nonprofit boards. His current focus is the Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative, a $250 million public-private initiative started in 2021 to improve digital literacy and access, invest in Johnson C. Smith University, rebuild disadvantaged neighborhoods, and create more opportunities for minorities in the private sector.

For those reasons and more, CBJ tapped Coley and McColl as our first guests on Two Views, a new monthly podcast. 

The Charlotte Business Journal’s Two Views podcast is brought to you by Segra, one of the largest independent fiber network companies in the Eastern United States based right here in Charlotte.