Board Member Tag Team – Wings Spring 2025
Ken Smith
Past and present Heritage board members Ken Smith and his son, Steve Smith believe in, work for, and promote Heritage University, now in service totaling 12 years — and counting.
When Ken Smith talks about why he’s an active supporter of Heritage University, he often quotes his wife Sharon.
“Sharon says if you want to fully understand the Heritage University mission, go to commencement,” Ken said. “You see how excited and proud everyone is. And it’s not just the students, it’s their parents and families, because they’re often the first in their family to get that college degree.”
Ken, Sharon, and their grown children all enthusiastically support Heritage. Ken decided to join the Heritage board in 2010 after talking with friends who were board members. He served on the board for three, three-year terms, retiring in 2019; a few years later, Steve was nominated and confirmed, following in his dad’s footsteps.
“I thought being on the Heritage board would be a very good way to support the families and communities of the Yakima Valley,” Ken said. “As someone who spent their career in agriculture, I thought I could, among other things, identify some companies and individuals in the industry who might be potential supporters.”
“AG” INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE TRANSLATE INTO SERVICE
Steve Smith
Growing up on a dairy farm in Vancouver, British Columbia, it was a natural for Ken to major in plant science at the University of British Columbia. Following graduation, he went to work for the Wilbur Ellis Company, “a large privately owned company with divisions in Agribusiness, Specialty & Ingredients, and Feed. In 1961, Ken was relocated to the U.S. He worked for Wilbur Ellis his entire 43-year career, the last 12 of those as CEO of its agribusiness division.
Ken’s long tenure in business proved beneficial to the Heritage board. He served on the advancement, external affairs, governance, and business advisory committees, where he deemed his business experience would be most helpful.
Ken’s message to prospective donors always centered on Heritage’s unique mission and the value of its graduates to businesses in the Yakima Valley.
“Heritage’s location in the Valley allows students to live at home, which is very important for their life outside school because most of them work in addition to attending classes,” Ken said.
Growing existing donor support is key to growing Heritage’s important work on behalf of its students, Ken says.
“Most need financial help, and the number of scholarships available has been robust. We work to help keep it that way.”
Ken believes the quality of a Heritage University education is evidenced by the frequent acceptance of its grads into master’s, legal, or medical degree programs at nationally recognized universities.
“I think the most important work for Heritage now is to maintain its financial stability so it can continue to provide that quality education for its students,” Ken said.
“To keep up the good work.”
FAMILY COMMITMENT TO SERVICE
Ken’s son Steve Smith has spent his entire career in agriculture, too — working in the fresh apple, pear, and cherry industry of the fertile Yakima Valley. Steve is the Vice President of Marketing at Washington Fruit Growers.
Steve believes one of the University’s greatest strengths is in being uniquely able and willing to provide the personalized guidance and support many of its students require.
“There’s nothing like the way a Heritage education guides and supports motivated students toward graduation and employment,” Steve said.
“What makes Heritage unique is its care for each student who wants to enroll. Shepherding them through the financial aid process, providing scholarship opportunities, academic counseling, career counseling, and help with childcare — all the things Heritage does — are critical to students’ ability to succeed in college.”
Steve says giving students the skills to move into management positions, HR roles, communications jobs, and more via the degrees they earn at Heritage is an important key to their continuing post- university success.
“If they’ve got communication skills or a background in economics or business, we can teach them anything they need to know about the crop,” Steve said. “And it’s these students we most want to hire. They’re from the Valley, and many want to stay in the Valley.”
Many Heritage students come from families with a background in agriculture; the focus on providing educational options that can work in the agriculture industry right in the Valley makes sense.
“Having students whose roots are in the Valley stay right here as they pursue their education makes them much more likely to stay and seek careers here,” Steve said. “And that also provides tremendous support for local business.”
With fellow board member Ellen Wallach, Steve Smith led a tour of the Washington Fruit Warehouse during the Yakima Valley Tour in August 2024.
Steve serves on the finance, governance, and tribal relations committees and has been most involved with the finance committee.
He hopes to see continued expansion of majors and programs that are needed for jobs in the area.
“It’s important that Heritage continues to grow, expanding both bachelor’s and master’s degree programs,” Steve said. “That’s not always easy, as large financial commitments are necessary years before students start filling chairs in the classroom.
“But expanding degree programs should, correspondingly, expand the student base, which will be a long-term positive for Heritage.”
BEING INSPIRED, INSPIRING OTHERS
Like the commencements Ken and Sharon have attended, Steve and his wife Kirsten have been present at Heritage’s biggest fundraising event, the Bounty of the Valley Scholarship Dinner, which takes place every June.
Part of the evening’s program each year includes a student who talks about the experience of making their way to Heritage and finding success through their own diligence and the University’s meaningful support.
“What they say is so inspiring,” Steve said. “As a board member, you feel good about it. You feel uplifted about the work we get to do.”
Though Ken Smith’s time on the Heritage board is past, he continues to promote the University. He enjoys wearing a small lapel pin featuring Enzo, Heritage’s eagle mascot.
“I think that’s got to be the biggest Heritage PR thing that I do now,” Ken said. “I have more people ask me about it and, when they do, I get to give them the lowdown on Heritage.”
Ken and Sharon Smith (right), with their daughter Christan Connors and Lily Ferguson, who was one of the second-grade authors of Houdini Was, at the launch of the book’s republishing at the Early Learning Center
Throughout his career, Ken lent his expertise to agriculture-oriented non-profits, the majority with a focus on helping young people. As chair of the Yakima Rotary’s World Community Service Committee, he spearheaded the successful International Rotary Grant application and assisted in construction of a wheelchair-accessible tree house at a school for children with disabilities in Honduras.
Ken also had the children’s book Houdini Was – which was selected as a national winner in the Scholastic annual children’s book competition reprinted in English and Spanish. The book chronicles the simple life lessons a pet hamster taught the second graders whose classroom she occupied.
“Our daughter Christan Connors and her students wrote the book in 2010, which won the Scholastic Inc. competition,” Ken said. “Christan, Sharon, and I were glad to have the message shared with more children in the Valley through the Early Learning Center at Heritage.
“To do that, it needed to be printed in Spanish as well as English. Now it’s being shared with young students all over the Valley through Heritage and the Yakima Valley Libraries programs.
“I think it’s very important to young people to get a good start,” Ken said. “Our whole family believes that.”