Megan Smith

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{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Megan Smith

| image = Megan Smith official portrait.jpg

| office = 3rd Chief Technology Officer of the United States

| president = Barack Obama

| term_start = September 4, 2014

| term_end = January 20, 2017

| predecessor = Todd Park

| successor = Michael Kratsios

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|10|21}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Democratic

| spouse = {{marriage|Kara Swisher|1999|2017|end=div}}

| children = 2

| education = Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (BS, MS)

| module = {{Listen

| embed = yes

| filename = Megan Smith voice.flac

| title = Smith's voice

| type = speech

| description = recorded June 2015}}

}}

Megan J. Smith (born October 21, 1964){{cite web|url=http://www.computerhope.com/people/megan_smith.htm |title=Megan Smith |publisher=Computer Hope |access-date=October 3, 2014 }} is an American engineer and technologist. She was the third Chief Technology Officer of the United States (U.S. CTO) and Assistant to the President, serving under President Barack Obama. She was previously a vice president at Google, leading new business development and early-stage partnerships across Google's global engineering and product teams at Google for nine years, was general manager of Google.org,{{cite magazine|url=http://www.marieclaire.com/career-money/career-coach/women-working-google|title=The Women at Google|department=Cubicle Coach |date=March 12, 2008|magazine=Marie Claire|access-date=1 June 2012}} a vice president briefly at Google[x] where she co-created WomenTechmakers,{{Cite web|url=https://www.womentechmakers.com/|title=Women Techmakers|access-date=2018-08-16}} is the former CEO of Planet Out and worked as an engineer on early smartphones at General Magic.{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_2QEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22megan+smith%22+google&pg=PA48|title=Six who see the future|last=Lehoczky|first=Etelka|date=October 26, 2004|magazine=The Advocate|access-date=1 June 2012}}{{cite journal|url=http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/do_no_evil|title=Do No Evil|last=Boss|first=Suzie|date=Fall 2010|journal=Stanford Social Innovation Review|access-date=1 June 2012}} She serves on the boards of MIT{{cite magazine|url=http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2011/new-corporation-members-0603 |title=Corporation elects new members |magazine=MIT News |date=June 3, 2011 |access-date=October 3, 2014 }} and Vital Voices, was a member of the USAID Advisory Committee on Voluntary Aid{{cite web|url=http://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/organization/advisory-committee/members |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925114705/http://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/organization/advisory-committee/members |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 25, 2012 |title=Advisory Committee On Voluntary Foreign Aid Members |publisher=United States Agency for International Development |date=2013 |access-date=October 3, 2014 }} and co-founded the Malala Fund.{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-smith/introducing-the-malala-fu_b_2110875.html |title=Introducing: The Malala Fund |work=The Huffington Post |date=November 10, 2012 |first=Megan |last=Smith |access-date=October 3, 2014 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.vitalvoices.org/about-us/board-directors |title=Board of Directors |publisher=Vital Voices |access-date=October 3, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006122554/http://www.vitalvoices.org/about-us/board-directors |archive-date=October 6, 2014 }} Today Smith is the CEO and Founder of shift7. On September 4, 2014, she was named as the third (and first female) U.S. CTO, succeeding Todd Park,{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/09/04/white-house-names-googles-megan-smith-the-next-chief-technology-officer-of-the-united-states/|title=White House names Google's Megan Smith the next Chief Technology Officer of the United States|last=Scola|first=Nancy|date=September 4, 2014|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=4 September 2014}}{{cite magazine|url=http://www.techrepublic.com/article/googlex-vp-megan-smith-busts-silicon-ceiling-as-first-female-us-cto/ |title=Google[x] VP Megan Smith busts Silicon ceiling as first female US CTO |publisher=Tech Republic |date=September 4, 2014 |first=Alex |last=Howard |access-date=October 3, 2014 }} and serving until January, 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/msmith21/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241129103746/https://www.linkedin.com/in/msmith21/|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 29, 2024|title=Megan Smith|website=LinkedIn}}

