Smith A. Brownlie III
Founding Partner
Mr. Brownlie is a Certified Public Accountant and holds the AICPA’s Personal Financial Specialist designation. He has spent over twenty five years working with closely held companies and high net worth individuals. In addition to being a co-founder of Brownlie & Braden, LLC, Mr. Brownlie is President of Cotton Creek Investments, LLC, Managing Partner of Cotton Creek Investment Company, Ltd., a Managing Director and a principal of Cotton Creek Capital Management, LLC and was a Founding Partner of Cotton Creek Capital Management II, LLC. His previous experience includes work with the accounting firm of Peat Marwick (now KPMG) addressing the needs of privately-held companies in the firm’s Private Business Advisory Services section. He has provided his clients with planning and consulting services in which he has addressed various tax and financial issues including estate planning, business continuity planning, income tax planning, investment and insurance due diligence, and compensation design.
Mr. Brownlie has been active in private equity investing over the last twenty years. Mr. Brownlie is currently chairman of the board of directors of Waste Partners Environmental, Inc., and serves on the board of managers of Terrace Energy, LLC. Mr. Brownlie also serves on the Fort Worth Region Advisory Board of First Financial Bank. Mr. Brownlie previously served on the board of directors of Chain Electric Company, C7 Holdings Corp. and RB Acquisition Corp.
Mr. Brownlie is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and a member of the Personal Financial Planning and Tax Sections of the AICPA. He is also a member of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA). He is past chairman of the board of directors and current member of the Fort Worth Business & Estate Council, UT Southwestern Medical Center Estate Planning Council, and the North Texas Chapter of the National Committee on Planned Giving. He has also served on the Estate Planning and Planned Giving Advisory Boards for Baylor University. He was an Anderson Clayton Fund Scholarship recipient and received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Baylor University.