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Retired. Former President and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
The DeBruce Foundation Board of Directors
Lou Smith has a distinguished background in the forprofit and not-for-profit sectors.
He retired as president and chief executive officer of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, Missouri in April 2002. He joined the Foundation as its president and chief operating officer in June 1995 and was named president and chief executive officer in July 1997. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation from January 1991 through September 2002. The Kauffman Foundation was established by the late Ewing M. Kauffman, founder of the pharmaceutical firm Marion Laboratories and original owner of the Kansas City Royals Baseball Club.
He was a limited partner and a member of the board of directors of the Kansas City Royals Baseball Club from 1993 until the Club was sold in April 2000.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Smith had a 29-year career with AlliedSignal Inc. (now Honeywell International), retiring as president of the Kansas City Division in April 1995.
He is a member of the board of directors of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the DeBruce Foundation. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of a number of business and civic organizations including H&R Block, Inc., Sprint Corporation, Midwest Research Institute, Western Resources, Commerce Bank of Kansas City, Union Station Assistance Corporation and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and a master’s degree in business administration from the Executive Fellows Program at Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO. He also has done postgraduate work at the University of Kansas.