Biography
Senator Malcolm A. Smith was unanimously elected State Senate Minority Leader by his fellow Senators in November of 2006. Senator Smith brings unique skills and a diverse background in both the private and public sector to the State Senate, where he has served the 14th Senate District since 2000. As a real estate developer, economic development expert and legislative aide, Senator Smith has been a major contributor to bringing jobs and opportunity to his Southeastern Queens community. Throughout his career in public service, Senator Smith has used his skills as a manager and real estate developer to help revitalize the Queens community. Prior to being elected to the State Senate, Senator Smith served as a senior aide to former Congressman Floyd H. Flake, chief aide to former City Councilman Archie Spigner, a City Hall assistant to former Mayor Edward I. Koch and was a member of the national advance staff for Vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. Senator Smith is a former executive in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Economic Development and has served as President of the Neighborhood Housing Services of Jamaica. Senator Smith created the not-for-profit Southeast Queens Housing Development Corporation to purchase, rehabilitate and sell City and HUD owned properties. Senator Smith is also well known in his community as the founder of Operation Excellence, a training program for students in real estate development, which is regularly featured on local television. In 1985, as President of the Neighborhood Housing Services of Jamaica, Senator Smith created two citywide loan programs: a home improvement optional loan program and a mixed-use rehabilitation loan program designed to restore commercial and residential properties on commercial strips. Senator Smith was successful in convincing five banks and the City of New York's Housing Preservation and Development Agency to capitalize the program with $2.2 million in loans. Senator Smith also developed the "Challenge to Minority Banks Program," which highlighted the need for increased business at minority-owned banks in the city. Deposits in minority-owned banks rose to an average of $22 million annually between 1983 and 1985, due in part to this successful program. As a private sector developer and President and Founder of Smith Development Corporation, Senator Smith has built over 100 much needed housing units in Southeastern Queens, Far Rockaway and Brooklyn, including several noteworthy commercial projects such as Pathmark Plaza-Springfield Gardens, the interior of the FAA building and the baseball fields at Roy Wilkins Park in Jamaica. In the State Senate, Senator Smith has fought to expand social and economic opportunities for his constituents. Senator Smith has brought tens of millions of dollars back into his district to help build affordable housing, improve Queens schools, provide health care for the needy, keep higher education affordable and create good paying jobs. As a believer in his "thinking forward" philosophy and the principle that "relationships yield results," Senator Smith has worked to bring together diverse groups with a common goal in mind. In 2004, as part of the New York to Shanghai Trade Mission, Senator Smith led a delegation of local businesses to China, to open up a robust reciprocal exchange between our two wondrous cultural and economic commonwealths. Several of the businesses that traveled with Senator Smith overseas are currently conducting business in China in the areas of cosmetics and perfume, beer distribution, jewelry and professional services. The trip was so successful that Senator Smith has expanded his business-to-business relationships to include an economic, cultural and educational "Sister to Sister" relationship between New York State and India. In addition to his interests in community revitalization and affordable housing, Senator Smith has worked on several other issues affecting his constituents, including the environment, economic development, transportation and technology. In his first year in the State Senate, Senator Smith secured $10 million from the MTA for much needed improvements to LIRR Stations in his Queens District. In the same year, Senator Smith collaborated with Assemblywoman Barbara Clarke to secure $1 million for the Jamaica Clinic, a first-of-its-kind health clinic in Hollis, New York. In 2002, Senator Smith collaborated with City and State officials to negotiate an agreement yielding $10 million to clean up the Westside Corporation Toxic Site in Jamaica, Queens. These much needed funds were secured despite the Superfund being bankrupt. Working with Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer and the Governor, Senator Smith also helped secure $1 million for support programs in the Rockaways in the wake of the Flight 587 plane crash tragedy in November 2001. Senator Smith's representative governance and leadership style is essentially about individual will manifesting itself into a substantive vision for the collective common good of all. He believes that every challenge we encounter in life is simply an opportunity for solution. Toward this end, he has created progressive and visionary programs in his district, including Operation Everybody Works (OEW), a pilot program that found a meaningful job for one individual a day for a period of 90 consecutive days. He has shepherded a purposeful litany of task forces, including Operation Safe Southeast Queens (OSSEQ), a program that formed a nexus between the NYPD, civic organizations, church leaders and local businesses to effectively address the hot spots of crime in local communities. In terms of policy, Senator Smith has distinguished himself as an effective legislator and advocate in the areas of Economic Development, Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprise Issues, Health, Housing, Education and Judicial Diversity. In a pre-reform environment, he found ways to draw attention to these most important issues -- through public forums with expert testimony and lobby days with passionate advocates -- when the traditional institutional means were blocked. Ever a believer in the true economic principle that competition is what drives innovation, results, and excellence, Senator Smith is a proud supporter of public charter schools. He is the founder of Peninsula Preparatory Academy, the first public charter school in the Rockaways, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Merrick Academy-Queens Public Charter School in Jamaica Queens. Most recently, Senator Smith has been chairing a series of statewide public forums concerning the important topic of judicial diversity. The stated goal of these forums is to create a "Lasting Blueprint For Judicial Diversity" in New York State, so that the judges on our benches, both elective and appointive, are eminently and robustly reflective of the rich diversity that is a source of absolute strength for our State. Senator Smith is a graduate of Fordham University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Economics. Senator Smith furthered his education with a certificate program on negotiations from Harvard Law School and obtained an MBA with a concentration in Finance and Operations Management from Adelphi University. Senator Smith is married to the former Michele Lisby. They are the parents of two children, Julian and Amanda. Senator Smith is a member of the Greater Allen Cathedral in Queens, New York, where Floyd H. Flake and Elaine M. Flake serve as Pastor and Co-Pastor, respectively. As Senate Minority Leader, Senator Smith is an ex officio member of all Senate standing committees and the ranking Minority member of the Rules Committee. Updated 1/15/08