Fred Smith

Who He Is

Frederick Wallace Smith (born 1944) is an American businessman who founded Federal Express (FedEx) in 1971 and pioneered the overnight delivery industry. Born in Marks, Mississippi, Smith's father was a successful entrepreneur who founded a bus company and a restaurant chain, but died when Fred was just four years old. Smith attended Yale University, where legend has it he wrote a paper proposing a reliable overnight delivery service, reportedly receiving a mediocre grade because the professor thought the idea was impractical. After serving as a Marine Corps officer in Vietnam, where he closely observed military logistics operations, Smith returned home determined to build his delivery company. He invested his inheritance and raised venture capital to launch Federal Express in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1973 with 14 small aircraft delivering 186 packages to 25 cities on the first night of operations.

Why He Matters

Fred Smith revolutionized the industry by demonstrating that packages could be delivered overnight to any address in the United States. His main innovation was the hub-and-spoke model: instead of shipping packages directly between cities, each package was sent to a central hub in Memphis every night, sorted, and then dispatched to its destination. Today, FedEx employs over 500,000 people worldwide and generates more than $87 billion in annual revenue. His story shows that a bold idea for moving things more efficiently, paired with relentless execution, can transform an entire industry.