Early life and education

Smith grew up in Buffalo, New York, and Fort Erie, Ontario,{{cite web|last1=Mabbett|first1=Andy|title=File:Megan Smith voice.flac|date=6 June 2015 |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Megan_Smith_voice.flac|via=WikiMedia Commons|access-date=21 June 2015}}{{Circular reference|date=August 2015}} and spent many summers at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, where her mother, Joan Aspell Smith, was director of the Chautauqua Children's School.{{cite news|url=http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/buffalo/obama-names-city-honors-graduate-us-chief-technology-officer-20140904 |title=Obama names City Honors graduate U.S. chief technology officer |newspaper=The Buffalo News |date=September 4, 2014 |first=Dale |last=Anderson |access-date=October 3, 2014 }} Smith graduated from City Honors School in 1982.{{cite web |last=Kresse |first=William A. |url=http://www.cityhonors.org/page/distinguished-alumni/ |title=Distinguished Alumni |publisher=City Honors School at Fosdick-Masten Park |access-date=October 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006064602/http://www.cityhonors.org/page/distinguished-alumni/ |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |url-status=dead }} She went on to receive her S.B. in 1986 and an S.M. in 1988, both in mechanical engineering, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and completed her master's thesis work at the MIT Media Lab. She was a member of the MIT student team that designed, built and raced a solar car 2000 miles across the Australian outback in the first cross-continental solar car race.

Career

Following MIT, Smith worked at a variety of start-ups, including Apple in Tokyo and General Magic located in Mountain View, California, as product design lead on nascent smartphone technologies{{cite news|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2001/03/01/298108/index.htm|title=25 Women Who Are Making It Big In Small Business|last=Langway|first=Lynn|author2=Pamela Kruger |author3=P. B. Gray |date=March 1, 2001|work=CNN|access-date=1 June 2012}} before she got involved with the launch of Planet Out in 1995. She joined formally in 1996 as COO and from 1998 she was Planet Out's Chief Executive Officer, where she expanded partnerships, built new business models, grew revenue and global users, raised venture funding, and later presided over that company's merger with Gay.com.{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/55393763.html |title=PlanetOut CEO taps gay market Exec becomes power player in elusive $450B industry|last=Hopkins|first=Jim|date=June 21, 2000|work=USA Today|page=7B|access-date=1 June 2012}}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/16/business/technology-2-companies-in-gay-media-plan-to-merge.html|title=2 Companies In Gay Media Plan to Merge|last=Kuczynski|first=Alex|date=16 November 2000|work=The New York Times|page=4|access-date=1 June 2012}}

In 2003, she joined Google,{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2003/09/03/3-succeed-in-computer-field-but-women-still-lag/|title=3 succeed in computer field, but women still lag|last=Hafner|first=Katie|date=September 3, 2003|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=1 June 2012}} where she rose to the vice president of new business development, leading early-stage partnerships, pilot explorations and technology licensing across Google's global engineering and product teams. She led many early acquisitions, including Keyhole (Google Earth), Where2Tech (Google Maps), and Picasa, and later also took over as general manager of Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org.{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/2009/02/24/larry-brilliant-google-technology_brilliant.html|title=Re-engineering Google.org|last=Hardy|first=Quentin|date=24 February 2009|work=Forbes|access-date=1 June 2012}} Smith co-created and co-hosted Google's Solve for X solution acceleration programs 2012-14.{{cite news|url=http://www.tgdaily.com/trendwatch-features/61286-solve-for-x-to-tackle-worlds-biggest-problems|title='Solve for X' to tackle world's biggest problems|last=Woollacott|first=Emma|date=February 7, 2012|work=TG Daily|access-date=18 September 2012}} In 2012, she started Google's "Women Techmakers" diversity initiative to expand visibility, community and resources for technical women globally.{{Cite web|url=https://www.womentechmakers.com/|title=Women Techmakers|website=www.womentechmakers.com|access-date=2016-03-16}}

