Press Release

BIRMINGHAM—Ralph H. Smith II, President and CEO of the Ralph Smith Group LLC, and special counsel at Jones Walker LLP, was the featured speaker October 7, 2014, at the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, the world’s largest Kiwanis club, with over 550 members.

Mr. Smith's speech titled, "Unlock the Power of Global Thinking," reflected on the critical importance of inter-disciplinary and international collaborations among business, academic, and governmental institutions to help foster innovation and generate renewable resources for education, research, and economic development. Mr. Smith spoke of his company's and Jones Walker's efforts to bridge the gap between higher education and business, including creating a groundbreaking framework for international cooperation in research and development between the Argentine Ministry of Science and Technology and several distinguished American universities.

To see the transcript of the Kiwanis speech, please click here.

About Ralph Smith and the Ralph Smith Group
Ralph Smith, CEO of The Ralph Smith Group and special counsel at Jones Walker LLP, served for almost a decade as General Counsel and a Member of the Chancellor's Senior Policy Staff at The University of Alabama System, where he also taught and advised on international initiatives. A corporate and business transactions lawyer by training, Mr. Smith attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar from 1973-1976 and helped launch in 2012 the Global Innovation Alliance, a consortium of business, government, and academic institutions to promote innovation and economic development. He was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 to the Order of St. John, an Order of Chivalry of the British Crown with historical roots in the 11th century Knights Hospitaller and Knights of Malta. 

The Ralph Smith Group LLC (www.ralphsmithgroup.com), provides strategic consulting services to business and higher education worldwide.

About Jones Walker
Jones Walker LLP, with approximately 390 attorneys in Alabama, Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Ohio and Texas, provides a comprehensive range of legal services to a national and international corporate client base.

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