Former Fortune 500 CEO Brad D. Smith returns home to lead his alma mater as its 38th president.
It was well before dawn on Jan. 3, 2022, when Brad D. Smith arrived at Old Main for his first official day as Marshall’s 38th president. Such early hours were nothing new to the former Fortune 500 CEO, who typically logged 80-hour weeks during his 11-year tenure running Intuit in Silicon Valley. But for the 57-year-old business executive, there was something different about reporting to work on this particular day. It was the realization of a dream that began not long after he graduated from college and moved away from the area. Smith was finally returning to his alma mater, his roots and his home.
“When I stepped down as CEO of Intuit three years ago, it became clear what my purpose was — to return to West Virginia and make a difference. Anything I have ever accomplished in life is because someone at Marshall University invested in me. I consider it the ultimate privilege to be able to pay that privilege forward to the next generation. This is a dream come true.”
Smith’s return began in April of last year when Jerome Gilbert announced that he would be stepping down as Marshall’s president in 2022. A presidential search committee was formed, and more than 100 candidates from across the country applied for the position. Working with outside consultants, the committee conducted a rigorous examination of all the qualified applicants. Ultimately, the list was narrowed to five finalists who were invited to the Marshall campus to meet with university and community stakeholders. When it was announced that Smith was a finalist, numerous leaders throughout the state were pleased to learn that a West Virginia native had made the cut.
On Oct. 28, 2021, the university’s Board of Governors voted unanimously to name Smith the school’s 38th president. In doing so, the board made several historic “firsts.” Smith became the first Marshall alumnus to lead the university on a full-time basis and the first president to hail from the Huntington area. In addition, he became the first Fortune 500 CEO to lead an American university.
“Brad Smith is undoubtedly the right person at the right place and at the right time to lead Marshall University as our next president,” said Patrick Farrell, chairman of the Board of Governors. “As the search concluded, we discovered there is only one Brad Smith, only one Son of Marshall and only one candidate who has been preparing his whole life for this opportunity.”
Board member Dr. Kathy D’Antoni echoed those sentiments.
“This is a historic time in Marshall’s history,” said D’Antoni. “We have a nationally acclaimed business leader, a Marshall alumnus and a West Virginia native returning home to give back to the community where he was raised. Brad Smith is humble and gracious and embodies the spirit of paying it forward.”
Because Smith comes from the world of business and not academia, some viewed the board’s choice as unconventional. But others understood the role of a college president has evolved in the 21st century. An article in the Spring 2018 edition of Linfield Magazine stated: “A well-spoken intellectual is no longer enough. Leaders are needed who have worldly and practical skills, who can read a financial statement, seek out financial support and navigate a kind of education that will meet the practical skills in high demand.”
Today, 22% of the college presidents in the U.S. come from outside academia. As such, perhaps the board’s decision to choose Smith wasn’t all that surprising. It would be hard to argue the skill set that Smith brings to the job. He is a proven leader, having led large, complex global enterprises through turnarounds, transformations and impressive growth. He has powerful contacts around the world and has rubbed elbows with the CEOs of Apple, Google, Microsoft, PayPal, JP Morgan Chase and Proctor & Gamble, just to name a few. He served on the President’s Advisory Council for Financial Capability for Young Americans, has testified before Congress on key matters and has worked with elected officials and government agencies at the federal, state and local levels across the globe. He understands the importance of marketing and has worked with some of the most respected ad agencies in the world. It’s not hard to see how a background like that will affect fundraising at the university. What’s more, the number of doors Smith can open for student internships at major corporations is extensive. And, if the faculty and staff at Marshall are concerned about what kind of boss he will be, they will be relieved to learn that Fortune consistently listed Intuit as one of the “Best Companies to Work For” in the United States. In 2018 it was ranked No. 13 on the magazine’s annual list.
Another important ability needed by today’s college presidents is endurance. The demands of time and energy placed on these leaders have grown exponentially in recent years.
“These are arduous jobs,” noted Stanley Katz, professor of public and international affairs at Princeton University. “Presidents spend a significant amount of time raising money and raising enrollments to provide the wherewithal for high-level education. They tend to be very tired, working long hours and under pressure.”
That shouldn’t be a problem for Smith. He works out every morning doing P90X and recently converted to an entirely plant-based diet. In short, he is incredibly fit and well prepared for the rigors of the job.
> > >
Brad D. Smith was born in Huntington and raised in nearby Kenova. His father worked for Nestlé for 26 years, while his mother stayed at home to raise Brad and his two brothers. He was just 6 years old when the Marshall plane crash occurred a short distance from his family’s house.
“I still remember looking out the window of our home and seeing the mountain glowing red,” he recalled.
After graduating from Ceredo-Kenova High School, Smith was accepted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but after one semester decided to return to Huntington and enroll at Marshall.
“Marshall was pulling me back home. In the end, Marshall gave me everything I was looking for in an education,” Smith said.
Eventually all three Smith brothers earned their degrees from Marshall. It was a dream of their parents that all three of their sons would go to college.
“I remember one Christmas morning my dad announced that he had a surprise, then gave each of us a class ring from Marshall that he had picked out himself,” Smith recalled. “A short time after, my dad passed away of a heart attack at the age of 58. My brothers and I wear the rings every single day, not only for Marshall, but for our parents and the sacrifices they made on our behalf.”
Smith earned a Bachelor of Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing from Marshall in 1986. He then went to work at several large corporations across the country, including Pepsi, 7-UP, ADVO and ADP. While working in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he attended night school and earned his master’s degree in management and leadership development from Aquinas College.
During Smith’s climb up the corporate ladder, one of his bosses expressed concern about his West Virginia accent. Convinced that it might hinder his career, he advised Smith to enroll in speech classes that would defuse his dialect.