In 2014, she left Google to become the 3rd U.S. CTO. In that role, Smith recruited top tech talent to serve across government collaborating on pressing issues, from AI, data science and open source, to inclusive economic growth, entrepreneurship, structural inequalities, government tech innovation capacity, STEM/STEAM engagement, workforce development, and criminal justice reform. Her teams focused on broad capacity building by co-creating all-hands-on-deck initiatives, including the public-private program TechHire, the Computer Science for All initiative, and the Image of STEM campaigns.{{cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/ostp/divisions/cto |title=Office of the Chief Technology Officer |publisher=White House}} In addition, she launched the campaign to #FindtheSentiments, which is an effort to find the Declaration of Sentiments, a piece of history from the Seneca Falls Convention.{{Cite web |date=2015-10-14 |title=The Lost History: Help Us Find the Declaration of Sentiments |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/find-the-sentiments |access-date=2022-04-02 |website=whitehouse.gov |language=en}}{{Cite news |last1=Robbins |first1=Liz |last2=Roberts |first2=Sam |date=2019-02-09 |title=Early Feminists Issued a Declaration of Independence. Where Is It Now? |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/09/nyregion/declaration-of-sentiments-and-resolution-feminism.html |access-date=2022-04-02 |issn=0362-4331}} After leaving the White House in 2017, Smith became CEO and Founder of shift7 which works on tech-forward, inclusive innovation for faster impact on systemic economic, social, and environmental challenges.{{Cite web|title=Team|url=https://shift7.com/team|access-date=2021-04-11|website=shift7}} At shift7, the team continued co-creating the United Nations Solutions Summit and other programs; in 2017 Smith helped launch Tech Jobs Tour, aimed at promoting diversity in the technological sector, traveling to over 20 U.S. cities to help empower and connect local talent to their nascent tech sectors.{{cite news |last=Arnold |first=Jenna |author-link=Jenna Arnold |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennaarnold/2017/11/08/techs-history-hopefully-can-repeat-itself/ |title=First Female CTO Of The U.S. Megan Smith Hopes Tech's History Can Repeat Itself |work=Forbes |date=2017-11-08 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819141428/http://https/ |archive-date=2013-08-19 |access-date=2018-03-01 }} Smith serves on the board of MIT,{{cite web|author=MIT News Office |url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/new-corporation-members-0603.html|title=Corporation elects new members|date=June 3, 2011|website=MIT News|access-date=18 September 2012}} Vital Voices, LA2028, Think of Us as well as on the advisory boards for the MIT Media Lab and the Algorithmic Justice League. Additionally, she currently serves on the global Advisory Council for CFK Africa, a leading NGO working in Kenyan informal settlements.{{Cite web |title=Meet Our Team {{!}} Staff, Board, and Advisory Council |url=https://cfkafrica.org/our-team/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=CFK Africa}} She is also a member of the Award Selection Committee for the distinguished Carroll L. Wilson Award at MIT.{{cite web |url=https://gecd.mit.edu/go-abroad/distinguished-fellowships/carroll-l-wilson |title=Distinguished Fellowships - Carroll L. Wilson |publisher=MIT |date=November 10, 2014 |first=Megan |last=Smith |access-date=October 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006200244/http://gecd.mit.edu/go-abroad/distinguished-fellowships/carroll-l-wilson |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |url-status=dead }} Smith has contributed to a broad range of engineering projects, including a bicycle lock,{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.06/mustread_pr.html|title=Wired 8.06: Must Read|last=McNichol|first=Tom|magazine=Wired News|access-date=18 September 2012}} space station construction program, and solar cookstoves.{{Cite web |title=Megan Smith |url=https://www.semesteratsea.org/faculty-and-staff/megan-smith/ |access-date=2022-04-02 |website=Semester at Sea}}

She is an active proponent of STEM education and innovation.{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-smith/women-in-tech_b_4086332.html |title='Passion, Adventure and Heroic Engineering'... and Talent Inclusion |work=The Huffington Post |date=October 11, 2013 |first=Megan |last=Smith |access-date=October 3, 2014 }}

Her appeal for technologists to work in public service at the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing inspired several Harvard University students to create the national non-profit organization Coding it Forward which creates data science and technology internship program for undergraduate and graduate students in United States federal agencies.{{cite web |last1=Kelman |first1=Steve |title=Students recruiting students into federal tech |url=https://fcw.com/blogs/lectern/2018/03/kelman-coding-it-forward.aspx |website=FCW |access-date=29 August 2018}}

Smith was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2017 for leading technological innovation teams and efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in STEM industries both nationally and globally, and elected a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in 2018.

