Fred Smith joined Northwestern as its Associate Athletic Director for Major Gifts in March of 2013 before becoming the Associate A.D. for Development in February of 2016.

Smith assists in leading the Athletics and Recreation fundraising team while carrying a full portfolio of major gift prospects and donors. He leads collaboration efforts with the University's Central Major Gifts Team and Directors of Development within the schools and units. Smith serves as the fundraising liaison for the Vice President's Fund and is a member of the athletic department's Senior Staff. He is also a sport administrator for women’s lacrosse.

Smith arrived in Evanston after more than nine years in multiple capacities at Santa Clara University. At Santa Clara, Smith served as the Associate Athletic Director for Development and was responsible for all major gift and corporate partnership activities, premium seating and suites, as well as management and oversight of sport specific fundraising efforts for seven varsity and 18 club sports. In addition, Smith was the administrator for men's and women's golf. In the community, Smith served on the Board of Directors for the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.

At Santa Clara, Smith served the greater part of the 2006-07 academic year as an Assistant Athletic Director overseeing 13 intercollegiate sports and sports medicine department. He headed the department's special projects, designed to make the entire athletics program more competitive while maintaining a role in fundraising efforts.

When he first arrived at Santa Clara, Smith was responsible for annual gift fundraising and coordination of fundraising events. He managed the Bronco Bench Foundation, which is the student-athlete scholarship fundraising group for Santa Clara Athletics, conducted the BBF's annual $1.5 million fund drive, and was a primary liaison to the BBF Board of Trustees.

Prior to joining the Broncos staff, Smith worked in advancement at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo as Assistant Athletic Director. Smith began his career at UNLV in athletic academic advising, transitioning into an administrative and fundraising role working with UNLV's Olympic Sports and the UNLV Women's Sports Foundation, respectively.

A native of San Diego, Calif., Smith graduated from the University of Michigan in 1998 with a degree in economics. Smith and his wife Shauna, a former volleyball student-athlete at Arkansas State, have two sons, John and Jalen.