Robert F. Smith

Robert F. Smith is the billionaire investor and founder of Vista Equity Partners.

Background

Smith was born in 1962 in Denver, Colorado. His parents, both school teachers, were active in the Civil Rights movement and with his mother, the infant Smith watched Martin Luther King, Jr. deliver his 1963 I Have a Dream speech.

Smith, determined even as a teenager, completed a college level summer internship at Bell Labs. He later attended Cornell University and received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1985.

Smith continued his education at Columbia University, receiving an MBA with concentrations in finance and marketing in 1994.

As an engineer, and at the same time he was earning his advanced degree, Smith worked at Goodyear, Air Products & Chemicals, and Kraft. During this time he registered four patents. In 1994 he left engineering for finance and began working at Goldman Sachs.

Net Worth

Robert F. Smith has a current net worth of $7.05 billion. Between the years 1994 and 2000 he worked in technology investment banking at Goldman Sachs.

As a pioneer in the area of technology and software company mergers and acquisitions,Smith advised on over $50 billion of activity with companies including Microsoft, Apple, eBay, and Yahoo during his years with Goldman Sachs.

In 2000, Smith decided to forge his own path focused on investment in technology and software companies and founded Vista Equity Partners. This venture would eventually grow into the fourth largest enterprise software company in the world.

Vista Equity Partners employs over 70,000 people, has a portfolio of over 60 companies, and Smith had supervised transactions representing more than $155 billion in value. The company is recognized as a global leader in software and technology investment.

Current Ventures

As founder, chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, Smith has been instrumental in the global investment firm’s portfolio growth. The private equity and venture capital company boasts a consistent 30% rate of return for its investors.

Vista Equity Partners’ mission involves using a variety of investment strategies to leverage the power of technology to create opportunity. Smith’s goal is to invest in businesses that use technology and software to create social change.

Choosing businesses that promote inclusion, environmental stewardship, economic equity, and diversity has led Smith to include a wide variety of companies within the Vista Equity Partners’ portfolio. JAMF, Ping Identity, Power School, and Agdata are just a few of the companies included in their portfolio offerings.

Smith founded the Fund II Foundation in 2014, a charitable organization that provides grants in a variety of areas focused on positive social change. Environmental protection, music education, the preservation of African American culture and experiences, and STEM education are among the many priorities of the foundation.

Smith and Vista Equity Partners also advocate for companies to offer STEM internship opportunities to diverse candidates. It both provides its own internship program and a platform to match companies with candidates.

Smith is a sought-after speaker as one of the leading voices in investment in the software and technology industries. He speaks at all nature of venues, from podcasts to the World Economic Forum.

Robert F. Smith is a chemical engineer, inventor, investor, founder, and philanthropist widely recognized for his achievements in the areas of enterprise software and socially conscious investment.

Located in Chicago, his global investment firm Vista Equity Partners has become a world leader in private equity and venture capital. With an impressive and consistent 30% rate of return for his investors, Smith has earned a seat on the world stage of finance and investment