Charm City's Top Theater Has a British Director With a Multicultural View 

Kwame Kwei-Armah is in the midst of his first season as artistic director of Baltimore's Centerstage, the city's leading professional theater. Check out an interview with Kwei-Armah. Watch his Centerstage video and his view of multicultural Britain. Follow him on Twitter.

Raising Capital to Serve Atlanta

Raising capital is never easy, particularly for small financial institutions these days. But Atlanta's Capitol City Bank & Trust Co., the nation's ninth-largest black-owned bank, has raised more than $1 million from community investors in amounts from $500 to $5,000 and is negotiating to get up to $5 million more, says bank president and CEO George C. Andrews. The goal is to raise $9.5 million to reach normal capital levels.

Smooth Moves

Baltimore: Anthony P. Ashton, a partner at DLA Piper, has joined the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service board of directors.

Birmingham, Ala.: Leah Butler, former district director for former Rep. Artur Davis, has been hired as the director of media relations for Alabama's leading public relations and marketing firm, Wilbanks Agency.

Zachery Gilbert was hired as a financial adviser by Pittman Financial Partners, a subsidiary of Strategic Financial Partners, Inc. Gilbert received both his B.A. degree in public administration and M.B.A. in finance from Auburn University. He is a member of the National Black MBA Association and the National Association of Black Accountants.

Boston: Jay Knott, executive vice president for global business at Abt Associates, a global international development company, has joined the board of the Society for International Development's Washington, D.C., chapter.

Charlotte, N.C.: Andreas Biermann has been hired as a consultant in the general management division of ProSidian Consulting. The black-owned firm specializes in risk management, energy and sustainability, compliance, business process, IT effectiveness and human resources talent management. Biermann is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Louisville, Ky.: Kimberly Reed, director of metering and billing operation at the Louisville Water Co., was honored as one of the city's 40 Under 40 by the Louisville Business Journal.

Memphis, Tenn.: Dr. Uzoma Ibebuogu was hired by the University of Tennessee Medical Group, Inc., as an interventional cardiologist. He has expertise in structural heart disease interventions, including aortic valvuloplasty, percutaneous aortic valve implantation and closure of certain heart defects.

Orlando, Fla.: April Dixon was promoted to vice president of construction at R.L. Burns Inc. Dixon, who has a B.A. in architecture and design from the University of Florida, had been the company's pre-construction estimator and project manager.

Philadelphia: Steven D. Higgins, a managing director, strategic advisory and financial sponsors coverage, at Janney Montgomery Scott, has joined the board of directors at Main Line Health.

Karolyn Banks, a managing associate at Drucker & Scaccetti, P.C., was selected as a Pennsylvania Certified Public Accountants Member to Watch.

Washington, D.C.: Ellis Stanley Sr. was named the chair of the Disasters Roundtable of the National Academy of Sciences. Stanley is a vice president at Dewberry, a national professional services company. He has a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is on the faculty at Harvard University, teaching meta-leadership.

Frank McCoy writes about business and technology for The Root. You can contact him here.

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