Ray Smith

McLean, VA

Raymond W. Smith joined SLDN's Board of Directors in July 2008. Smith was named Chairman of Rothschild North America in 1999 and founded Arlington Capital Partners the same year.

Prior to his work with Rothschild North America and Arlington Capital Partners, Smith served as Chairman of Verizon (formerly Bell Atlantic) until he retired at the end of 1998, topping off a 40-year career that included several positions of increasing responsibility. During his years as Verizon Chairman, he refashioned the company into the largest communications corporation in the country. Under his leadership, Bell Atlantic acquired NYNEX in 1997 and GTE in 1998, two of the largest transactions in business history at that time.

Over the years, he has been active in many civic, charitable, and cultural organizations and has been a board member of Westinghouse, CBS, Viacom, First Union, U S Airways, NTT DoCoMo, Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Rockefeller Foundation, Lincoln Center and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He is currently the Co-Chairman of the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress and serves on the boards of Rothschild Investments (Chairman), Five Arrows Capital AG, Curtis Institute of Music, Central Park Conservancy, American Research Center in Egypt, Carnegie Mellon University and George Mason University Life Sciences Advisory Board. He was recently inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.