Robert F. Smith, Chairman Student Freedom Initiative

The creation of Student Freedom Initiative, facilitated by Robert F. Smith, was inspired by the end goal of liberating the human spirit in Black communities by removing one of the roadblocks to personal and family wealth creation: that of student loans.  

“By addressing the financial stress of college and providing students with resources and community, we can finally broaden the talent pipeline and create a more diverse and thriving economy,” said founder and Chairman of Student Freedom Initiative, Robert F. Smith as HBCUs announced their participation in November 2020. 

The U.S. economy has already lost $16 trillion over the last 20 years due to racism and inequality in the areas of salary earnings, education, housing and investment, according to a 2020 study by Citigroup. Smith called this economic gap a human rights crisis which has for too long suppressed the genius and potential of Black Americans. Student Freedom Initiative’s programs right now aim to correct a part of these historic and systemic inequities while building a scalable platform for investment in the Black leadership of the future. 

Smith, who was named as one of Forbes’ 100 Greatest Living Business Minds in 2017, made international headlines two years later following the Morehouse College Commencement. Smith, the Morehouse honoree and commencement speaker in 2019, announced to approximately 400 new graduates that he had paid their student loans.  

The payment of over $34 million in student debt was complex, and it inspired Smith to examine the system itself. Together with HBCU leadership and financial experts, the idea of Student Freedom Initiative took shape. It was launched in the fall of 2020 to include student support services, mentorships and internships alongside the financial component of the program, to provide students of color with resources they, as traditionally underrepresented students, might lack. 

Smith personally backed the launch of Student Freedom Initiative with a gift of $50 million following Fund II Foundation’s $50 million grant to launch the nonprofit. The mission of Fund II Foundation, a granting organization Smith serves as founding director and President, is to support education, history and environmental initiatives. Over the last year, other individuals and organizations have come forward to support Student Freedom Initiative with financial and other resources.    

Unlike the vast majority of business leaders in the financial industry, Smith is also an engineer. His bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University and successful career as an engineer provided an edge when he eventually launched his own company. The STEM skills and “elegant solutions” Smith learned to produce as an engineer, are highly translatable to any industry.  

Insatiably curious, Smith took a calculated mid-career risk, leaving the field of engineering and his position at Kraft Foods. He earned his MBA at Columbia Business School at Columbia University in 1994 and joined investment bank Goldman Sachs. Smith thrived in his position which brought him to San Francisco and Silicon Valley working to secure deals with the likes of Apple and IBM.  

Smith founded Vista Equity Partners, the company he leads as Chairman and CEO, in 2000. Due to his knowledge of computer programming gained as an engineer, Smith was one of the first investors to see the potential for growth in technology industry software development as opposed to hardware. Vista’s focus since its inception has been the enterprise software and technology sectors. The company is now a global leader with five U.S. offices including a headquarters in Austin, Texas.  

Philanthropist and thought leader Robert F. Smith is a second-generation college graduate, who was brought up in Denver, Colorado, by parents who were invested in his future. Both of Smith’s parents worked in education and earned doctoral degrees in that field. His mother, like many HBCU graduates, made monthly payments to the UNCF to ensure the next generation of Black students could achieve their dream of a college education.  

This family history combined with that of the legacy of his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha (AΦA), reinforced an understanding within Smith of the need to give back to his community. Smith was inspired to continue the mission of civil rights leaders, such as AΦA Brother, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. Importantly, Smith has noted that King’s “I Have a Dream,” speech, which was part of the legendary 1963 March on Washington, was called the March for Jobs and Freedom. 

Smith’s dedication to philanthropy was made indelible by his commitment given in 2017 to the Giving Pledge. Even before centering his pledge on initiatives in the interest of African-American equality and environmental preservation, Smith had been an advocate for social justice. In 2010, Smith was honored to receive the Ripple of Hope Award from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.  

In his personal mission to liberate the human spirit, Smith has made a focus on education as a tool of uplift. To end inequities in education and internships Smith has supported the following organizations:  

• Cornell’s Robert Frederick Smith Tech Scholars  
• DonorsChoose 
• Fund II Foundation UNCF STEM Scholars Program
• Goalsetter
• internX 
• Ron Brown Scholarship Program 
• Student Freedom Initiative  
• The Robert F. Smith Internship Program at the American Museum of African American History and Culture 
• The Sphinx Organization 
• The UNCF Sylvia M. Young Smith Scholarship 

Each student liberated to pursue their path is creating a network of uplift which will affect whole communities. Having an equal opportunity to achieve is the first step on the pathway to a better future for all Americans. 

 A selection of Smith’s recognitions include: 

• Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy  
• UNCF President’s Award  
• Texas Business Hall of Fame 2019 Inductee 
• Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Award 
• Morehouse Candle Award in Business and Philanthropy 
• SEO’s Reginald F. Lewis Achievement Award 

For Smith’s unique contributions to the worlds of business and philanthropy, he was included in TIME100 Most Influential People of 2020. In the same year Smith made Forbes list of 100 Greatest Living Business Minds. Smith is a member of the Cornell Engineering College Council and serves on the Board of Overseers of Columbia Business School. And, Smith has had the honor of serving as Carnegie Hall’s Chairman since 2016.  

 Visit Student Freedom Initiative to find out more about the program.