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Paula Harper Bethea serves as Chair and CEO for J M Smith Corporation and has been a member of the J M Smith Corporation Board since 2016. From 2013 until 2020, she was Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of South State Bank and South State Corporation. She is President of Strategic Synergies LLC and Dillon Property Holdings, LLC. She served as Senior Advisor to President Harris Pastides at the University of South Carolina for several years, and from 2009 until 2016, she was the Executive Director of the South Carolina Education Lottery. In 2001, was chosen by Speaker David Wilkins to be one of nine South Carolinians tasked with establishing the Lottery. Prior to this position, she was with Bethea, Jordan & Griffin, PA and the McNair Law Firm for 30 years as Director of External Relations and Business Development.

Mrs. Bethea served on the Board of Directors of First Financial Holdings, Inc. and First Federal of Charleston from 1996 until 2013, serving as Chairman for several years. She is the former Chair of United Way of America’s Board of Governors, the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, the Centers of Economic Excellence and is a past President of the University of South Carolina Alumni Association. She is a recipient of the Order of the Palmetto, presented to her by Governor Carroll Campbell, and holds honorary doctorate degrees from the University of South Carolina and Presbyterian College.