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Robert F. Smith - Bio

 

Robert F. Smith is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. Vista currently has over $96 billion in assets under management and oversees a portfolio of over 85 enterprise software, data, and technology-enabled companies that have more than 300 million users and employ over 90,000 people worldwide.

 

Smith serves on the Board of Directors for the Business Roundtable, the Board of Overseers of Columbia Business School, as a Member of the Cornell Engineering College Council, and is a Founding Member of the World Economic Forum EDISON Alliance, a cross-sector initiative to accelerate digital inclusion and eliminate connectivity deserts.

 

He is Chairman of Carnegie Hall, former Chair of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights and a Founding Partner of the REFORM Alliance, focused on criminal justice reform.

 

Smith is the Founding Director and President of the Fund II Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving the African American experience, human rights, environmental conservation, and a broad range of initiatives. In 2017, Smith signed the Giving Pledge, the first African American to do so.

 

In 2019, Smith announced he would cover the student loans of nearly 400 Morehouse College graduates in a commencement address. After his Morehouse pledge, Smith founded the Student Freedom Initiative to help relieve student debt for STEM students at all HBCUs, and personally committed $50 million, along with Fund II Foundation’s commitment of an additional $50 million.

 

Smith is a strong advocate for the 2% Solution – calling on corporations to commit 2% of their annual net income to empower minority communities. He also leads the Southern Communities Initiative with Rich Lesser (Boston Consulting Group) and Dan Schulman (PayPal), to advance racial equity in six Southern communities that are home to half of all Black people in America.