Jim Smith, chair of the Arkansas Tech University board of trustees
Arkansas Tech University on Thursday announced that Fayetteville lawyer Jim Smith has been elected chair of the university’s board of trustees for 2023.
Smith is a past president of the ATU Alumni Association who was first appointed to the board by former Gov. Asa Hutchinson in January 2019. A native of Russellville, he graduated from ATU with a degree in accounting in 1991 and was a member of the university’s 1988 Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference champion baseball team.
Smith earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law and a Master of Law degree in taxation from the New York University School of Law. He began his career working in corporate and tax law at Friday Eldredge & Clark LLP of Little Rock for almost two decades before co-founding Smith Hurst PLC in northwest Arkansas in 2011.
Smith’s community 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.
Other trustees for 2023 are:
- Len Cotton of Dardanelle, vice chairman
- Bill Clary of Conway, secretary
- Michael Lamoureux of Russellville
A fifth member of the board for 2023 will be appointed by
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. That appointee will succeed Stephanie Duffield of Russellville, who was board chair in 2022.
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