By Jack Houvouras
HQ 115 | AUTUMN 2021
I have known Brad Smith for eight years. I first met the Fortune 500 CEO when I traveled to Silicon Valley to interview him for an article I was writing for Marshall’s alumni magazine. His corner office at Intuit featured a bevy of mementos from his alma mater, including a framed We Are Marshall movie poster that hung above his desk. In the years that followed, I found myself returning to his office for other magazine articles and, on one occasion, to seek his advice on a business opportunity. In each instance, he was warm, welcoming and generous with his time. In fact, an hour into one of our meetings his assistant entered the room and informed him that the White House was on the phone. When I thanked him for his time and told him I should go, he said, “No, this will only take a minute. I will be right back.” That, in essence, is Brad Smith.
I’ve always believed that I am a good judge of character. That is why I can say with confidence that Brad is one of the most intelligent, humble and genuine individuals I’ve ever met. When he talks about his love of Huntington, Marshall and West Virginia, he isn’t offering up empty platitudes. He’s sincere.
When rumors began circulating that Brad was interested in returning to Huntington, I thought they were too good to be true. Then, when he became an official candidate for president of Marshall, I knew the Board of Governors’ choice would be easy. Consider the optics: a university alumnus from the Huntington area who is a former Fortune 500 CEO, a proven performer who doubled his company’s revenue, a much-admired boss who oversaw a workforce of 10,000 and a charismatic leader with business contacts around the world. Hiring a candidate of this caliber was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Board.
Make no mistake about it: this is a big deal. The Brad Smith name alone will bring a new level of prominence to the university, and his visionary leadership could forever change the direction of both Marshall and Huntington.
My father used to say that the two best things to ever happen in Huntington were when Marshall College became a university in 1961, and when local leaders established a medical school in 1977. Building on those sentiments, I think the two best things to happen since then were the release of the motion picture We Are Marshall in 2007, and the day Brad Smith was named the university’s 38th president.
