Courtney Smith has maintained a love for Midtown Atlanta since 1996 when she moved into her Harrison dorm room at Georgia Tech. Along with her husband, she has owned property in Midtown for over 20 years. After living in Nashville, New York and Singapore, Courtney returned to the Midtown Neighborhood permanently in 2012. She lives on Mentelle Drive in the historic home of renown Atlanta architect and founder of the Midtown Neighbors’ Association, Henri Jova.
Courtney started her professional career in corporate finance as an investment banking analyst in the health care industry working for SunTrust Bank, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Raymond James where she advised clients on venture capital fundraising rounds, M&A opportunities, and capital markets transactions. In 2005, after a one-year sabbatical where she attended the International Center of Photography in New York City, Courtney transitioned careers. For the following eight years, she used her skills in financial analytics, business strategy and project management to own and operate a boutique print media production company helping to create large scale corporate ad campaigns and stock image collections for large national companies.
Courtney enjoys working alongside Midtown neighbors on special projects including investigating a Midtown historic overlay designation and supporting the development of the Midtown Garden District Master Plan through to adoption. Her passion for being a part of the MNA Board of Directors stems from a lifelong call to service ingrained in her by her family’s history of military, civil and faith-based service. Her dedication to MNA is sustained by her love of Midtown’s intense energy and welcoming community vibe. For Courtney, the fact that Midtown is the most dense and fastest growing neighborhood simply makes the work for our community all that much more intriguing and critical.
Courtney joined the MNA Board of Directors in 2018 as Marketing Chairman and oversaw the rebranding of the organization, website evolution and worked alongside other dedicated Board members to re-envision the structure, programming and future vision of MNA’s service to the community. As President of the Midtown Neighbors’ Association, her focus has been on opening channels of communication for residents to connect to their community, creating sustainable practices for growth, strengthening bench depth, and bolstering the reputation and influence of the organization. Courtney represents MNA on the City of Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Unit-E Board as Vice Chairman and also serves on the Midtown Alliance Board of Directors.
In 2021, Courtney joined other neighborhood leaders in creating a citizen advocacy group – CLEAR – to bring about much needed reform and modernization of our City of Atlanta Alcohol Code of Ordinances. Since inception, the group has gathered the support of over 300,000 Atlanta residents and successfully supported positive legislative changes. Courtney is appointed to the City’s Alcohol Technical Advisory Group III which will convene this year and she also served on the 2021 Mayor’s Anti-Violence Advisory Council.
Courtney serves on the Board of Directors for the Atlanta Preservation Center, Georgia Tech Alumni Association, and Our House. Her family supports the Piedmont Park Conservancy, Midtown Assistance Center, HOPE Atlanta, Atlanta Food Bank, and Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute. They are members of the High Museum of Art and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.
