The Remarkable Rotary Runway to an Interesting Life.

Our Guest Speaker will be Hal Smith, Executive Director for Development at the SIU Medical School Foundation who will speak on The Remarkable Rotary Runway to an Interesting Life.

Hal will share with us his remarkable story and his experience as a member of a Rotary International Group Study Exchange trip to England in 1975 set the stage for much of his life.

Hal Smith was born in in Springfield, Illinois and has remained a Springfield citizen for nearly his entire life.  He graduated from SHS in 1968; Springfield College in 1970; Sangamon State with a BA-Business in 1972 and a Master’s in Public Administration in 1976.  Hal spent 8 years on the U.S. Senate staff for Senator Charles H. Percy and 30 years in the private sector with 3 global gaming and entertainment companies before retiring in 2015.  He was called out of retirement 3 years ago, first to assist with fund raising for Lincoln College and then to run the Springfield office for newly elected Congressman Darin LaHood.  A few months ago he was asked to become Executive Director for Development at the SIU Foundation at the School of Medicine.

Hal has traveled 6 continents for his work but continues to love his hometown where he and his wife, Meg, also a native, went to extraordinary lengths to raise their 2 children, who are both married and now live in St. Louis and Los Angeles.