Vance Lecturer Steve Smith ’84 with Presbyterian College president Dr. Anita Gustafson.

Presbyterian College alumnus, trustee Steve Smith ’84 made the strong case for being an honest businessman at the 2024-25 Robert M. Vance Lecture on Business Ethics on Sept. 10.

Smith, the president and chief executive officer of Swagelok North Carolina/East Tennessee, said ethical behavior is not an innate characteristic. Rather, he argued, it is an individual choice and something everyone should learn.

Smith said he came to PC for three reasons – to continue playing basketball, get an education, and have fun. And while he achieved that trio of goals, he also discovered along the way the importance of honor and integrity.

Steve Smith ’84
President and CEO
Swagelok North Carolina/East Tennessee

“I’m not sure I’ve always been focused on ethics or understood how important it is,” he said. “Now I am. I’m a person who, through experiences at PC and in life, has grown into a person who understands how it impacts you as a person and the in the brain you build, your career in business, and how you conduct that business the right way or the wrong way.”

Smith said everyone has a daily opportunity to become a better, more honest, person.

“I don’t think any of us would disagree that ethics is one thing we need more of,” he said. “We need more people doing the right thing. So, what I want to tell you is this. When you get up tomorrow, you look yourself in the mirror and say, I’m proud of that person, I’m doing the right thing, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Smith said ethics is something each person can control by the choices he or she makes.

“It’s not something you can blame on anyone else,” he said. “It’s not something you want to wish to be because someone will force you. When you look in the mirror, it’s your choice.

Swagelok, the leading manufacturer of fluid system components, such as valves, tubes, and hoses, was founded in 1947 by a man named Fred A. Lennon, who built the company on a foundation of ethical treatment towards customers and employees, Smith explained. In a heavily unionized environment in Cleveland, Ohio, Swagelok ran a non-unionized business because he took care of his employees. Even in plants in China, Lennon made sure Swagelok adhered to high safety standards because it was the right thing to do, he added.

“It was in his control,” Smith said. “He wanted to do it right. Mr. Lennon wanted to protect our business and as a result that’s what happened.”

By committing himself to behave ethically, Smith said he was able to rise in the company and become a president and CEO of his own business. In other words, he said, people with integrity are just as able to be successful as those who are not.

Smith said he credits PC for bringing that point home when he was a student by making the Honor Code so prominent.

“When I got to PC, I decided I am going to do things the right way,” he said. “That’s going to be my future. It was in my control.”

Integrity and ethics is also in the control of today’s students at PC, Smith said.

“I want you all to look in the mirror and ask, ‘What do I see?’” he said. “The beautiful thing is that yesterday was yesterday and tomorrow is a new day and you can be whoever you want to be. The world needs people with strong ethics. This is what it means to be true blue. We don’t have to change the world, we just need to change one person at a time.”