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The Ralph Smith Group provides management consulting services to business and higher education institutions worldwide through a team of world-class experts, helping clients unlock the power of global thinking.
Ralph Smith spent 25 years in private law practice in Washington, D.C. and Birmingham, Alabama before joining the University of Alabama System for almost a decade as General Counsel, Distinguished Lecturer of Law and Member of the Chancellor’s Senior Policy Staff. While at the University, he also served as Special Advisor for International Trade and Economic Development.
Mr. Smith founded the Ralph Smith Group in 2012 and became Special Counsel that same year to the distinguished national law firm, Jones Walker LLP. Mr. Smith has helped lead delegations to Asia, Europe, and South America regularly since 2011 to advance academic collaboration and economic development. In 2012 he co-founded the Global Innovation Alliance, a consortium of business, academic and government institutions in Asia, Europe, North and South America to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. In 2013 Mr. Smith was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II to the Order of St. John, an 11th century Order of Chivalry of the British Crown, and in 2015 he was recognized as a Distinguished Friend of Oxford University. He served as President of the Association of American Rhodes Scholars from 2016-2020.
Mr. Smith received a B.A. from Washington and Lee University, an M.A. from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. He has served as Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama and been an officer, director or trustee of numerous educational, charitable and civic organizations, including Rotary International and the Association of American Rhodes Scholars. He was the Administrator of both the Eastman Trust (which endows the renowned Eastman Professorship at Oxford) and the American Trust for Oxford University from 2008 to 2016. He has served on Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committees in the United States off and on since 1981 and was responsible for running those selections in the southeastern United States and the American Caribbean from 2004-2018.
