Brandy Hart Amidon ʼ02
Posted on: March 21, 2021
Accounting
Occupation: Mayor, Travelers Rest, SC
The alumna first ran for city council in her hometown Travelers Rest, S.C., in 2009. At the age of 27, Brandy Amidon (’02) became the youngest woman in the city’s history to win a seat. Back then, Travelers Rest had only just begun to see the signs of a coming revitalization, which the debut of the Greenville Health System Swamp Rabbit Trail helped to accelerate. The trail served to attract new businesses all along with the once-dilapidated Main Street in Travelers Rest and spur on an economic growth spurt unparalleled in the city’s history.
During her nearly six years on council so far, Brandy has used her financial expertise to provide budgetary guidance for the city during this critical time. She has also focused on being a “cheerleader” for local businesses, she says, and promoting healthy growth for the city. Her Christian faith keeps her in “servant mode,” even when other residents call to complain or argue.
Brandy’s servant-minded approach came back to her in the November 2015 election, where she racked up enough votes to earn a third term as councilwoman for the City of Travelers Rest. She received more votes than any other candidate, according to The Travelers Rest Tribune. In January 2016, Travelers Rest City Council and current Mayor Wayne McCall voted Amidon in as mayor pro tem. Yet Amidon applies her take-action spirit to much more than local politics. City government is only a side project to her full-time career, after all.
After graduating from NGU as an accounting major, Amidon started working at Carolina First as a banker while studying to earn her certified public accountant designation. She eventually started her own business as an independent chief financial officer in 2008, servicing Greenville area enterprises like marketing agency Brains on Fire and The Dental Retreat at Mountain Park. Between crunching numbers and participating in local politics, Amidon still finds time to manage her roles as wife to her husband Steven and stay-at-home mom to her toddler.
