Cornelius Alvin Smith was born at North Long Island, Bahamas, on April 7, 1937. He received his secondary education at the Bahamas Teachers Training College at Nassau, Bahamas, and holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Miami. Smith served as a public school principal from 1956 to 1964 and as a senior revenue officer in the Customs Department from 1964 to 1967. From 1967 to 1982, he was employed as a human resource specialist with Syntex Corp., an international chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing company that was taken over in 1994 by multinational Hoffman-LaRoche. As president and chief executive officer of Smith & Associates from 1982 to 1992, he provided professional consultancy services to international corporations in the specialized areas of manpower development, employee training, compensation, benefits and labor relations. Smith was inactive in the firm from 1992, but resumed active involvement in May 2002.