{"id":18586,"date":"2024-05-12T09:42:33","date_gmt":"2024-05-12T13:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/?p=18586"},"modified":"2025-05-07T16:21:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T20:21:52","slug":"etown-changemakers-william-bill-smith-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2024\/05\/12\/etown-changemakers-william-bill-smith-91\/","title":{"rendered":"Etown Changemakers: William (Bill) Smith \u201991"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An Elizabethtown College education is for people who feel the pull to contribute to the world. With a network of 24,425 living alumni, our graduates leave Etown to become the influential advocates and changemakers the world needs more of.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Meet William (Bill) Smith <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201991<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, a Political Science alumnus and CEO of <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/smithct.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The May &amp; Stanley Smith Charitable Trust<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, which supports organizations that offer opportunities to individuals that enrich their quality of life, promote self-sufficiency, and assist them in achieving their highest potential. Smith is passionate about making a difference in the world by completing social justice and advocacy work <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">across the globe<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> and currently serves on the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">College&#8217;s<\/span> <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">President&#8217;s<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Leadership Council.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>&#8220;My Etown degree has benefitted me immensely as my career has focused on social justice and the moral imperative at the core of creating the conditions of justice for everyone, using the College&#8217;s motto of Educate for Service.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What defined your Etown experience?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">That is tough to nail down when I think it was a combination of everything. However, it was the excellent and personal education that I received, including a focus on how a liberal arts educational approach creates broader minds and broader thinking about the world and how I want to exist in it and contribute to it. It is also where I encountered the<\/span> <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Educate for Service<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">ethos and claimed it as my guide in building a professional career.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">How has your Etown degree benefitted you and your career success?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">My Etown degree has benefitted me immensely as my career has focused on social justice and the moral imperative at the core of creating the conditions of justice for everyone, using the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">College&#8217;s<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> motto of<\/span> <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Educate for Service.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I learned to be open to this at Etown and reflect on what it meant for me and how I desired to move in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">How have you made a difference in the lives of others through your career\u00a0and\/or personal life?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">don\u2019t<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> think in these terms, but I know my career in social justice advocacy and now in philanthropy has been impactful in ways I will never fully realize, and for that, I am blessed and grateful. From advocacy work on HIV\/AIDS in Africa to helping to build civil society in Mexico, to mobilizing development resources from European Union nations, to investing hundreds of millions of dollars in nonprofit organizations that help people thrive, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I\u2019ve<\/span> <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">been blessed<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> to play a role.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What is your passion? Where do you place your energy besides your career?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">My passion is service in the pursuit of justice, and I try to let that be my guide in every aspect of my life, from my personal relationships to my professional life and my volunteerism. More recently, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I\u2019ve<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> allowed myself some space to become a writer on food, wine, and travel, and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">it\u2019s<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> been a joyous and productive turn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">View more Etown Changemakers at\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.etown.edu\/125-celebration\/stories.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">etown.edu\/125.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Elizabethtown College education is for people who feel the pull to contribute to the world. With a network of 24,425 living alumni, our graduates leave Etown to become the influential advocates and changemakers the world needs more of. Meet William (Bill) Smith \u201991, a Political Science alumnus and CEO of The May &amp; Stanley [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":18646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1339,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-campus-community","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18586"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18645,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18586\/revisions\/18645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}