Keynote Speaker: Harry M. Lightsey III

Harry M. Lightsey III was appointed by Governor Henry McMaster to serve as Secretary of Commerce in June 2021. Since his confirmation, Lightsey has led the agency’s globally competitive recruitment strategy for South Carolina’s evolving target industries, reaching historic recruitment in 2022 with $10.27 billion in capital investment. In 2023, Commerce achieved the second highest recruitment in its history.

A fixture in South Carolina’s business community for decades, Lightsey served in top executive leadership roles for major corporations in South Carolina and across the nation including BellSouth Telecommunications, AT&T and General Motors.

Secretary Lightsey is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of South Carolina School of Law. He and his wife Mercy are the proud parents of two grown children and grandparents of two granddaughters.