AUTHOR

Winthrop H. Smith Jr

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WINTHROP H. SMITH JR. is the son and namesake of a founder of Merrill Lynch. In 1974, Win came to work for the company that his late father had co-led for twenty-one years, starting as an entry-level associate in the Investment Banking Division. He rose steadily, working not only in investment banking but also in marketing, human resources, finance, and sales. He also held management positions in both the Capital Markets Group and the Private Client Group. During the final decade of his twenty-eight-year career at Merrill, Winthrop Smith Jr. was an Executive Vice President of Merrill Lynch & Co. and a member of the Executive Committee. He is one of very few people to have known all of the company's CEOs. As Chairman of Merrill Lynch International, Mr. Smith led one of Merrill Lynch & Co.'s four business units with 9,000 employees, over $2.8B in revenues, and client assets of $180B. He retired from Merrill in January 2002 because he could not agree with the future direction of the firm. http://www.smith-merrillhistory.com/ Invited to the podium at the final Merrill Lynch shareholders meeting on December 5, 2008, Winthrop Smith delivered a speech that was to have profound impact throughout the world. In 2013, he completed his book, Catching Lightning in a Bottle: How Merrill Lynch Revolutionized the Financial World -- the first complete history of the firm. http://www.smith-merrillhistory.com/ Born in New York City, Win was raised in Morris, Connecticut, where his parents had purchased an historic farm. Named Winvian for "Win" and "Vivian," it remains in the Smith family as an exclusive retreat. He attended the Buckley School before entering Deerfield Academy, then received his BA in Political Science from Amherst College and his MBA in Finance from Wharton University. Win Smith is currently Chairman and CEO of Summit Ventures NE, LLC, which owns Sugarbush Resort in Warren,Vermont. He also serves as President of Sugarbush. He is a director of Eaton Vance Corporation in Boston as well as AGF Management Limited and Richardson GMP Limited in Toronto and Richardson Financial Group Limited in Winnipeg, Canada. Mr. Smith was formerly on the boards of the United Nations Association of the USA, Outward Bound USA, the New York City Ballet, the Cancer Research Institute, The Japan Society, and the Winthrop H. Smith Memorial Foundation. He served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Deerfield Academy. Win was also a member of the board of the Economics Club of America and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. As a Vermont business owner, Win is chair of the Vermont Business Roundtable and serves on the boards of the Vermont Ski Areas Association and the National Ski Areas Association. He is a resident of Warren, Vermont, and also has a home with his wife, Lili Ruane, in Shelburne, Vermont. He has four children, four step-daughters, and five grandchildren. The oldest are already passionate skiers and the youngest will soon be. Win enjoys most outdoor activities but none so much as skiing.