Robert Smith has BEEN a Giver

Many people heard of Robert Smith for the first time this week, after announcing his plan to pay off the entire student loan debt of the 2019 Morehouse College graduating class of 396 students; approximately $40 million.   However, Robert Smith has been a generous giver for many years now; not only has he been a huge giver, but he’s been a giant in the preservation and advancement of black culture.  Here are __ things you probably didn’t know about Robert Smith.

1. He is the Founder, Chairman,and CEO of Vista Equity Partners.  He manages approximately $46 billion of equity capital commitments in his company’s portfolio, for over 50 software companies.  His firm employs 60,000 people worldwide.
2. Robert F. Smith was named as one of the “100 Greatest Living Business Minds” by Forbes in 2017.
3. Smith was born in Colorado, raised by both parents, both of whom had PhDs, in a predominantly middle class area. Smith’s mother had to have been awesome because as infant, she took him to the March on Washington where Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech.
4. Robert Smith attended Cornell University and majored in Chemical Engineering.  He also earned an MBA from Columbia School of Business, where he received honors.
5. Smith has two U.S. and European patents, which were earned when he worked for Kraft General Foods.
6. In 2018, Robert Smith was named the 163 richest person in America and number 480 of the world’s richest billionaires.
7. In 1994, Robert Smith worked for Golden Sachs in tech investment banking as the Co-Head of Enterprise Systems and Storage.  Here, he handled $50 billion in mergers and acquisitions for companies like Apple, Microsoft, Texas Instrument, eBay, and Yahoo. Smith was the first person in San Francisco at Goldman to have a sole focus on tech mergers and acquisitions.
8. Robert Smith started his own firm in 2000.  Vista Equity Partners is a private equity capital firm.  Smith’s company is the 4th largest enterprise software company after Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP.
9. Robert Smith was the only African American to sign on to The Giving Pledge in 2017.  His gift of $20 million was the largest by a single donor to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
10. Robert Smith is the first African American to hold the position of Board Chairman for Carnegie Hall.
11. In 2018, Smith was the largest donor at the City of Hope Gala.  These funds were used towards research for prostate cancer treatments for black men, and breast cancer research for black women.  He also gave a $1 million to the Cultural Performance Center of Harlem.
12. Robert Smith believes in the respect and preservation of black culture.  He is the Founder, Director and President of the Fund II Foundation, dedicated to preserving the African American experience, safeguarding human rights, and providing music education , preserving the environment, and promoting the benefits of outdoors.
13. Robert Smith has been a philanthropist for a long time; his generous giving has been recognized by the following awards: *Morehouse Candle Award in Business and Philanthropy, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Chair’s Award, the Reginald F. Lewis Achievement Award, the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Robert Toigo Foundation, the Ripple of Hope Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, the Award of Excellence from the National Association of Investment Companies, the Pierre Toussaint Award from the Archdiocese of New York, the Columbia University BBSA Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Ron Brown Scholar Program American Journey Award.
14. Robert Smith is like the Harriet Tubman of Debt right now.  He has single-handedly freed almost 400 students from the burden of years of student loan trauma. Smith’s gesture is now known as a gift of liberation. “When you have to service debt, the choices about what you can go do in the world are constrained. Smith’s gift gives them the liberty to follow their dreams, their passions.” Morehouse President David A. Thomas said Sunday