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J. Carey Smith
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J. Carey Smith is an entrepreneur based in Austin, Texas. Smith founded ceiling fan and light manufacturer Big Ass Fans in 1999. He sold the Lexington, Kentucky, company to private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg for $500 million in December 2017. As part of the sale, he took with him eight employees to launch a startup incubator, Unorthodox Ventures, in Austin. Education Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, in 1974. Smith worked his way through college as a shoe salesman and custodian. He went on to graduate school at the University of Chicago. Career Smith began working in the insurance and reinsurance industry, where he remained until age 30. He then started his first company, which installed sprinklers on the roofs of industrial buildings to keep them cool. The job took him around the country for installation jobs; he slept in the bed of his pickup truck on such trips. But the company never surpassed $1.4 million in sales, so Smith used the profits to start The HVLS Fan Company, later renamed Big Ass Fans. He was 46. Under Smith’s leadership, Big Ass Fans grew to 1,000 employees and gained an average of 30 percent revenue annually, landing on the list for 11 years in a row. Smith expanded the company’s offerings beyond industrial ceiling fans to industrial lights and IOT-enabled residential fans and lights. The company’s products are sold in 190 countries, and 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies use them. Business philosophy Smith is a proponent of direct sales, arguing that the model allows a business to better understand its customers. He also advocates investing in customer service. Awards Smith has won awards for leadership, including Inc. Magazine’s Economy Hero for refusing to lay off any employees during the Great Recession. Additionally, he earned Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the South Central Ohio and Kentucky region in 2011. Personal life Smith has been married to attorney Nancy Smith since 1977. 
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