“It didn’t work,” Smith laughed. “You know, it’s funny, I think that experience actually helped me learn an invaluable lesson in life — to be authentic to who you are.”
It was while he was working in northern Ohio that he met his wife, Alys, an attorney from Akron. It was a blind date of sorts, arranged by a coworker.
“I went to her house and when she opened the door it was love at first sight for me,” Brad confessed. “I managed to grow on her over time.”
They were married 18 months later and would go on to have two daughters, Payton and Devon.
In 2003, Smith accepted an offer to join Intuit, the Silicon Valley-based software giant and maker of QuickBooks, Turbo Tax and Mint. He then began a five-year rise within the company that was unprecedented. In 2008, Smith was named CEO. He was just 43 years old when he was asked to take charge of a global entity with 8,000 employees and annual revenues of $2.6 billion. Smith’s 11-year tenure at the helm saw impressive growth. Revenue doubled, the workforce expanded and the stock price climbed from $30 a share to $215 a share.
Smith’s performance at Intuit received praise, and it wasn’t based solely on the profits he was posting for shareholders. He was a bit of a rock star with the employees, and his leadership style earned him numerous accolades. Fortune ranked him No. 6 on its list of Top CEOs in the United States, and Forbes ranked him No. 15 on its list of America’s Most Innovative Leaders.
At the end of 2018, Smith announced he was stepping down as CEO of Intuit, but agreed to stay on as chairman of the board of directors. Smith said his decision to scale back was based on his desire to spend more time with Alys and their two daughters. Another motivating factor was born out of a desire to pay it forward. The couple founded The Wing 2 Wing Foundation, which focuses on advancing education, entrepreneurship and the environment in Appalachia.
In the last six years, the Smiths have gifted Marshall a total of $35 million. The first gift of $10 million is being used to fund scholarships for students from West Virginia and Ohio. The second gift of $25 million — one of the largest in the university’s history — is being used to help “reimagine” the university’s business school, operate a business incubator for aspiring entrepreneurs and fund the construction of a new College of Business building in downtown Huntington.
In 2020, the Smiths’ foundation donated $25 million to West Virginia University to fund the Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative. The first initiative to emerge from the collaboration is Ascend West Virginia, a remote worker program designed to recruit individuals and families to live, work and play in West Virginia. The program is designed to attract 1,000 remote workers to the state over the next five years. It has already exceeded lofty expectations and garnered global acclaim.
“When you talk to young people today you learn that what’s important to them are life experiences,” Smith explained. “They also have a deep love of the outdoors, including hiking, mountain biking, whitewater rafting, rock climbing and skiing. Research shows that West Virginia has more of those activities than any other state in America. Our job now is to sell them on why they should move here.”
Several leaders in Huntington see Smith’s close relationship with WVU President Gordon Gee as a shift in the right direction, and hope the two schools can work together on more initiatives going forward. Just one week into Smith’s new role as Marshall’s president, Smith and Gee publicly affirmed their intent to continue working together in a joint op-ed published in newspapers across the state.
A recent example of that type of synergy is a new program designed to help make West Virginia known nationally as the “Startup State.”
“Today, 75% of all new jobs are created in startups,” Smith said. “As a result, both Marshall and WVU are working hard to reimagine their curriculums and help students thrive in the new digital economy. We need to encourage and support entrepreneurs in every corner of the state. Education and entrepreneurism are the great equalizers in a society where opportunities are not always equitably distributed.”
Having overseen a predominantly young workforce during his years in Silicon Valley, Smith appears to have his finger on the pulse of the next generation.
“It used to be that eight out of every 10 college graduates wanted to work for a large corporation,” Smith said. “Today, eight out of every 10 college graduates want to work for themselves. This is the digital generation mindset. They are dreamers and doers. I think if we could breed entrepreneurism, that could be our single biggest opportunity in West Virginia. We want every student in this state to have a sense of pride about where they are from and to realize they no longer have to leave West Virginia to pursue their dreams.”
> > >
Marshall’s new president is hard at work with his transition team, which has laid out a game plan for his first 100 days. High on his list of priorities is a listening tour to take the pulse of the university and the community. He has had 36 different sessions scheduled with faculty, staff, students, alumni, state and community leaders and health care professionals — all occurring in his first 40 days.
Smith also has high-level positions that need to be filled, including a provost, an athletic director and several deans. Academically, he is empowering the provost and faculty to ensure Marshall’s curriculum is grounded in general education while being market driven and future focused. He plans to increase accessibility to online classes and distinguish Marshall from other universities.
“We are in the 21st century, where higher learning is being changed and disrupted, and I want to help lead Marshall through this transformation. It is my aspiration that Marshall will rank among the elite universities in the nation in preparing young minds to compete in this new future.”
Smith should feel right at home in Huntington. Throughout his career he returned numerous times to the area to see his mother and two brothers, with whom he is very close.
“I love the Huntington area,” he said. “There is a pride and sense of purpose in both Huntington and Marshall that is different from many of the places I’ve been. Look at what this community has accomplished since the plane crash. It has been hit with tragedy and fought its way through, and it just keeps coming back. And I think that is the secret to life.”
————
Photos (from second from top):
As part of officially joining the Marshall staff on Jan. 3, Brad D. Smith was presented with a Kelly green jacket by Board of Governors Chairman Patrick Farrell (right) and Vice Chairman Toney Stroud.
Brad and Alys Smith founded The Wing 2 Wing Foundation, which focuses on advancing education, entrepreneurship and the environment in Appalachia.
Brad D. Smith was named the university’s new president at a press conference on Oct. 28, 2021.