Son replaces father as Smith-Midland Corp. chairman

Rodney I. Smith, who worked at his family’s precast concrete company in Fauquier County for 62 years, has stepped down as Smith-Midland Corp.’s board chairman, making way for his son, Ashley B. Smith, who is also president and CEO.

The company, which manufactures, licenses, rents and sells precast concrete products, was founded in 1960 by Rodney Smith’s father, David G. Smith, as the Smith-Cattleguard Co., for its concrete cattleguard, which was the first one produced. By 1995, Smith-Midland was a publicly traded company with manufacturing facilities in North and South Carolina, as well as the Concrete Safety Systems subsidiary. Today, the company also owns Easi-Set Worldwide, which licenses Smith-Midland products.

“I am confident in the exceptional leadership of Ashley,” Rodney Smith said in a statement released last week. “In his 37 years with Smith-Midland, he has created an impressive culture of safety, continuous profitable improvement and historic growth. Ashley has continued the family legacy of innovation and I have no doubt he is well prepared for the chairman of the board of directors position and will continue to work hard to drive long-term shareholder return for Smith-Midland.”

In its third-quarter report in November 2021, the company reported $40.6 million in revenue last year, an increase from $32.8 million at the same period in 2020. Smith-Midland won a contract to provide rental highway barriers for the Interstate 64 Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion project last year.

“I believe that the company’s best days are ahead as we continue to gain scale and take share in our end markets,” Ashley Smith said in a statement. “We will carry on the legacy of hard work and dedication to develop differentiated, patented and proprietary products.”