Entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist Robert F. Smith is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners (Vista), a global investment firm that invests in enterprise software. Since its founding by Smith in 2000, Vista has spent the past 25 years refining a disciplined investment strategy rooted in driving value creation through operational excellence. Today, the firm invests via private equity and private credit strategies and offers eligible investors and wealth professionals the opportunity to invest in enterprise software through the private wealth channel.
Vista also offers private wealth investment opportunities in enterprise software. In 2023, the firm was named the Global Technology Private Equity Firm of the Year by Private Equity International (PEI).
Smith is a board member of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and served as its Chairman from 2013 – 2020. He won the organization’s Ripple of Hope Award in 2010.
In 2017, Smith signed the Giving Pledge, the first Black American to do so, committing to donate the majority of his net worth to charitable causes. In his pledge letter, he noted that leveraging computing power can change communities for the better by fueling intellectual capital.
“Intellectual capital has become the new currency of business and finance — and the promise of utilizing brainpower to move individuals, families and even entire communities from poverty to prosperity within one generation has never been more possible than at this moment in time.”
Robert F. Smith
Smith’s commitment to philanthropy and education stems from his upbringing. When he was growing up, his mother contributed $25 to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) every month, regardless of the family’s financial situation.
In 2019, Smith shocked the world during the commencement address he delivered at Morehouse College. During his speech, Smith pledged to eliminate the student loan debt of the graduating class, a gift he later expanded to include Parent PLUS loans taken out by students’ guardians on their behalf. He only asked for one thing from the Morehouse graduates in return: pay it forward.
Inspired by the positive impact of his Morehouse pledge, Smith was eager to develop scalable solutions to the student debt crisis. In 2020, he established Student Freedom Initiative (SFI). SFI is a nonprofit organization that provides eligible students at participating Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) with academic, professional and financial support. Smith proudly serves as its Chairman.
Throughout his life, Smith has worked to pay it forward. Since 2014, Smith has served as the founding director and President of Fund II Foundation, an organization that advances social change by making grants to public charities.
He also co-leads Southern Communities Initiative (SCI). SCI is a catalytic consortium that accelerates wealth creation and economic growth in six Southern communities through locally led, measured and sustained initiatives.
Smith earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from Cornell University, where the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering now bears his name. After working as an engineer for several years, he earned his MBA with honors from Columbia Business School, where he is now a member of the Board of Overseers. Smith also serves as the Chairman of Carnegie Hall.
In recognition of Smith’s innovative approach to investing in software businesses and leadership in the asset management industry, Forbes named him one of the “100 Greatest Living Business Minds” in 2017.
He received the Committee for Economic Development’s Distinguished Leadership Award in 2024. In 2023, he was honored for his philanthropic work with the George H.W. Bush Points of Light Award, the HBCU Impact Award and the Founders Award from Foster Love. In 2022, he received theGrio’s Philanthropy Icon Award. He was named one of TIME100’s “Most Influential People in Philanthropy” of 2025. In the book “Lead Boldly: Seven Principles from Martin Luther King Jr.,” Smith invites readers to reflect on the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., providing context and insight on how to lead with intention in service of a better future.
For updates on Smith’s philanthropic and professional work, follow him on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.