Title
Boyd, Smith oral historyCatalog Number
102795832Type
Moving imageDescription
Boyd Smith was born in 1940 in Oakland CA. He spent his youth in both rural Utah and suburban Palo Alto CA, graduating from Palo Alto High school in 1958. He then returned to Utah to attend the University of Utah. Deciding between a career in law and business, he returned to attend Stanford Business School, graduating in 1964.He spent the following dozen years working at Stanford in multiple roles. He first worked at the International Center for the Advancement of Management Education at Stanford. He found the role “eye opening” as he got the chance to travel around the world, interviewing professors of management from developing countries and bring them to Stanford for special programs.
After 2 ½ years he took the job of assistant manager of Stanford Real Estate. Within a year he was promoted to Manager of Stanford Real Estate. In this role, he managed Stanford’s sprawling non-academic real estate holdings, including Stanford Industrial (later Research) Park, and the Stanford Shopping Center. He speaks very highly of Alf Brandin, a mentor, and the man who played such a key role in the original establishment of the Industrial Park.
In 1976 Boyd struck out on his own. He joined with two other men to form WSJ, a real estate development firm. WSJ would typically build “spec” buildings – buildings which they would design and build without a specific customer in mind. They were quite successful in this strategy, despite the inherent risk, and never defaulted on a loan. Besides the Stanford Industrial Park, they developed buildings from San Mateo to Mt. View. Clients he worked with included Hewlett Packard, Steve Jobs’ NeXT, Intuit, Google, Sun Microsystems, and dozens of others.
In 1986, Boyd decided that he’d made more than enough money and that he could have more impact, and enjoy more personal fulfillment, by focusing on public service. He became an active supporter of the local YMCA, and along with his wife founded and supported the Beechwood School in East Palo Alto, a tremendously underserved community very close to Stanford. His goal was to provide a quality education for youth who otherwise would have no such opportunity. He has also been an active supporter and Board member of the Senior Coordinating Council, the Children’s Health Council, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, the Hoover Institution, and the Mormon Church.
Date
2019-12-18Participants
| Boyd, Smith, Interviewee |
| Hancock, Marguerite Gong, Interviewer |
Publisher
Computer History MuseumPlace of Publication
Mountain View, CADuration
01:08:12Format
MOVCategory
Oral historyCollection Title
CHM Oral History CollectionCredit
Computer History MuseumLot Number
X9209.2020Related Records
| 102795831 | Boyd, Smith oral history |