Reverend Allison Cannady-Smith
Reverend Allison Cannady-Smith is an ordained Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and the proud Pastor of Bethel AME Church in Portland, OR, and serves on the board of the Bethel Economic Development Council. She just led the completion of Bethel’s Project H.O.P.E Phase 1 with a $794,000 grant from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to retrofit the church’s heating and cooling and electrical systems, making the church 100% fossil fuel free. The church is also in the final review stage for a $1.94 million grant to fund Project H.O.P.E. Phase II. This will designate Bethel AME as a community disaster hub by installing solar and battery backup storage to enable the church to be 100% off the grid in the event of a disaster.
Bethel AME Portland is an active member of the Pacific Northwest Conference of the AME Church which spans Oregon, Washington, Montana, Alaska, and Vancouver, B.C. A dynamic servant leader, Rev. Cannady-Smith holds several leadership roles in the Pacific Northwest Conference including Chair of the Health Commission, Women in Ministry Coordinator, Secretary of the Finance Committee, Conference Trustee, and Instructor in the Board of Examiners. She is also Chair of Portland’s NAACP Health and Wellness Committee and on the Boards of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and Pink Lemonade Project. Rev Cannady-Smith also serves on the Advisory Council for the Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement at Seattle University, a community of scholars and practitioners from around the globe.
In addition to her clergy calling, Rev. Cannady-Smith has a wealth of business development and non-profit management experience. A graduate of the Wharton School of Business, Rev Cannady-Smith spent more than 30 years in senior non-profit leadership roles where she was responsible for fund development and board governance. She also is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cannady Smith & Associates, a consulting and coaching firm she founded with husband Gregory Robert Smith that advises executives and their teams on strategic planning and people development, mainly in the educational and healthcare spaces. Rev. Cannady-Smith received her Master of Divinity from Seattle University.
A firm believer that faith without hand-to-the-plow practice is dormant, Rev. Cannady-Smith has been an active community servant. She is a staunch advocate for health equity and frequently serves as a consultant, facilitator, lecturer, and panelist for nonprofits and medical organizations on the importance of cultural competency in the delivery of healthcare. She served on the FaithHealth in Action Steering Committee and on Leaders in Women’s Health, grassroots coalitions of nonprofits focused on addressing the racial, economic, and social determinants of health in the Black community. She is a breast cancer survivor currently working on a book entitled “When God Chooses Medicine.”
Reverend Cannady-Smith and husband Greg Smith have two kind and gifted adult children, Amanda Smith Presendieu (Pree - sin - doo) and Gregory Robert Smith III, and a beautiful grandson, Isaiah Roosevelt Presendieu.