Name: Allen Fernandez Smith

Pronouns: He/Him

Title: West Region Executive for Global Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase

Allen Fernandez Smith is the West Region Executive for Global Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase. In this capacity, Allen is responsible for the firm’s strategic philanthropy throughout the Western United States. His team supports eligible nonprofits focused on racial equity and building a more inclusive economy through community development, small business, workforce development, and financial empowerment. Fernandez Smith has been committed to issues of social, racial, and economic empowerment since his early years growing up in Chicago, where he got a firsthand look at inequality and the systematic exclusion of low-income families and communities of color from economic and political opportunities.

Prior to his role at JPMorgan Chase, Fernandez Smith was a Principal for Low-Income Programs and Strategies at the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), based in San Francisco, CA. At PG&E, he led the company’s comprehensive approach to support its 2 million low-income customers throughout California with energy savings tools, financial assistance programs, and community partnerships. Fernandez Smith also served as the President and CEO of Urban Habitat, an environmental justice non-profit dedicated to providing leadership and policy guidance to local governments and communities of color who are disproportionately impacted by environmental hazards. At Urban Habitat, Fernandez Smith focused on the intersections of transportation, housing, land use, and climate change in urban communities. Prior to his tenure at Urban Habitat, Fernandez Smith was the Executive Director of the California School-Age Consortium (CalSAC), a statewide organization dedicated to advancing the professional development of youth workers across the state through high-quality trainings, policymaking, and advocacy. As President of the Board of Directors and then as Executive Director, he led the organization in developing and implementing a multi-year strategic plan to realign the organization’s mission, vision, and direction. Fernandez Smith has worked for the City and County of San Francisco as a Senior Community Development Specialist in the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Community Development and in the city’s Department of Children, Youth & Their Families. He worked closely with city agencies, local community leaders, and small business owners on promising neighborhood economic strategies and a citywide youth development system.

Fernandez Smith graduated from Harvard’s Kennedy School, holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Illinois, and was a graduate fellow at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund in Washington D.C. In 2011, he was named to The Root 100 national list of African-American leaders under 45 years old. He lives in Oakland, CA with his wife, Kay Fernandez Smith, Program Manager for the Racial Equity and Justice Initiative at Apple Inc, and their children, Malcolm and Malaya.