Butler native Bob Smith credits his mother and the military for setting him on a path to a successful career that began in government contracting and led to consulting government contractors in mergers and acquisitions.

The youngest of six brothers, Smith graduated from Butler High School in 1974 and studied at Butler County Community College before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force in 1980.

He didn’t graduate from BC3, but the credits he garnered allowed him to enter the Air Force with the rank of E-3, or airman first class, instead of E-1, airman basic, which most enlistees receive.

“I got two stripes because of that,” said Smith, who lives in Germantown, Md.

He also applied his BC3 credits toward the bachelor’s degree in business management he received from the University of Maryland.

Putting faith in the military turned out to be fortuitous.

“I’m more fortunate than most. I let the Air Force decide where to put me and where they put me was a very marketable skill. I was trained as a contract officer,” Smith said. “You can’t fight wars in the private sector.”

His duties included contacting vendors and negotiating contracts for goods or services the Air Force needed. Because his position required him to call vendors, the qualifications included having use of all 10 fingers to dial a rotary telephone, he said.

Smith managed Air Force service and supply contracts at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi and later construction and architect engineering contracts at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland for seven years until 1987 when he left the service as a staff sergeant.

He then joined Northrop Worldwide Aircraft Services Inc. as superintendent of procurement for a contractor-operated facility at Vance Air Force base in Enid, Okla.

After two years with Northrop, Smith became a contract manager for AT&T Federal Systems in Washington, D.C. He managed national programs with the Defense Information Systems Agency, from 1989 to 1994. He said his experience at Northrop and AT&T taught him about the operations of larger companies, and that knowledge aided in the evolution of his career.

For the next 25 years, he worked as a chief administrative officer helping five government contractors improve financial performance so they could be sold to other contracting companies or private equity firms.

He joined I-NET Inc. in 1994 and assisted in its to Wang Laboratories. Smith then worked for SIGNAL Corp. in 1996 and assisted with its sale to Veridian, which is now called GDIT. His next move was to RSIS Information Systems in 2004 where he assisted in its sale to Wyle Labs, which is now called KBR. In 2010, he joined Catapult Technology and assisted with its sale to DC Capital, which closed in 2012. He joined Trowbridge in 2014 and assisted in its sale to Enlightenment Capital.

Smith said he learned many lessons from the executives he worked with.

“I learned a lot that way. I was fortunate enough to be exposed to people in the industry who were very capable and were good mentors,” he said.

Now, he works about 20 hours a week as a consultant helping companies with government contracts, such as General Dynamics and IBM, do business with various federal government agencies including the Department of Defense, Department of Treasury, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Smith said he reports to company owners who charge him with running the administration and support services, making sure the businesses have the certifications they need to do business with the government and fulfill contracts, helping the businesses grow and cut costs and connect them with buyers.

“I can help government contractors do business with the government and be sold to other companies,” Smith said. “Typically, they ask me to look over all back office functions and financials, and make recommendations on how to improve, demonstrate those improvements for a time and then take them to market. I’ve built networks. I connect companies with companies.”

Having tuned 62 last week, Smith considers himself semiretired.

“I like to say I’m semiretired because I’m a consultant. I have more clients that I can help. It’s a nice mix of being semiretired and keeping me busy. I can use what I learned in 40 years to help mature their companies and help them avoid mistakes,” Smith said.

He said he gets a lot of “psychic income” from his consulting work and enjoys giving back to an industry in which he flourished. Psychic income is “good for the soul and mind,” he said.

Smith said he frequently returns to Butler and is coming in early May to celebrate Mother’s Day with his 93-year-old mother, Pat Forcht, who became head of the household after his father died in 1976.

“I was 16. We were all pretty young in 1976,” Smith said. “My mother is my mentor. She raised all six of us after his death. She still resides in the same house we all grew up in. We all regard her as the person responsible for our success. She mentored us and kept us on the right path, and still does.”

Smith’s wife, Merle, isn’t from Butler, but he said he met her there. They’ve been married since 1986 and have three adult children. One daughter, Melissa Allen, lives in Butler.

He is proud of his hometown.

“We always meet people and it’s amazing how many people know about Butler. It’s a common thread,” Smith said. “Being from Butler helped me in my career — the exposures I had in Butler and just growing up there.”