One of America’s few Black billionaires, Robert F. Smith has made history by becoming the first African American to be named Chairman of Carnegie Hall, the nations’s most prestigious concert stage.
His election to the post wasn’t that much of a surprise, but Smith, age 53, via press release said, “I am humbled and honored to serve as Carnegie Hall’s next chairman, working with the board, staff, and entire Carnegie Hall community to advance this iconic institution. Carnegie Hall is perfectly placed to champion not only artistic excellence, but also access and exposure to the best music in the world.”
A former Humanitary of the Year winner, Smith has also let it be known it will be his mission to expand the Hall’s already considerable outreach efforts to reach the community and next generation music lovers and artist.
Robert F. Smith, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Vista Equity Partners LLC., is ranked at the 268th spot on Forbes’ list of richest Americans with a net worth of $2.5 billion.
As the front-runner of one of Silicon Valley’s nascent software and technology investors, Smith amassed his fortune mostly via business software & technology companies. That places him ahead of primary Facebook investor Jim Breyer, who amassed a net worth of around $2.4 billion, and on-par with Josh Harris, private equity veteran & Philadelphia 76ers co-owner, who has made $2.5 billion to date.
He is the second wealthiest African-American to make the Forbes’ list behind Oprah Winfrey (with a net worth of $3 billion), and also displaces Michael Jordan’s placement on that list.
Mr. Smith founded Vista Equity Partners, a private equity shop, in 2000. For over 10 years, Vista has steadily performed among the world’s top private equity firms. The firm currently manages & controls a growing portfolio of enterprise software companies.
Robert Smith has racked up one of the top records in private equity buying & fixing up an unglamorous assortment of enterprise software companies like Applied Systems, Websense, and Mediaocean.
He made a shrewd move by acquiring Sunquest Information SystemsInc. for a relative bargain-price of $327million — $200million in equity & $127million in debt. Neuberger Berman purchased a stake in the Austin, Texas-firm in July, though Smith is still the majority owner.
Prior to founding Vista Equity Partners, Mr. Smith worked for Goldman Sachs from 1994 to 2000, in Silicon Valley and New York. As Co- Head of Enterprise Systems & Storage, he implemented and advised on over $50 billion in merger & acquisition activity with companies like Apple, Microsoft, Ebay, Yahoo, and Texas Instruments, amongst many others.
Smith’s business acumen and global philanthropic works have earned him international recognition from numerous entities – which include the 2010 Ripple of Hope (RoH) Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Centerfor Justice and Human Rights, the 2011 Humanitarian of the Year (HoY) Award from the Robert Toigo Foundation, the Award of Excellence (AoE) from the National Associationof Investment Companies andthe 2010 Columbia University-BBSA Distinguished Alumni Award. Vista Equity Partners is currently valued at $4.3 billion & has $14billion in cumulative capital commitments.
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