Nick Smith

In addition to his duties at DCVCA, Mr. Smith is chairman of the board and founder of Northeast Ventures Corporation, a community development venture capital fund in the restructured iron-mining region of northeastern Minnesota.
He is a board member and one the founding directors of the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance (CDVCA), a national organization formed in 1993 to provide a network and advocate for community development venture capital in America.
Mr. Smith served as chairman of the board from CDVCA's inception through February 2004.
He is also founding chair and a director of Great Lakes Aquarium, an international education center focusing on the world's largest lakes.
He also serves on the Boards of Directors for North Shore Bank of Commerce, Northwest Area Foundation, and ALLETE, is a Trustee of National Community Investment Fund, and is counsel to the law firm of Fryberger, Buchanan, Smith & Frederick, P.A., where he served as chairman until 1999.
He received the 2001 Guardian Angel Award for efforts to promote and revitalize rural Minnesota, and the Labovitz Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to economic development in northern Minnesota.
He has also earned recognition as Business Person of the Year, awarded by the School of Business and Economics at the University of Minnesota - Duluth, and was recipient of the Minnesota Financial Services Advocate Award, presented by the United States Small Business Administration, and Volunteer of the Year for the 6th Judicial District Volunteer Attorney Program.
Mr. Smith attended Amherst College and the University of Minnesota Law School, receiving BSL and JD degrees, cum laude, in 1960.