Forty Under 40: Rohm Smith

While his company has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception in 1996, Rohm Smith wants to make sure he keeps his feet firmly planted on the ground.

Smith, 34, is president of Futurecom Telecommunications Inc. in Springdale. The Fayetteville resident started the business as a one-person operation. Today, he has five employees with two divisions – a local division taking care of Northwest Arkansas accounts and a national division that services accounts in all 48 contiguous United States.

Futurecom sells business telephone systems as well as computer, voice and fiber optic wiring.

Smith began his professional career with J.B. Hunt Transport Inc.’s computer department and later moved over to the telecom division. He then went to work for an interconnect company and eventually decided he wanted to start his own business.

“I had different ideas of how I wanted the customer to be taken care of and treated,” Smith said.

Smith said that while he envisions his firm growing into a multimillion dollar company, that is not his goal.

“My whole philosophy with the company is to grow it at a slow pace so that we’ll be able to keep up with the customers,” Smith said.