Brad D. Smith

President of Marshall University, Co-Founder of the Wing 2 Wing Foundation and former executive leader. Powering possibility and leveling the playing field through education, entrepreneurship and equal opportunity.

About


While most people know of Brad D. Smith from his time spent as Intuit’s CEO and later executive chairman, his most recent work is rooted in academia and philanthropy. A proud West Virginia native with a passion for leadership and driving positive change, Brad is serving his home state as the President of Marshall University and the Co-Founder of the Wing 2 Wing Foundation. In both roles he is working to create and provide entrepreneurial support and guidance for young and aspiring business leaders from lesser-known zip codes.

Marshall University


Brad graduated from Marshall University in 1986 and has since remained an active member of the Marshall community. In 2021, Brad was unanimously selected to be the institution’s 38th president during a Board of Governors meeting. Brad’s ultimate goal as the university’s leader is to leverage the school as a great equalizer, transforming obstacles into potential and possibility.

Prior to his current appointment, Brad proactively sought out ways to support the school over the years. In 2015, Brad and his wife, Alys, established the Brad D. and Alys Smith Family Scholarship, and in 2018 the couple made a transformational gift to the university’s college of business.

Philanthropy


Brad and his wife Alys are both passionate about uplifting the place that Brad has always known as home: the state of West Virginia. It is what drove Brad to pursue his role at Marshall University and what inspired the couple to found their own nonprofit organization. In 2019 the Wing 2 Wing Foundation was created to advance the great equalizers of education and entrepreneurship in regions where individuals and communities have been overlooked and underserved. In doing so, they strive to champion human dignity and unleash human potential.

“Talent is dispersed equally, but opportunity is not,” Brad often says. 

Through the same compassionate leadership and passion for giving back, Brad and Alys seek to live by their favorite quote: “We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another.”

Explore The Wing 2 Wing Foundation here.

Executive Leadership


Much of Brad’s leadership career was defined by his time at Intuit. While he held several leadership positions at Intuit during his 19-year tenure, the majority of his time was spent as the company’s CEO and, finally, Executive Chairman. Brad is credited with having transformed the company from a North American desktop company to a global cloud product and platform company that offers household name services like QuickBooks, TurboTax and Mint. Through his decade plus of transformative service, Brad retained and fostered the company’s core values and character that placed it on “Best Places to Work” lists year after year. Learn more about his leadership lessons and tenure as an executive leader.

Recent Articles and News

Why Leading with a Purpose is So Important

02/29/2024

Over the years, I have come to realize a few things about leadership: failure can teach just as much as success, the impact of servant leadership, and perhaps most importantly, leading with purpose. These principles have driven my own means of leadership in both my executive career and as Marshall University’s President. I am grateful to have learned these principles from special, trusted mentors. Leaders are not necessarily born, they are nurtured and built by experiences big and small. For me, one of the key aspects to becoming an effective leader is finding the purpose behind your leadership.

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Wing 2 Wing Foundation’s 2023 Year in Review

01/25/2024

Since its 2019 inception, the Wing 2 Wing Foundation has worked to level the playing field of opportunity in Appalachia. Acting on its three guiding pillars (education, entrepreneurship and environment), Wing 2 Wing has worked to support West Virginia’s dreamers and doers by prioritizing access to education, advancing entrepreneurial interests, and conserving and championing the region’s natural assets. In 2023, Wing 2 Wing celebrated four years since its founding as well as the introduction of new ventures and programs created to further aid Appalachians.

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Brad D. Smith: A Look Back on 2023

12/20/2023

Continuously dedicated to creating a better future for all, Brad D. Smith kept a packed and fulfilling schedule in 2023. Over the course of the year, Brad leveraged his leadership roles and experience to both further his commitment to the development of his home state, West Virginia, and support his alma mater as Marshall University’s President. He also drove new initiatives to uplift overlooked communities in Appalachia — opening opportunities to people across the region — and joined Amazon’s board of directors. As 2023 comes to a close, read on to learn more about Brad’s work over the last twelve months.

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Forbes Features Brad D. Smith’s Efforts to Level the Playing Field in West Virginia

11/03/2023

Brad D. Smith recently sat down with Forbes to discuss his journey from West Virginia native to Silicon Valley executive, and how his experiences ultimately led him back to the Mountain State to serve as the president of Marshall University. In both of his career tracks — from business executive to academic leader — Brad has focused on servant leadership as a means of uplifting the communities he serves. As CEO of Intuit, this meant transforming the company into one that was employee-centric. Now back in West Virginia, he continues to utilize servant leadership to develop programs that support the state’s people and bolster Appalachia’s future.

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Marshall University’s 2023 Homecoming: A “Super” Time for Celebrating the Herd

10/18/2023

Homecoming at Marshall University is a week full of exciting events and activities. Beyond the celebrations, Homecoming is also an opportunity for members of the Marshall community to reconnect and come together as one herd and reflect on how the university has changed throughout the years. This year’s 2023 Homecoming celebrations built off the sentiment of change, following a theme of “Super Marco: Level Up,” which honors Marshall “leveling up” in stature as well as the history of video games.

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Inaugural Women Warriors Summit Empowers Hundreds

10/18/2023

Alys Smith’s Women Warriors Summit — which was sponsored by her and her husband Brad D. Smith’s Wing 2 Wing Foundation — drew over 700 attendees at the Mountain Health Arena in Huntington, WV to connect, learn and empower one another through workshops and presentations by guest speakers. Following a theme of “courageous conversations,” exercises and panels focused on methods and approaches to starting a dialogue when faced with challenging situations in the workplace, with friends and at home. Keynote speaker Nicole Kidman shared anecdotes of her own experiences advocating for other women and for herself throughout her career.

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