[D]an Smith, 41, has been tapped as the next CEO and president of the Vermont Community Foundation.
Smith is a lawyer who has worked in the business sector and as an educational leader. Over the past two years, he has served as the president of Vermont Technical College. Smith will leave the state college in August to take over the community foundation.
At the state college, Smith has shored up the technical school’s finances, reorganized the college curriculum and built partnerships with businesses, according to a press release from the foundation.
Smith holds a juris doctorate from the University of Virginia Law School, served as a law clerk for the Vermont Supreme Court and practiced law at Downs Rachlin Martin. He has worked for the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation and for the Arno Group, a business consultancy, in Stowe.
In 2009, Smith, then 34, ran for mayor of Burlington as an independent and lost to Bob Kiss.
He was hired as director of community relations and public policy for the Vermont State Colleges in 2010, and in 2014 was tapped to run Vermont Technical College in the wake of financial problems at the state school in Randolph.
Under Smith’s leadership, the college has renovated three engineering laboratories in Randolph and Williston and recently won a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor for workforce training.
Jeb Spaulding, the chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges, said Smith’s leadership was crucial during a difficult period for the college. When Smith arrived at Vermont Tech, student enrollments were down and the school was in financial trouble. As president, he instituted layoffs in an effort to reduce expenses and steady the school’s financial situation.
“Dan Smith has been a dynamic leader at Vermont Tech,” Spaulding said in a statement. “He stepped in during a challenging time for the college and righted the ship. The Vermont Community Foundation will benefit from Dan’s many skills as a leader and from his passion for Vermont.”
Smith is an eighth-generation Vermonter and the son of Republican Peter Smith, who served one term in Congress before he lost his seat to Bernie Sanders in 1991.
The Vermont Community Foundation had $157 million in assets in 2014, according to an IRS 990 tax filing posted on the foundation’s website. The foundation is “a family of hundreds of funds and foundations established by Vermonters to serve their charitable goals.”
Smith replaces Stuart Comstock-Gay who left the foundation in January to take over the Delaware Community Foundation.
Smith declined to be interviewed for this story.
In a statement, he said he is “thrilled to be joining a team of talented and committed people working to build the vitality of Vermont communities.”
“The foundation is uniquely positioned to offer leadership and support philanthropic Vermonters across the state and I am looking forward to joining that effort,” Smith said.
Dan Smith and his wife, Lindsay, an obstetrician, now live in Randolph. They will be relocating to the Burlington area.
