Gerald Smith

Current public company boards: Eaton and Oneok

Prior public company boards: Cooper Industries, Pennzoil-Quaker State, Rorento

Executive experience: Gerald B. Smith is the chair and chief executive officer of Smith Graham & Co. (SGIA), an investment management firm founded in 199 and headquartered in Houston with a full-service office in New York. SGIA serves a broadly diversified institutional client base, including public funds, corporations, endowments, and Taft-Hartley plans and currently manages $5 billion in fixed income and equity institutional assets. The firm is one of the nation’s largest minority-owned investment management firms and one of the largest investment management firms based in Houston, Texas.

Gerald’s investment industry experience spans over 47 years and includes senior executive leadership positions for Underwood Neuhaus & Company, Westcap Corporation, and Dillon, Read & Co. in New York. He is a founding member of the New York Futures Exchange. He dedicates time to many corporate boards and civic and community organizations. After twenty years of committed service, effective December 31, 22, Gerald retired as a board member of the Charles Schwab Family of funds where he served as a member of the board of trustees and chairman of the investment oversight committee.

He is a board member of the New York Life Insurance Company and chair of the investment committee; a board member and chair of the audit committee for Eaton, PLC; and the ONEOK Corporation board of directors. Gerald Smith is also a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas board and chair of the budget planning committee; Rice University’s Baker Institute board of advisors; and he is also chair emeritus of the Texas Southern University Foundation Board, his alma mater.

Additional information: Gerald has received numerous honors and awards from local and national entities for his achievements and service, including the Greater Houston Black Chamber of Commerce, United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast, Community Partners, YMCA, National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame, Black Enterprise Magazine, National Black MBA Association, and 1 Black Men Association of America. He and his wife, Anita, are founding donors of the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture and were the 215 Excellence in Education Honorees at the annual UNCF’s Gala.

A graduate of Texas Southern University with a BBA in finance, in 212, Gerald received an honorary doctorate degree from his alma mater, where he has established the Gerald B. Smith Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Recently, the City of Houston proclaimed Gerald B. Smith and Anita Webber Smith Day for their history of extraordinary community and philanthropic giving. In October 221, he was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame for his transformational impact on the economy and on communities around the state, nation, and world.

He is a patron of the arts and an avid golfer. He and Anita, have three sons – Marcus, Jackson, and Jordan – and one daughter, Joy.