Retired Senior Vice President of Customer Advocacy at Applied Systems Inc. Teresa Smith, IMGT 1983, has provided extensive volunteer leadership and service to Georgia Tech. In addition to her involvement with the Campaign Steering Committee and the Alexander-Tharpe Fund Board of Directors, she has served as a mentor for MBA and undergraduate students and for participants in CREATE-X, Georgia Tech’s initiative to instill student entrepreneurial confidence; as a member and former chair of the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business Advisory Board; and as a member of the Georgia Tech Foundation Board of Trustees, where she currently chairs the Stewardship Committee.
Here, Smith describes her Georgia Tech experience, how she became reengaged as an alumna, and her hopes for the campaign and the Institute.
What led you to Georgia Tech?
I grew up in Conyers, Georgia. My mother had been a schoolteacher, and my father had been in the military and then started his own business. On my dad’s side, nobody had ever gone to college, but both of my parents insisted on the importance of education.
How have you been involved with Georgia Tech over the years?
Other than being a season ticket holder for football, I'd had what you might call a casual relationship with Tech. I had a deep connection, but I wasn’t that involved. They were instrumental in making sure that I applied to colleges that would give me a solid foundation. We weren't an upper middle-class family. There wasn't a legacy or a family history at Tech but, having gone to public schools in the Atlanta area, I knew that Tech was a great school. I always enjoyed math and science and did well in those subjects, and I wanted to get a solid start from a technical perspective and to focus on business. I was an industrial management major. I took my first computer class, and I loved it. Programming came naturally to me. I went on to do most of my elective work in computer science, and having that basis, combined with industrial management business expertise — it opened doors.
People respect the Georgia Tech degree, beyond Atlanta, Georgia, and the Southeast. There’s a credibility it bestows and a network it makes available. But, as I tell the students that I mentor, once those doors are open, it's up to you to step through and to prove your value and to make your own contributions and decisions.
That changed in 2006. Someone from Tech was supposed to meet with my boss, the president of my division at Integraph. He had scheduled a lunch with her, and when something came up, he asked me to step in. That was my first real reconnection with Tech. I ended up working with Kathy Fuller, a development officer at Tech. She became not just my contact at Tech but my friend. She and Kelly Barrett, then-chair of the Scheller College of Business Advisory Board, were instrumental in deepening my commitment to Tech. Like many others, I struggled financially as a Tech student, and I wanted to be able to help somebody else in that situation, so I started a need-based scholarship. I also began mentoring some of the women in the MBA program, and things evolved from there.
As Kelly Barrett has said, education changes people and changes families. Working to give Tech students the very best experiences and ensuring that those experiences are available to every student, regardless of need, has been among the most fulfilling parts of my service on the Campaign Steering Committee.
What outcomes would you like Transforming Tomorrow to accomplish?
My passion is supporting students with financial need. What I would like to see is the development of full-fledged programs — not just a scholarship — that helps set up these exceptional students for success while they are at Tech and beyond. I would also like to see more people engaged through the campaign, and I hope the campaign will reach people who might not yet have had much active engagement — for example, recent graduates. I also love seeing how many first-time donors there are. The campaign is working to build those connections before students graduate. We're establishing those relationships so that we have lifelong connections with, and support from, our alumni, ensuring that they know they are needed and they are a crucial part of Tech’s legacy.
What are your hopes for Georgia Tech?
It's important to me that Tech remain on the forefront of innovation as an absolute leader. Tech sits at the intersection of leading-edge technology and business. These two fields complement each other and make each other stronger. The campaign has a vital role in building Tech’s reputation as a thought leader.
Reprinted from The Campaign Quarterly, Summer 2024