Connecting People and Possibilities: The History of FedEx Today, FedEx is consistently recognized as one of the most admired brands in the world and one of the best places to work. But like many innovative companies, we started out as an idea championed by a determined person. Absolutely positively In 1965, Yale University undergraduate Frederick W. Smith wrote a term paper that invented an industry and changed what’s possible. In the paper, he laid out the logistical challenges facing pioneering firms in the information technology industry. Most airfreight shippers relied on passenger route systems, but those didn’t make economic sense for urgent shipments, Smith wrote. He proposed a system specifically designed to accommodate time-sensitive shipments such as medicine, computer parts, and electronics. Smith’s professor apparently didn’t see the revolutionary implications of his thesis, and the paper received just an average grade. In August 1971, following a st...