The Voice of Business in the Charlotte Region

Andrea Smith interviews JELD-WEN and Sonic Automotive CEOs at Fortune 1000 companies headquartered in the Charlotte region

• Andrea Smith, JELD-WEN’s CEO Bill Christensen and Sonic Automotive’s CEO David Smith • Season 1 • Episode 1

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To explore one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S, Andrea Smith, interim CEO for the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, interviewed two CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies headquartered in the Charlotte region:

  • Bill Christensen, CEO of JELD-WEN, a manufacturing company with global operations
  • David Smith, CEO of Sonic Automotive, a large automotive retailer that does business across 20+ states

In this premier episode of The Voice of Business in the Charlotte Region, a podcast miniseries brought to you by CLT Alliance and the Charlotte Business Journal, Christensen and Smith share their perspectives on the advantages of doing business here and what the region needs to overcome.  

Listen to this episode to learn about:

  • Their stories — one CEO recently relocated from Zurich while the other grew up in the area  (1:15)   
  • The Charlotte area’s unique qualities (2:59)
  • What types of companies thrive in this region (5:32) 
  • Addressing growth and what challenges need to be conquered (8:36) 
  • What the Fortune 1000 company ranking means to each CEO (12:52)
  • The importance of community involvement (15:40)
  • What they see in the Charlotte region’s future (19:32)




To learn more about the Charlotte Region and discover why business is better here, visit charlotteregion.com.