Thomas Sidney "Tad" Smith, Jr. (born June 1965)[1] is an American businessman, the former president and chief executive officer of Sotheby's. Smith is also an adjunct professor at New York University's Stern School of Business.

Tad Smith
Smith in 2007
BornJune 1965 (age 59)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materPrinceton University (BA)
Harvard University (MBA)
SpouseCaroline Mitchell Fitzgibbons (1997–present)
Children2

Education

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Smith graduated with an AB from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1987 after completing a 124-page long senior thesis titled "The Philosophical Transformation of Constitutional Privacy."[2] While a student at Princeton, Smith received the R.W. Van de Velde Prize for outstanding junior independent work.[3][4] He later received an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a George F. Baker scholar and a Horace W. Goldsmith fellow.[3]

Career

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Smith was CEO of the US branch of Reed Business Information.[5]

For five years until 2014, Smith worked for Cablevision in a variety of executive positions.[5]

From February 2014 to March 2015, Smith was president and CEO of New York's Madison Square Garden, doubling net profits in the second half of that year.[6]

In March 2015, Sotheby's announced that Smith would succeed William F. Ruprecht as its president and CEO.[7] Smith's basic salary will be $1.4 million, plus "target annual bonus opportunity will be 200% of his annual base salary", and "long-term incentive award opportunities" in Sotheby's shares.[8]

In October 2019, Sotheby's was acquired by Patrick Drahi, and shareholders received $57 per share, with Smith receiving $28 million.[9]

In October 2019, Drahi replaced Smith with Charles Stewart, the CFO of Altice USA.[10]

Since 1999, Smith has taught at New York University's Stern School of Business, where he is an adjunct professor in the finance department, and runs a course entitled, "Strategy and Finance for Technology, Media, and Entertainment Companies".[3]

Personal life

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Smith is married to Caroline Mitchell Fitzgibbons, a realtor.[11] They have two children, and live in Bronxville, New York.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Thomas Sidney SMITH JR". Companies House. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
  2. ^ Smith, Jr (1987). "The Philosophical Transformation of Constitutional Privacy". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ a b c "Tad Smith". NYU. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  4. ^ "Twelve Princeton University Students Named to Scholars in the Nation's Service Initiative". Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. 2019-02-11. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  5. ^ a b "Tad Smith Leaves MSG for Sotheby's CEO Post". Variety. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  6. ^ Tully, Kathryn (16 March 2015). "Sotheby's New CEO Is Madison Square Garden's Tad Smith". Forbes. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  7. ^ Dewson, Andrew. "Sotheby's find the man to restore reputation - Madison Square Gardens' Tad Smith". The Independent. No. 17 March 2015. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  8. ^ Genocchio, Benjamin (23 March 2015). "Will Sotheby's Again Fall Victim to Corporate Hubris With Dan Loeb, Tad Smith Takeover?". ArtNet. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  9. ^ "Sotheby's ceases publicly trading on the New York Stock Exchange as its $3.7bn sale to Patrick Drahi closes". www.theartnewspaper.com. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  10. ^ "New Sotheby's Owner Patrick Drahi Replaces CEO Tad Smith With a Trusted Turnaround Wizard". Retrieved 2019-10-30.
  11. ^ "Olshan Realty, Inc. | Agents". olshan.com. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  12. ^ "Caroline Mitchell Fitzgibbons". Olshan. Retrieved 24 March 2015.