Entrepreneur and philanthropist Robert F. Smith is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners (Vista). He serves as Chairman of Carnegie Hall and Student Freedom Initiative (SFI) and is the founding director and President of Fund II Foundation. He also co-leads Southern Communities Initiative (SCI), a catalytic consortium to accelerate wealth creation and economic growth in six Southern communities through locally led, measured and sustained initiatives. Smith is best known for eliminating the student loan debt of the entire 2019 Morehouse College graduating class, including the loans taken out on the students’ behalf by their guardians. Smith earned his B.S. in chemical engineering in 1985 and MBA from Columbia Business School in 1994. He worked in mergers and acquisitions at Goldman Sachs before founding Vista in 2000. Smith was named one of Forbes’ 100 Greatest Living Business Minds in 2017. Robert F. Smith. Photo by Melanie Dunea, courtesy of Vista Equity Partners.