Barbara Sexton Smith
The Fund for the Arts’ mission is to increase revenues for the arts and to enable our community to become the preeminent regional arts center in the United States and to maximize the impact of the arts on overall economic development, education of our children and the enjoyment of living in our community.
After a well-publicized series of events in March of this year, Allan Cowen, the long-time president and CEO of the Fund for the Arts, announced his retirement from that position. Louisville’s Fund for the Arts is the oldest and largest organization of its kind in the country, and Cowen’s decision left many in the arts community wondering about future support. The staff and volunteers, led by veteran fund-raiser Barbara Sexton Smith, just completed this year’s campaign and announced they raised enough money to maintain the current level of support. Over the past thirteen years, Ms. Sexton Smith has become the personification of the Fund to the 25,000 workers who donate each year to the Fund for the Arts through payroll deductions. Chances are good that she has visited your office sometime during the last decade. Her trademark enthusiasm for the arts and what they can do to improve our lives and community keep her pretty busy in her current position as Acting President and CEO of the Fund for the Arts.
BSS: I graduated from the University of Louisville School of Business in 1979. One of my classmates was Ed Webb, who now heads the Kentucky World Trade Center.
I started building my network early! I actually married and left Louisville in January of 1979, but I negotiated a deal with the dean of the business school to allow me to get my last nine hours at Memphis State and still have my degree conferred by UofL.
SD: Why was that important to you?
BSS: Oh, I was born and destined to die a Cardinals fan. I lived in four cities my first two years out of college. Once we came back, though, I knew this was where I would plant my feet.
SD: Is that when you went to work for Wendy’s?
BSS: Yes, I was hired to go into their management training program. My management trainer at Wendy’s was Gary Beisler, who is now the President/CEO of Qdoba Mexican Grill – another connection! I was the first in my family to get a college degree, so when I announced that I had this fantastic job at Wendy’s, my parents cried! When they asked me what I was going to do with a college degree at Wendy’s, I said, “I’m going to sell more french fries, hamburgers and frosties than anyone has ever sold in the history of that company.” I almost did that.
SD: You also had a life-changing experience while working there.
BSS: Yes, when I was assigned to the Wendy’s at Grinstead and Bardstown Road, the restaurant was robbed at gunpoint one Saturday at midnight. I was closing with four teenagers. We were taken hostage, the kids were threatened, I was beaten and told to open the safe. I couldn’t see the numbers to open it, but I put my hand on it and asked for something greater than myself to open that safe or these kids were going to die. All I know is the safe opened up and I picked up the money and handed it to the man. He stood at the door and waved his sawed-off shotgun – I knew he was going to blow everybody away, but he hesitated and then left. The doctors weren’t sure I was going to make it at the time, but two weeks later I told my boss I was going back to work in that store and work the closing shift.
SD: Why did you do that?
BSS: When you fall off the horse…
SD: I guess you’re not really afraid of very much when you go out to talk to people.
BSS: No. I’m not “afraid” of anything. My mother always told me to sleep with one eye open; sometimes you have to sleep with both eyes open! I believe that happened to me for a reason. It prepared me to accept the challenges life offers. When I look back now on that night, I see it as an opportunity to gain strength from knowing I am not always in control.
SD: Have you had challenges being a woman in corporate America?
BSS: When I came out of college, it never occurred to me that being a woman in corporate America was something I might want to think about. I didn’t know there was much of a difference. Nobody had introduced me to that concept. My mother and father went to work every day and taught my brother, sister and me that our only limits were our dreams and our work ethic. I did not know that being a woman in the workplace would be a challenge – but it became a challenge.
SD: What was your epiphany?
BSS: All of my peers were men. All of the regional supervisors, except one, were men. She was my regional director and the only woman at that management level in Wendy’s International. I am grateful for the fact that she was so hard on me. Someone who will push you to be better than your best is a godsend. Instinctively, I knew that my numbers had to be far stronger than the 59 men at my level to get noticed. Just six months after being a trainee, I was promoted to general manager – faster than anyone in the region. Six months later, I became an area supervisor, faster again than anyone else. I was managing five units, 20 percent more than average, and I thought I was doing great until a few years later at my annual review.
SD: What happened there?
