Ron G. Smith forges relationships with architectural clients
By Holly Fisher, Special Projects Editor

As managing principal of McMillan Smith & Partners Architects, Ron G. Smith has focused his firm on four key areas of architectural work: hospitals, higher education, K-12 education and commercial offices.

Within those four focus areas, McMillan Smith has developed even more specialized niches, building a number of libraries, churches and sporting facilities. Staff members at the firm are dedicated to these various specialties, giving them an opportunity to hone in on growing markets.

Smith’s sporting background has helped the architectural company in its work building stadiums and other sporting facilities, including the football stadiums at Benedict College, Coastal Carolina University, the University of Richmond and Wofford College’s football and baseball stadium.

Smith was a linebacker for the Clemson University football team while earning his undergraduate degree in design.

“I’m able to speak the language,” he said of his work with collegiate clients. “I know what attracts students and parents.”

Smith also had a brief NFL career with the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers before going to work for Spartan Food Systems, which owned various Hardee’s and Quincy’s Steakhouse franchise chains in the Southeast. The company, owned by Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson and Charles Bradshaw, had an architectural department that Smith managed in the late 1980s.

In 1988, he decided to open his own architectural firm. In 1992, he purchased another, more established firm, merging the two companies. Today, the firm has more than 90 employees and does work primarily in the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia.

Smith said he is focused on creating a strong regional firm in the Carolinas. In the firm’s four areas of architectural focus, Smith sees plenty of growth potential and isn’t planning to expand the company beyond what it has established as areas of expertise.

“We’re a client-intimate firm,” he said. “We do best when we’re close to our clients and become involved in their business. In order to do that we need to be close to clients.”

McMillan Smith & Partners has offices in Spartanburg, Greenville and Charleston in an effort to build those client relationships.

“The better we can understand their business and what their goals are, the better we can design a building that meets their needs,” Smith said.