R. Adam Smith – speaker at MKRF2024

R. Adam Smith is a veteran on board of directors since 2002. Trusted consigliere to single family offices, investors, founders, boards, CEOs. Repeat entrepreneur, board member, founder, general partner, philanthropist.

Adam is a leading expert in private company finance, family offices, and strategy, having served as an investor, advisor, and/or financier to over fifty venture and private equity-backed companies since the mid-1990s. Adam has participated in billions of transaction value in his professional career, beginning in 1993.

Through private equity partnerships he has directly led and/or sponsored since 2002, Adam has invested in over a dozen privately-held companies (including seven acquisitions) with a combined $600 million in sales and over $250 million of contributed equity invested capital, while also forming and serving on the Board of Directors, or Advisory Boards, of each company.

In 2002, Adam founded Circle Peak Capital LLC, a private investment merchant banking partnership which served tens of limited partners with over $50 million in direct equity investments over time. The partnership is based in NYC, controlled by a private holding company, RAS Capital Partners LLC. Circle Peak Capital was one of the most active independent sponsor private equity investors of the decade.

Earlier, Adam has been an external advisor to Bain & Company, the world’s most respected global consultancy firm, founded 1973.

Earlier in his career, Adam served as a principal at two leading NYC private equity firms, each holding over $2 billion in aggregate managed equity capital at their peak. At Caxton-Iseman Capital, an affiliate of Caxton Associates, one of the world’s legendary alternative investment organizations (founded 1993), Adam led several leveraged buyouts worth over $1.5 billion (including a going-private transaction, at the time, the firm’s largest investment to date). At Castle Harlan, Inc. (founded 1987), Adam led several financial services private company acquisitions, and was the first non-founder employee of an acquisition operating company.

Prior, Adam was instrumental in the success of a global emerging markets (half a billion dollar) hedge fund formed in 1996, Columbus Advisors LLC. Columbus was formed by the former department heads of emerging markets at Merrill Lynch. Adam was the firm’s first non-founder employee.

Adam’s earlier career was built on Wall Street, starting in 1993, holding positions at top firms including Salomon Brothers Inc., J.P. Morgan, and Lehman Brothers Inc.

After his career began in investment banking at Salomon Brothers, Adam earned an MBA in 1998 with high honors (Beta Gamma Sigma) from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University (CBSGSB). Adam holds a BA, cum laude, in International Relations and Economics from Boston University.

Adam is an active alumnus of CBSGSB, a founding board member of the its Private Equity Advisory Board, a founder in 1996 of the school’s now legendary Investment Management Conference, and a three-time selected reunion committee member.

Adam is the sole founder of Wisdom Board Inc, founded 2020, a pioneering strategic advisory firm providing multi-faceted and thoughtful advice to Boards and their company directors, members, CEOs, and investors. Wisdom Board empowers private company Board of Directors to optimize, inform, fortify, and modernize their governance to ensure best-practices, optimize shareholder value, and mitigate conflict and related liability. Wisdom Board has received accolades from the media, produced dozens of podcasts, and received sponsorships from a dozen leading global organizations.

Adam is an expert in investment banking, alternative investing, governance, and the branded space with a focus on all matters related to the consumer (including luxury, accessories, retail, apparel, beauty, art and design, digital & media, food & beverages, wellness, real estate and wealth management). Adam is a founding special advisor, from 2010, to a private hedge fund platform, Stride Capital LLC.

Adam is married and a proud father of three children, is active in foreign affairs, the arts, design, and is an avid collector. Adam has been a host, patron and / or sponsor of numerous arts related events including the International Fine Art and Antique Show, Weill Carnegie Recital Hall, The Avenue Show. Adam has been a special advisor to one of the world’s most respected private modern art galleries with original origins from 1760. Adam has been an amateur classical pianist since the age of 5 and competed at the state championship level.

Frequent speaker, podcast guest, host and/or sponsor at conferences, including Family Office Center (Europe), Columbia Business School, Buyouts Insider, Harvard, ACG, YJP, iGlobal Forum, Marcus Evans, the Scott Becker podcast. Adam is also the sole founder (2023) and lead host of a live media podcast on LinkedIn, the Family Business Audiocast.

Adam is an active patron, innovator, collector and philanthropist. Adam is founder of two active non-profits, Caring Capitalism (a global sustainable finance mission), and Leukemia Fighters at Weill Cornell College (one of the leading oncology non-profits affiliated with a top U.S. hospital). Adam is a board member of the Musicians Treatment Foundation (the leading national injury treatment non-profit for musicians); and, previously, a founding board member of National Sawdust (aka, Original Music Workshop) in Brooklyn, advisor to the Museum of Arts and Design – the leading global museum in craft, art, and design (founded 1956),a special advisor to global peace resolution leader – the Tanenbaum Center, a board trustee of VentureCapital(org), and a founding member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies of Boston University.