Director, brings his extensive real estate, commercial and management experience from his twenty-two years as an attorney, and more recently, as a non-profit director. Prior to joining Hunden Strategic Partners, Rob was a partner in the law firm of Daniel, Vaughan, Medley & Smitherman, P.C., practicing in Virginia. His practice included commercial real estate transactions, including all aspects of development and completion of projects and purchases. Rob also has extensive experience in commercial litigation, including real estate tax and condemnation actions. The transactional and litigation areas of his practice created extensive expertise in developing relationships with federal, state and local governments and with real estate professionals, contractors, architects and engineers.
In Chicago, Rob has applied his management and organizational skills to several nonprofit settings, including as sports director for Chicago Games, Inc., successfully managing seven sports in one of the largest sporting events in the history of the city. He also served as interim Executive Director for Imagination Theater, a not-for-profit educational theater company.
In his three years with Hunden Strategic Partners, Rob has consulted on dozens of projects, including many conference/convention facilities in Durham, Indianapolis, Springfield (Missouri), Pueblo (Colorado), Charlotte, Amarillo and many others. In addition, he has conducted studies for arenas, hotels, entertainment facilities and mixed-use projects. One of his largest recent assignments has been the review of public incentives for the $750 million Woodbine Live! project proposed in Toronto, Ontario. He has also provided consultation for the Hamilton County Sportsplex, St. Joseph Civic Center and convention hotel strategy study, the Regional Development Authority of Northwest Indiana, the Thornton, Colorado conference center and hotel feasibility study, the Birmingham downtown transit and real estate analysis, and the Nashville Music City Motorplex and Tennessee State Fairgrounds re-use analysis. His legal and transactional background has served HSP well as he advises our clients regarding a variety of strategic transaction issues.
Mr. Smitherman graduated Magna Cum Laude from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, earning a B.A in History with an emphasis in German. He was also a varsity basketball four-year starter, earning MVP and all-conference first team in 1980-1981. In 1984, he graduated with a Juris Doctor from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of William & Mary, located in Williamsburg, Virginia. He was an active member of the Virginia State Bar from 1984 – 2007 and now is an associate member. He was president of the Danville Virginia Bar Association from 1993-1994 and an active member from 1984-2006. He has also taught Real Estate Law as an adjunct professor.
His civic and volunteer activities have helped him develop board governance and staff management skills that are applicable to many of our clients’ needs. These include the Virginia State Bar, president of the Danville Bar, chairman of the Southside AIDS Venture, YMCA board of directors and president, board member of DOVES (domestic violence advocacy group), Danville Regional Medical Center board and chairman of Biomedical Ethics, Imagination Theater treasurer, interim managing director, and board member, Chicago Games, Inc. sports director and volunteer. He has also spent considerable time abroad, especially in Germany.