Demonstrated Leadership
Michael Phillips, Product Design Management, Meta
“Smith is an exceptional product and business leader. His extensive hands-on experience managing and launching products gives him the first-hand knowledge, expertise, and credibility necessary to successfully lead cross-discipline product teams. Much of Smith's success comes from the fact that he is able to combine all the required product management hard skills and tools with a set of strong soft skills. In simple terms, he truly understands how important it is to have well-established, meaningful relationships with his team and is willing to invest the time and energy necessary to build them. Working with Smith has been one of my top professional highlights and I hope we have the opportunity to do it again some day.”
Noah Kerner, CEO, Acorns
“Smith is a highly unique hybrid and wildly talented executive. He's a natural leader, synthesizer, strategic thinker, and executor. As an empathic and composed leader, he listens, empowers and always holds his team accountable and responsible. As a synthesizer, he takes in large volumes of information and synthesizes that information into sound business strategy and execution plans. As a strategic thinker, he remains the holder of the vision. And as an executor, he transitions fluidly between high-level thinking and in-the-weeds tactics. I've rarely seen someone transition so fluidly, naturally, and frequently between different and often conflicting states. In short, he's one of a kind. And in the end, he always develops a great product. I couldn't recommend someone more highly.”
P.J. Onori, Design Manager, Pinterest
“Smith is simply the best manager I have ever worked for on both personal and professional levels. He is able to form amazing teams of employees that mirror his professional and personal abilities; knowing the perfect ingredients for strong chemistry. His emphasis on a collaborative system creates an environment where the team's abilities are greater than the sum of its parts - creating amazing end products in less time and with fewer people than would be expected. Additionally, he always brings strong concepts and creative ideas to projects - putting the quality of the product at the highest priority. I have tremendous amounts of respect for Smith in how he handles individuals, his projects and his team. I couldn't work for a better individual.”
Behzad Behrouzi, VP Product, Varo Bank
“Smith has all the qualities of a great product leader. He inspires others to action, an excellent communicator, has integrity, and always transparent. His EQ is unmatched maintaining a deep level of empathy for both the customers he serves and the teams he leads. I’m very grateful for the relationship we formed, his guidance, and leadership. Any Product person/team would be lucky to work with him.”
Kasia Mikoluk, On Deck Climate Fellow
“Smith skillfully identified the main thing that was holding me back and shared it in a way that was both very direct and also incredibly supportive, kind, and encouraging, which allowed me to really hear the feedback that I might have missed or ignored otherwise. He opened me up to see the ways in which I was acting and the consequences of these actions in a way that no other mentor ever had. In the following months, Smith patiently worked with me to help me unlearn the habits that were not useful and learn new ways of seeing and approaching my work. I’ll be forever grateful for the thoughtful, specific, and accurate coaching he provided. Smith has a high level of empathy and he created a safe space for me to grow and evolve. He set me up on a completely new trajectory. I now find myself both being more effective in my work and, perhaps most importantly, enjoying my work more than I ever did before.”
Gaby Berger, VP Product, Learn & Earn
Smith is one of the strongest leaders I’ve had the pleasure of working with. When I was young in my product career, Smith not only helped encourage me to grow, but he set a dynamic across the team that instilled confidence and made us the best we could be. I admire Smith’s ability to look at the state of the organization and understand the appropriate processes and needs for the business. He’s not only exceptionally talented in his ability to execute against a product vision and strategy, but his personality and leadership create a warm, welcome, & trusting environment, and he challenges the team to push themselves further. He is a fantastic leader and an amazing mentor. I’m lucky to have crossed paths with Smith early in my product career, as I now have an experienced mentor to help guide me through future challenges.
Dennis Park, Founder, Craft Greenery Agency
“Smith has the ability to motivate others unlike any executive I have worked with or known. His leadership, vision, affable nature and respect for his staff make him someone that people just naturally gravitate towards and put forth their best efforts for. I have had the pleasure of working for Smith for the last 2.5 years and during this time I have had the opportunity to observe the traits of a strong, knowledgeable leader who inspires and cares about his staff. Smith's ability to understand the motivation of others, vast business knowledge and intuitive nature make him a leader to watch. I hope to have another opportunity in the future to work with Smith in any capacity and strongly recommend him.”