It’s been a decade since Stephen Smith, Sc’72, LLD’17, made his historic $50-million gift to what’s now known as Smith School of Business, a milestone that reshaped business education at Queen’s and expanded the business school’s ability to prepare leaders for a rapidly changing world.
One of the first to feel the impact was Queen’s accounting professor Steve Salterio, who can still clearly remember the moment he got the call.
It was the summer of 2016, and the Queen’s accounting professor was at a cottage in Nova Scotia. As he looked out over the Northumberland Strait one sunny morning, the phone rang. The news: he had been chosen as the Stephen J.R. Smith Chair of Accounting and Auditing.
Salterio smiled wide and let out a deep breath.
It had been a rigorous process to get there, but Salterio was now part of the first faculty group to hold the prestigious Smith Chairs, awarded through Stephen Smith’s gift to recognize and support high-quality research at the school.
“It was quite the moment,” remembers Salterio, still with a big grin all these years later. He now had a steady source of funding for the next five years to freely pursue the research he was most passionate about and that would have a real impact on the business issues of today.
The first Stephen J.R. Smith Chairs were announced in 2016. Clockwise from top left: Yuri Levin, former Smith Chair of Analytics; Steven Salterio, current Smith Chair of Accounting and Auditing; Stephen Smith, Sc’72; Tina Dacin, current Smith Chair of Strategy and Organizational Behaviour.
There have been dozens of moments like Salterio’s for Smith School of Business faculty and students since Smith made his transformative gift in 2015 – then the largest-ever donation to any business school in Canada, and one of the largest in Queen’s history.
When Smith’s gift was announced, the purpose was clear: to attract and support top talent at the business school and to raise the excellence of business education at Queen’s. But the vision went further than that. It was also to ensure that graduates and faculty research could address the complex challenges facing businesses and society as a whole.
“Queen’s gave me such an excellent education – it was the basis for what I am today – and I am forever grateful for that,” says Smith. “And so, with this gift, I wanted to help change people’s lives and give others the same opportunity I had – to think differently, explore new ideas, and prepare to tackle the world’s big challenges.”
Ten years later, there’s no doubt his gift has done that, says the current dean of Smith School of Business, Lynnette Purda. “Stephen’s incredible generosity has allowed us to welcome some of the very best students and faculty; support research in key areas like analytics, organizational behaviour, accounting, and financial technology; and elevate Smith’s reputation globally.”
That reputation has climbed steadily over the past decade, underscoring how Smith’s gift has positioned the school not just as a Canadian leader, but as a contributor to global business education. Take the school’s full-time MBA program. It’s now consistently ranked among the best worldwide by the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking, including No. 1 in Canada for career services the past five years running, and top in the country this year for the percentage salary increase of graduates, return on investment, and alumni network strength.
“That kind of recognition reflects the bold ambition at the heart of Stephen’s gift,” says Queen’s Principal Patrick Deane. “His generosity has not only transformed Smith School of Business but also elevated Queen’s more broadly. We are deeply grateful for the impact he continues to have on this institution and his commitment to the very best in teaching, learning, and research here.”
Students take selfies with Stephen Smith, Sc’72, at the announcement of his historic gift on Oct. 1, 2015.
One third of Stephen Smith’s gift went to MBA student scholarships, which are awarded based on academic excellence to students entering the full-time MBA program. There have been 87 Smith Scholars to date.
Graham Coe, MBA’18, was one of them. The Kingston native had been living in Western Canada and working in real estate investment for several years, but he had been thinking about returning to his hometown to do his MBA at Queen’s. The school’s reputation and the MBA program’s entrepreneurship specialization were big draws.
But what put the program over the top versus other schools he had applied to was the scholarship, he says.
“The recognition from the school and from the scholarship committee that my background and experience would bring a lot of value to the program was a big influence for me. Being a Smith Scholar also allowed me to fully immerse myself in the full-time program, which I really wanted to do, versus doing it part-time while still working.”
Looking back, Coe says the MBA and the scholarship were launching pads. After Queen’s, he moved to Toronto to work as a director at a real estate investment firm before returning to Kingston to start his own, called Cityflats.
“I really think the program and the scholarship itself were instrumental in accelerating that path for me,” says Coe. “I’m confident that I wouldn't have ended up where I am today if I hadn’t gone to Queen’s for the full-time MBA and had that scholarship.”
After Queen’s, Smith Scholar and Kingston native Graham Coe, MBA’18, returned to his hometown to start Cityflats, a real estate investment firm.
The other two thirds of Stephen Smith’s gift have been allocated to support faculty and high-quality, societally impactful research, including initiatives such as the Smith Chair that Steven Salterio was awarded in 2016 and again in 2021.
So far, there have been five named Smith Chairs – in strategy and organizational behaviour, accounting and auditing, management analytics, accounting, and equity and inclusion. They’ve gone to six faculty members to date.
Salterio says one of the best parts about being a Smith Chair is the research freedom that comes with it. “The amazing thing that Stephen did with this is that he set it up to allow researchers to do independent, curiosity-driven research with no guidance from him or anybody else.”
That’s meant that Salterio has been able to launch projects quickly that have both academic and social impact. This has included everything from uncovering hidden patterns of replication in accounting research, to documenting the first Black professional accountants in Canada, to analyzing grocery store profits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It really is incredible what Stephen Smith did here,” says Salterio. “He clearly had a mission to truly support the success of faculty and students with his gift – and he has done that. Thanks and with kudos to Stephen for this gift.”
