Robert H. Smith: Investing in Potential

Robert H. Smith (Accounting, 50), can see a great investment where others see a bare piece of ground. Among his successful ventures as a builder-developer is the vast, interconnected, underground Crystal City complex in Arlington, Va. I love taking a raw piece of land and coming up with a vision and a project that is beneficial for the developer and the consumer, says Smith.

Seven years ago, the potential he saw in the University of Maryland's business school led him to make a landmark gift that changed the course of the school's future. Today Smith is excited about where he sees the Robert H. Smith School of Business going.

Fifty years ago when I graduated from the business school, technology was a vague term about who knows how to use what machine. Today we have much more information available to us, says Smith. Today's technology can give people the ability to make better decisions, and in this very competitive age, the ability to make better decisions is what helps people to succeed.

The Drive to Succeed
Smith has succeeded beyond his own wildest dreams. By the time he was 15 or 16 years old, Smith knew he wanted to be a builder-developer. So he enrolled in the university's School of Engineering, thinking that would be the best preparation for his future career. A mechanical drawing course soon proved that his gifts and talents lay elsewhere. He did have an aptitude for accounting and finance, though, so he transferred to the business school. I figured a background in business would serve me well, and I could always hire engineers, he laughs. I'm very glad I majored in accounting; it was a terrific financial background to build on.

Smith remembers The Dairy fondly. They had fantastic ice cream and milkshakes. It was kind of a hangout for kids. But I was a commuter, so I didn't participate in many of the campus activities. I studied a lot. I came in and parked and went to class.

His work ethic hasn't abated in the 50 years since he graduated. I graduated on a Thursday and went to work on Monday, says Smith. I've never stopped. When I get up in the morning I still have the same enthusiasm and energy as I had 50 years ago and the same drive to make things happen.

Seeing the Business Schools Potential
Being a developer has given Smith a certain measure of foresight; he loves looking at an empty piece of ground and imagining its potential, seeing its future. This made him perfectly suited to seeing the potential that lay in University of Maryland's business school.

Robert Tardio (former chair of the University of Maryland Foundation) came to me 15 years ago and asked if I was interested in making a naming gift. I wasn't ready then, says Smith. I also knew that if I was going to associate my name with an institution, I wanted to be sure it had the potential to be outstanding.

Several years later Smith received a visit from then-University of Maryland President William Brit Kirwan and newly minted business school Dean Howard Frank. They, too, were hoping to interest Smith in investing in the future of the business school. The businessman made them an offer: if the school produced a credible business plan to make the school one of the top 15 in the country, he was in. Frank and Kirwan came back with a detailed, year-by-year plan showing how the school would attract the best faculty and students and build the best physical plant. They described how Smith's gift would be used, and how the school would be supported with increased funding from the university and the state. Smith was impressed with Frank's vision to build a globally recognized institution with the best faculty, the best and brightest students, and the most up-to-date physical plant in the world. In 1997 he gave $15 million, the largest gift the school has ever received, to help make that vision a reality.

Making the Vision a Reality
Smith continues to be impressed with the progress the Smith School has made to bring its vision to life. When you bring together the best faculty and the best students, and a dean who has a vision, exciting things happen, says Smith. The changes in the last five years have been so dramatic. It is axiomatic that progress depends upon the belief that things can always be better.

Smith has gone beyond his initial gift to keep the school moving toward its vision. This isn't just a short-term commitment on my part; its up to me to do whatever I can to keep motivating the school to exceed its own expectations. Excellence is everything. I'm willing to keep investing in the school because I can see the results.

Robert H. Smith delivered the school's spring commencement speech in May 2008. Watch video.

Robert H. Smith is a 1950 Alumnus of the College of Business and Management (major: Accounting) and is married to Clarice Smith, who attended the University from 1952 to 1953.

Smith is Chairman, Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty, a division of Vornado Realty Trust, and Chairman, Charles E. Smith Residential, a division of Archstone-Smith. His family company is best known for developing and building the Crystal City complex in Northern Virginia.

He has been active in civic affairs, lending his energy and expertise to a variety of local, national and international organizations. His philanthropic efforts include the University, as well as such organizations as the National Gallery of Art, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation (Monticello), Mount Vernon, Montpelier, Mayo Foundation and Hebrew University in Jerusalem.