R. Adam Smith

R. Adam Smith is an experienced investor, advisor, and builder of tens of startup, venture and private equity-backed companies in the U.S., and abroad, since the mid-1990s.

Adam is an expert in the branded space with a focus on all matters related to the consumer, including luxury, accessories, retail, apparel, beauty, art and design, digital & media, food & beverages, wellness, real estate and wealth management. Through private equity partnerships he has founded since 2002, Adam has invested in over a dozen privately-held companies (including seven acquisitions) with a combined $600 million in sales and over $250 million of contributed equity invested capital, while also forming and serving on the Board of Directors, or advisory boards, of each company. In 2002, Adam founded Circle Peak Capital LLC, a private investment merchant banking partnership based in NYC that he actively manages today and which has served tens of limited partners with over $50 million of invested capital over time.

Earlier in his career, Adam served as a principal at two leading private equity firms in New York City, Caxton-Iseman Capital, an affiliate of Caxton Associates, one of the world’s legendary alternative investment organizations (founded 1993), and Castle Harlan, Inc. (founded 1987) each holding over $2 billion in aggregate managed equity capital. Adam was an early employee and instrumental in the success of global emerging markets (half a billion) dollar hedge fund, Columbus Advisors LLC, formed by the heads of Merrill Lynch emerging markets in 1996. Adam started his career on Wall Street in 1993, holding positions at top firms including Salomon Brothers Inc., J.P. Morgan, and Lehman Brothers Inc. After Salomon Brothers, Adam earned an MBA in 1998 with Beta Gamma Sigma honors from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University (CBSGSB), and a BA cum laude in International Relations and Economics from Boston University.

An active alumnus of CBSGSB, Adam was a founding board member of the CBSGSB Private Equity Advisory Board, and a founder in 1996 of the school’s now legendary Investment Management Conference. In addition to his role as Founder and CEO of his three primary holdings, Circle Peak Capital LLC, Big Sky Partners LLC, and Family Office Private Advisors LLC. Adam is involved in several companies, he is a special advisor to Stride Capital LLC (since 2010) and was recently appointed as an expert advisor to the NY Tech Fashion Lab, a collaboration with Springboard Enterprises, along with several leading fashion organizations.

Adam is a proud father of two boys, and is active in arts, design, and is an avid collector. Adam has been a chair, board member, patron and/or sponsor of numerous arts related events including the International Fine Art and Antique Show, Weill Carnegie Recital Hall, The Avenue Show, and has been an amateur classical pianist since the age of 5. Adam is an active philanthropist, having served various causes including the Museum of Arts and Design, Tanenbaum Center, Original Music Workshop (National Sawdust) and was the founder of Leukemia Fighters at Weill Cornell College.