E follin smith biography

E. Follin Smith’s (MBA ’85) path to the C-suite wound from her hometown in rural Alabama, through Davidson College and the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, to CFO positions at Armstrong Holdings and Constellation Energy Group.

“Darden changed my life,” said Smith, who received the Charles C.

Abbott Award at the State of the School event on Saturday, 28 April, during Reunion 2012. The Abbott Award is the highest honor the Darden Alumni Association bestows on members of its alumni.

After graduating with an MBA from Darden in 1985, Smith joined a team of 13 men — graduates of the nation’s top business schools — at General Motor’s treasurer’s office in New York City, in an atmosphere The Wall Street Journal described as a “shark tank.”

“One day, as we were working on option valuation, a colleague who graduated from Wharton said, ‘We can’t value that!’ and I s