The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has appointed six local community leaders to its Columbia Community Advisory Committee.

“These leaders will provide counsel to Knight Foundation as we seek to make grants in Columbia with the potential to transform the community,” said Susan Patterson, the foundation’s program director for Columbia.

Columbia is one of 26 U.S. cities and towns served by Knight Foundation, a $2.3 billion national foundation with local roots where the Knight brothers owned newspapers in their lifetimes.

Community Advisory Committee members are an integral part of Knight Foundation’s grant-making work. Each committee is a small group of creative, connected and strategic advisers who work with Patterson and other program directors to discover opportunities that produce maximum impact and lasting change in the communities they serve.

Columbia’s appointed advisers are: J. Mac Bennett, president and CEO, United Way of the Midlands; James A. Bennett, executive vice president and director of public affairs, First Citizens Bank; Henry B. Haitz III, publisher and president, The State newspaper; Barbara J. Hamilton; Joel A. Smith III, dean, Thomas C. Vandiver Bicentenial Chair of the University of South Carolina Moore School of Business; and Inez Moore Tenenbaum.

“We thank these individuals for their leadership and willingness to share their knowledge and ideas as Knight Foundation explores how we can best invest in Columbia,” said Patterson. “We look forward to our future work together.”

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of Columbia and 25 other communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation supports ideas and projects that create transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfdn.org.