Marshall Magazine Summer 2022

Green ever r e ever

Distinguished Alumnus — Brad D. Smith As a proud West Virginian with a passion for lead ership and philanthropy, Brad D. Smith is focused on helping facilitate change by developing, supporting and investing in people. His devotion to giving back to his home state runs deep, and he is committed to providing educational and economic development resources to the Appalachian region. During Smith’s 11-year tenure

co-founded the Wing 2 Wing Foundation with his wife, Alys. In January, Brad D. Smith was named the 38th president of Marshall University. Distinguished Service to Marshall University — Alys Smith Alys Smith is a successful attorney, generous philan

thropist, supportive wife and lov ing mother. All who meet her can attest to her down-to-earth nature, compassionate heart and indomi table passion for fighting to give a voice to the voiceless. Specifically, she has fought for the rights of women since she herself was a little girl, beginning with protesting her inability to join the boys’ Little League on the basis of her gender and more recently working to bring the Women’s Warrior Summit to the strong women of Appalachia. Alys Smith graduated fromThe sions would make a true impact in the world. Whether passionately de fending a client in court, mediating conflicts, sharing her creative ideas on women-led nonprofit boards, teaching her daughters what it means to be smart and competent women or mentoring at-risk youth as aCourt Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), her zest for life and vision of making this world a brighter place shine through every time. Currently, she serves on the board of the New Opportunity School for Women, which chal lenges Appalachian women to live

as CEO of Intuit, he was able to transform the company’s business structure from a North American desktop software company to a global, cloud-based platformwith a portfolio that included TurboTax, QuickBooks and Mint. The trans formation was born from an inno vation culture built around data driven decision-making and rapid experimentation. The drive to in novate across all layers of the com pany transformed the way Intuit was able to serve its consumers, stock price more than 500% and positioned Intuit as the industry leader. Under his leadership, the com pany consistently was recognized as one of the world’s best places to work. Intuit placed on the Fortune Best Companies to Work For list each year during his tenure, ranking No. 13 in the United States and No. 1 in India, Singapore and Canada in 2017. In 2016, Smith was ranked among the top CEOs in the United States by Fortune ’s magazine, coming in at No. 6 on their list. Before his time at Intuit, Smith’s

Kasey Stevens with Brad D. Smith.

small businesses and partners. This led to record growth that nearly doubled the company’s revenues, increased its

Ohio State University and subsequently the University of Akron School of Law, believing that her dreams and pas

Kasey Stevens and Alys Smith.

career spanned four industries, including stints at PepsiCo, 7-UP, ADVO and ADP, where he led large, global orga nizations through turnaround, transformation and high growth environments. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration fromMarshall University and his master’s degree in management from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has served as the executive chairman of the board of Intuit, as chairman of the Nordstrom board and as a board member of Momentive and Yahoo. Smith also

their best lives, and co-leads the Wing 2Wing Foundation with her husband, Brad D. Smith. Wing 2 Wing focuses on creating opportunities for those in overlooked ZIP codes, particularly West Virginia and Ohio, and was inspired by her and her husband’s childhood roots in those two states. Alys and Brad Smith have recently left their home in California, where they resided for almost 20 years, to bring their devotion for philanthropy in the areas of education, entrepreneurship and the environment back to the part of the country they call home.

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