BSS: They sent down a senior vice-president from Dublin, Ohio. I was eight and a half months pregnant, which I didn’t think would play any part in my career. But when I asked for the discussion on career-pathing, he looked at my stomach and said, “You’ve already made the decision. There will be no advancement for you.” That was my first true indication that being a woman carried a different meaning in the workplace. I was flabbegasted, but I didn’t fight it. It was a bigger battle than I felt I could fight in 1983. So
I just continued to do well and bided my time until something else came along.
SD: What did come along?
BSS: Mark Weiss founded the Fresher Cooker and hired me to be the national franchise director – even with a brand new baby! It was a great thing for me.
SD: When did you get into fund-raising?
BSS: I actually got into it as a volunteer. When Fresher Cooker filed for bankruptcy, I begged for a job as a temporary assistant at Blue Cross Blue Shield. I was doing management training in that role, and they asked if I would volunteer to run the employee’s Metro United Way campaign.
I was so mad I couldn’t see straight. So I did what I think you should always do in that situation – I took it on and did the very best I could possibly do to show them I could lead. We had a 145 percent increase that year, which got the attention of United Way president Rob Reifsnyder.
I would have never met him without the opportunity I was given. He asked me to volunteer for United Way as a trainer of employee coordinators and later hired me on as a portfolio manager/fund-raiser. For four years, I worked with all the companies in Rubbertown, Ford Motor Company, etc. I got to meet and love a side of Louisville that I hadn’t had an opportunity to work with before. That is when I fell in love with asking people for money.
SD: That is a passion many people don’t understand.
BSS: Well, I love it because I’m really not asking them for money. I’m giving people an opportunity to connect with something bigger than themselves. Many people tell me that it gives them a sense of belonging, and that’s where this all rests for me.
SD: What was it like moving into raising money for the arts?
BSS: It has been a fantastic ride so far. I left Metro United Way to open my own business as a fund-raising consultant – one of only a few professionals in the field at that time. The National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Center for Women and Families, Olmsted Parks Conservancy and Metro United Way all contracted with me immediately. In 1994, I opened a company that I operate even today: Quick Think, Inc.
SD: What does it do?
BSS: It’s a leadership development program that focuses on negotiation strategy in the workplace. My husband and I teach this course throughout the U.S., but Humana and Brown-Forman were our first clients. While all of that was going on, including my continuing volunteer work, I had another life-changing moment – an introduction to Allan Cowen in December 1998.
SD: Many people consider Allan to be a challenging personality, but you were so successful working with him.
BSS: If I’m not Allan’s number one fan,
I would like to know who it is. I have tremendous respect, admiration and appreciation for him and all he has done.
I am grateful for the thirteen years I had the opportunity to work with him.
SD: How did you get together?
BSS: Jeanne Curtis invited me to meet with her and Allan at the Fund for the Arts. Allan asked if I would be willing to help for about eight weeks. By the end of that time, I was so excited about telling the story of the Fund and its impact in the community that I wanted to complete the job. At the end of the campaign, in June 1999, he said, “Okay, we’ve got to figure out how to do this for another year.” At the end of three years, Allan wanted to bring me in because he felt I had become the face of the Fund for the Arts. I was managing 200 campaigns by then and released all of my other contracts. I was thrilled that Allan asked me to join the team. He’s a nationally and internationally renowned individual. Over the years, I migrated from Chief Campaign Officer to Executive Vice-President and worked side-by-side with Allan the last few.
SD: So you were in a good position to maintain when Allan stepped down.
BSS: His departure created a void in my world. I had talked with Allan every day and met with him weekly. We made decisions together. What was great about working with Allan is that we understood that we were going to disagree and that would be okay.
SD: Did you agree most of the time?
BSS: We disagreed on most things. But I think that’s why he valued me. I unemotionally assess the business environment without letting emotions and personal likes and dislikes get in the way of my professional experience. That’s key in leadership.
SD: I have heard only one other name besides yours mentioned as a permanent successor. Are you a candidate?
BSS: I woke up on March 22 and read the newspaper like everyone else. When Allan’s retirement was announced and the board asked me to step in and serve as Acting President and CEO, I was humbled and honored. I am prepared and able to lead the organization, but I told the board that my focus until the end of this campaign is on fund-raising. We have to keep our eye on the ball. To allow myself to be sidetracked into a conversation about a search would not serve the organization well right now.
I get up every day and apply for this job. Leading the Fund and protecting its legacy, guarding its brand and fulfilling its mission is what I will do until the board asks
me to do something else.