Mr. Smith has been a CEC member since 2013 and currently serves as board president. He has bachelor's degrees in Chemistry and Business from California University of Pennsylvania. He recently earned a Board Leadership Certificate from NRECA and reached Gold Credentials at the end of Oct. 2022. 

He is retired from MRC Global (an industrial equipment supplier) where he was the Global Director for the quality department. 

Mr. Smith moved to the area from Charleston, West Virginia in 2013 to be near his daughter, Heather, and her husband, Bob Hensel, and his one grandchild, Peyton. 

A Personal Statement from Mr. Smith

I am thankful to serve as Central Electric Cooperative’s Butler County Representative. Being a part of a not-for-profit organization that is governed by its membership, is truly a unique experience and something I had not known in my professional life. 

I am a US Air Force veteran and retired from MRC Global, an industrial equipment supplier, where I served as the Global Director in the quality department. As part of my duties for MRC, I routinely traveled to suppliers and customers in roughly forty countries on five continents around the world. While the organization structure of these roles is different from CECs, they have taught me transferable skills that allow me to serve the membership to safely provide reliable and competitively priced electricity to our consumer-members. 

I owe this opportunity to my daughter and her family, as being closer to them is the reason I moved to the area. Now that I am here, I am grateful for the decision and the opportunity to serve as CECs Butler County Representative and, most recently, Board President.

Robert Smith