“I really enjoy brokering deals,” says Smith, a Hudson , Ohio native whose legal career now spans 20 years.

Smith is an attorney at Powell Goldstein LLP in Atlanta , a 97-year-old law firm with more than 350 lawyers and offices in Washington , D.C. , and Dallas. He specializes in legal matters involving domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital financings.

“In the mid-1990s, when the dot-com businesses were really hot, I worked primarily with computer finance, electronic commerce and nanotechnology companies,” says Smith.

Smith, a graduate of Capital University Law and Graduate Center and Georgetown University , moved to Atlanta in 1987 where he joined a smaller, private law firm. The firm eventually merged with Powell Goldstein, LLP.

While he works for one of Atlanta 's top law firms, Smith is anxious to support the criminal justice program at BGSU, particularly in honor of the late Dr. Gerald Rigby, a professor emeritus of criminal justice who helped found BGSU's criminal justice program. In 1991, a scholarship fund for criminal justice majors was created in Professor's Rigby's name.

“Gerald Rigby was not only a great professor, but also a mentor to me,” Smith says. “He encouraged me to become involved in other arenas. I considered him a friend.”

“He was a great visionary and very much ahead of his time,” says Smith. “He gave the students a wider view of the justice system and projected that visionary approach onto them.”

“I was more of a realist when I looked at how the world functioned,” Smith says.

“Professor Rigby helped me to adopt a more philosophical approach and to look at how things really work in the criminal justice system and in the world.”

“My affinity to Professor Rigby and BGSU's confidence in me as a student prompted me to give back, particularly in Professor Rigby's name.”

Smith is also involved with the American World Adoption Agency, serving on its General Council, and he volunteers his time to Orchestra Atlanta, a nonprofit organization that promotes music and arts in Atlanta .

­–Julianne Jardine