Anita Smith-Dixon worked for Wells Fargo Bank for over a decade as a successful mortgage loan originator before joining the City of Savannah Housing & Neighborhood Services Department in 2011 as the Administrator for Marketing & Sales. She oversaw a transition of data management to a new software, Neighborly, and was promoted to the Executive Director of CHSA, Inc., a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in January 2020. Her duties at CHSA include administration of the Savannah Affordable Housing Fund. CHSA also has two subsidiaries: CHSA Development Inc., a HUD-certified housing development organization; and the Housing Savannah, Inc., a funding and advocacy agency supporting the Savannah Affordable Housing Fund.

Ms. Smith-Dixon has quadrupled both CHSA’s revenue and loan portfolio, with its operations sustained by both public and private partnerships. She studied at West Georgia University before receiving her accounting diploma from Ben Hill-Irwin Technical School. She is an active mentor of construction development professionals and minority contractors in Savannah and serves on the Ponce Bank CDFI Advisory Board in New York City. She was born and raised in Savannah.