Mr. Smyre has become an internationally recognized futurist best known for community transformation, a concept he helped originate.
GASTONIA, NC, September 22, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Frederic Lewis "Rick" Smyre III has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all issues taken into account during the selection process.
Having begun his career in 1971 upon returning from Vietnam, Mr. Smyre took over the family business, Smyre Manufacturing Company, which specialized in making cotton and blended yarns for the apparel industry. After serving as the president for over a decade, he realized that the textile industry was losing its competitiveness to the Asian market. As a result, the business was sold in 1982. Mr. Smyre found subsequent success as owner of Strategic Concepts, Inc, a company he established in 1988.
Aside from his full-time career, Mr. Smyre became very interested in a new concept he identified as "community transformation" while serving in various community roles such as Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the County School Board. Helping launch Look Up Gaston in Gaston County, NC for five years, he was Director for this innovative initiative that included bringing together twelve mayors who had never collaborated since the county had been established in 1846. In 1989, Mr. Smyre founded the Center for Communities of the Future with twelve other colleagues from NC and SC. Now celebrating 34 years of continued success, the work of the COTF Center has spread throughout the U.S. and internationally. In his role as President, Mr. Smyre has been instrumental in building "capacities for transformation" to help prepare individuals, organizations and communities for the challenges of a constantly transforming future.
Mr. Smyre has become an internationally recognized futurist best known for community transformation, a concept he helped originate. He has co-authored "Preparing for a World that Doesn't Exist – Yet: Forming a Second Enlightenment to Create Communities of the Future" with Neil Richardson via Change Maker Books in 2016. For 23 years, Mr. Smyre was a prominent member of the World Future Society. This is a network of influential "futurists" worldwide. He has contributed numerous articles and keynoted state and national conferences over a 30-year period.
Mr. Smyre has been active in his community in other ways, including as a Vice-President of the local United Way. Mr. Smyre believes that his most notable achievement has been his ability to introduce challenging new ideas about a different kind of future. He thoroughly enjoys presenting transformational concepts to help others to think differently.
Mr. Smyre graduated with a BA degree in history from Davidson College in 1964. Over the next four years he worked on three additional degrees, two BS degrees in Textile Technolopgy and Textile Chemistry, and a MS in Economics from NC State University in 1968. Shortly after graduating from college, Mr. Smyre was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, serving his country from 1968 to 1971, to include a tour as Adjutant General for II Corps Hdqs in Pleiku, Vietnam. He remains a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honorary Scholastic Society (Phi Beta Kappa equivalent) and an Honorary Textile Society.
Mr. Smyre has given over 400 presentations, keynotes and speeches over 30 years as a professional futurist. He is currently collaborating with colleagues in many states and Canadian provinces to develop an "ecosystem" of leaders at local levels able to "rethink" the future by building "capacities for transformation." The unique approach being used by COTF to spread new ideas and build transformational capacities is based on seeding and connecting nodes and ecosystems to help those not conversant with the ideas and methods of "futures" thinking and action learn to co-create and evolve "meta-ecosystems able to adapt to constant transformative change."
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Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Marquis celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2023, and Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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