Blair C. Smith is Senior Director of the Center for Financial Markets at the Milken Institute, with more than 20 years of financial services and capital markets experience. He leads the Center’s Access to Capital and strategic innovative financing initiatives, to enhance economic and social impact. Mr. Smith also leads the Institute's work on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Asset Management, as well as Impact Investment including CDFIs, MDIs and Opportunity Zone Funds. Mr. Smith was the Founder and CEO of Promethean AB Strategies LLC, a strategic consultancy focused on helping diverse led Asset Management firms achieve their goals. He is the former Chief Investment Officer for the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation, a CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution). Mr. Smith was also responsible for co-managing a $5.2 billion Emerging Manager investment portfolio, within the State of New York Common Retirement Fund. Earlier in his career, Mr. Smith served for over 10 years as a Relationship Manager with both the Greenwich, Connecticut and New York City Wealth Management teams at various top tier banks.
Mr. Smith was appointed an adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He is on the Board of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, the Baltimore Afro-American Newspapers and the Afro Charities. Mr. Smith received his M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia University and a B.S. in Journalism from Morgan State University (an HBCU) where he was a 2 year ROTC scholar.