Our Team
Smith Capital Management is the advisor of choice for individuals and businesses with assets to invest who now require a more sophisticated level of independent investment management.
Our clients expect financial advice that is intimately involved with their current financial situation. Our professional team ensures constant communication with our clients by:
- Assigning two advisors and an account administrator to each client
- Distribution of mailed quarterly performance reports
- Distribution of monthly Directions newsletter
- Annual review of goals and objectives
- Immediate e-mail, phone, or personal access
Stephen W. Chaffin President
James W. Strawn Vice President
Jay K. White Vice President
John C. Carroll Vice President
Linda Bass Chief Compliance Officer
Stephen W. Chaffin
President
Stephen serves as President of Smith Capital Management. He earned his degree in banking and finance from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1980. Mr. Chaffin began his investment career with Merrill Lynch & Co. where he worked as a retail account executive. In 1988 he was recruited to Dean Witter as an institutional broker. In 1990, Mr. Chaffin joined the Downtown Partnership, an economic development group made up of business and civic groups, as the Executive Director. Mr. Chaffin joined Smith Capital Management in January of 1996 where he is on the investment committee and manages the fixed income portfolios. Mr. Chaffin and three other businessmen purchased Smith Capital Management from Bill Smith in July of 2000. Mr. Chaffin is the largest shareholder.
James W. Strawn
Vice President
Jim serves as Vice President of Smith Capital Management. He earned his BSBA from Little Rock University (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) in 1964. Business history includes ownership and operation of a retail furniture company (22 years), commercial mortgage brokerage and real estate development (6 years) and partial ownership and development of Electronic Imaging Services, Inc., a computer output service bureau (9 years). In August 1997, Electronic Imaging Services, Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Vestcom International, a publicly owned company based in Lindhurst, New Jersey. Mr. Strawn joined Smith Capital Management in June of 1996 as an Investment Advisor.
Jay K. White
Vice President
Jay serves as Vice President of Smith Capital Management. He earned his BBA with a major in Finance from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1992. Mr. White joined First Commercial Corporation (now Regions Financial Corporation) in 1992 as a Financial Analyst in the Finance Department. In 1993, he moved to First Commercial Capital Management (now Morgan Asset Management) where he served as Portfolio Manager. In 1995, he was promoted to Vice President, where he served until 2000. In 2000, he joined Morgan Keegan Trust Company, FSB as Senior Vice President and Trust/Investment Officer. Mr. White is a member of the CFA Institute and the Financial Planning Association. Mr. White joined Smith Capital Management in August of 2001 as an Investment Advisor.
John C. Carroll
Vice President
John serves as Vice President of Smith Capital Management. His bachelor’s degree was earned from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and came in the field of marketing. After three years of traveling sales out of Kansas City, Mr. Carroll returned to Little Rock in 1983 and entered the investment industry with Merrill Lynch. In 1986, Mr. Carroll joined Stephens, Inc. in an advisory and trading capacity, served as a Senior Vice President, and had a 22 year career building an institutional sales and trading effort. Mr. Carroll joined Smith Capital Management in May 2009 as an Investment Advisor.
Linda Bass
Chief Compliance Officer
Linda joined Smith Capital Management in 2003 with 27 years of investment experience. She serves as Senior Portfolio Administrator and assists with development and implementation of the operations and compliance systems of Smith Capital Management. Her investment career began at Merrill Lynch where she partnered with two of the top financial consultants in Arkansas. Working in the Institutional Division, their clients included various financial institutions, government and corporate pension plans, and high net worth individuals. After 17 years with Merrill Lynch, she joined an independent investment advisory firm. During her ten-year stay, she served as investment advisor to high net worth clients and served as the firm’s Director of Compliance and Operations.
