Smyre, Calvin -Dominican Republic – November 2021

UNITED STATES SENATE

SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)

POST:                  Dominican Republic

CANDIDATE:     Calvin Smyre

Calvin Smyre has served for forty-seven years as an elected Representative in the Georgia State Assembly and was Chairman of the Democratic Caucus within the Assembly for over a decade and still serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Caucus. He is the ‘Dean’ of the Georgia House of Representatives and serves on the most important panels of the House including the Appropriations Committee, the Rules Committee (former Chairman), and the Higher Education Committee (former Chairman). Nationally, Representative Smyre is President Emeritus of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) and a member of the National Conference of State Legislators.

Representative Smyre served for almost four decades as the executive vice president of corporate affairs for Synovus Financial Corporation, a multi-financial services company with more than $54 billion in assets. He served as a Synovus representative on the Financial Services Roundtable in Washington D.C. and was also the President of the Synovus Foundation. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Medical College of Georgia Foundation; the Morehouse School of Medicine; the Jack D. Hughston Foundation and the Fort Valley State University Foundation as its Chair. His vast experience as a legislator, his demonstrated ability to work across party lines to reach consensus on complex legislation, and his success as a leader in the business community and on challenging social issues, make him well-qualified to serve as Ambassador to the Dominican Republic.

Representative Smyre earned his B.S. from Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, Georgia. He has received over 200 local, state and national honors and awards.  In 2009 the Congressional Black Caucus presented him with the prestigious Phoenix Award. In 1980 he was selected by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as one of the “Ten Best Legislators” in the State and in 1985 and 2005 he was selected by his peers as the National “Legislator of the Year”.