Jim Smith appointed to second term on ATU Board

Fayetteville attorney Jim Smith has been appointed to a second five-year term on the Arkansas Tech University Board of Trustees by Gov. Sarah Sanders. His term will expire Jan. 14, 2029.

Smith was previously appointed to a five-year term on the ATU Board of Trustees by Gov. Asa Hutchinson in January 2019. His initial term expired Jan. 14, 2024.

A native of Russellville, Smith is a 1991 ATU honor graduate with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He was selected by the faculty as the top student in the ATU School of Business in 1991 and was a member of the 1988 Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference champion Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys baseball team.

Smith earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law and a master’s degree of law in taxation from the New York University School of Law. He began his career working in corporate and tax law at Friday, Eldredge and Clark for almost two decades before co-founding Smith Hurst in Northwest Arkansas in 2011.

His other public service has included work on behalf of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, the Fayetteville Community Foundation, the Arkansas Rice Depot, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Northwest Arkansas, the Northwest Arkansas Museum Foundation and the Northwest Arkansas Symphony.

A past president of the ATU Alumni Association, Smith was the first person inducted into the Arkansas Tech Hall of Distinction under the Outstanding Young Alumnus category when he received that honor in 2001.

Other members of the ATU Board of Trustees in 2024 are Len Cotton of Dardanelle (chairman), Bill Clary of Conway (vice chairman), Michael Lamoureux of Russellville (secretary) and Stephanie Duffield of Russellville.