Recognition

World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2001, 2002{{cite magazine |last=McCluskey |first=Eileen |url=http://www.technologyreview.com/mitnews/408886/megan-smith-86-sm-88/ |title=Megan Smith '86, SM '88 |magazine=MIT Technology Review |date=2007-10-15 |access-date=2013-11-02}}
Listed by Out magazine in 2012{{cite magazine|author=((Out.com editors))|url=http://www.out.com/2012/04/17/power-list-megan-smith|title=The Power List: MEGAN SMITH|date=17 April 2012|magazine=Out|access-date=1 June 2012}} and 2013,{{cite magazine|author=((Out.com editors))|url=http://www.out.com/2013/04/10/whos-top-power-list-2013#slide-46|title=The Power List: MEGAN SMITH|date=10 April 2013|magazine=Out|access-date=15 April 2013}} as one of the 50 most powerful LGBT people in the United States
Reuters Digital Vision Program Fellow at Stanford, 2003-2004{{cite web|url=http://www.tow.com/2003/09/11/digital-vision-fellowship/ |title=Digital Vision Fellowship |publisher=tow.com |date=2003-09-11 |access-date=2013-11-02}}
Top 25 Women on the Web, 2000{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2000/02/33895?currentPage=all|title=Women Geeks Honor Their Own|last=Mayfield|first=Kendra|date=February 1, 2000|work=Wired News|access-date=18 September 2012}}
Upside Magazine 100 Digital Elite, 1999 and 2000{{cite press release|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Steve+Jobs+Edges+Out+Bill+Gates+for+Top+Billing+Among+UPSIDE's+1999...-a057565073|title=Steve Jobs Edges Out Bill Gates for Top Billing Among UPSIDE's 1999 Elite 100; ....|date=November 15, 1999|access-date=18 September 2012}}
Advertising Age i.20, 1999{{cite magazine |last=Fitzgerald |first=Kate |url=https://adage.com/article/news/i-20-planetout-s-megan-j-smith/1141|title=i.20: PlanetOut's Megan J. Smith|date=November 1, 1999|magazine=Advertising Age|access-date=18 September 2012}}
GLAAD Interactive Media Award for Internet Leadership, 1999{{cite web |editor-last1=Naquin |editor-first1=Robert J. |editor-last2=Naquin-Delain |editor-first2=Marsha |date=6 August 1999 |title=GLAAD Honors PlanetOut & Geocities |department=cruisin' the web |work=Ambush magazine |volume=17 |number=16 |url=http://archive.ambushmag.com/is1699/cruisin.htm |access-date=24 September 2023}}
Charging Buffalo Award, 2015{{Cite magazine|last=Thompson |first=Melissa |url=http://www.washingtonexec.com/2015/08/save-the-date-37th-annual-buffalo-nite-to-honor-megan-smith-sept-16/|title=SAVE THE DATE: 37th Annual Buffalo Nite to Honor Megan Smith Sept. 16|magazine=WashingtonExec|date=14 August 2015 |access-date=2016-03-16}}
Matrix Hall of Fame, 2015{{Cite web|url=https://nywici.org/matrix2020/matrix-awards-hall-of-fame/|title=MATRIX HALL OF FAME|website=NYWIC|access-date=2021-03-29}}
Business Insider 23 Most Powerful LGBTQ+ People in Tech, 2019{{Cite magazine|date=2 June 2019 |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/most-powerful-lgbtq-people-in-tech-2019-2|title=The 23 most powerful LGBTQ+ people in tech|last=Leskin|first=Paige|magazine=Business Insider|access-date=2019-10-09}}

Personal life

Smith married technology columnist Kara Swisher in Marin County in 1999 at a time when same-sex marriage was not legal in California.{{cite magazine|url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2014/07/kara-swisher-silicon-valleys-most-powerful-snoop.html |title=Kara Swisher Is Silicon Valley's Most Feared and Well-Liked Journalist. How Does That Work? |first=Benjamin |last=Wallace |magazine=New York |date=15 July 2014}}{{cite magazine|last1=Swisher|first1=Kara|date=10 November 2008|title=My Four Weddings, How getting gay married became an Olympic sport for me|magazine=The Daily Beast|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/my-four-weddings/|access-date=29 September 2023}} They had additional legal wedding ceremonies in 2003 in Niagara Falls, Canada, in 2004 as part of the San Francisco 2004 same-sex weddings, and again in San Francisco, California in November 2008 in advance of California Proposition 8, which declared same-sex marriages invalid in California.{{r|Swisher 2008}} Smith and Swisher have two sons, Louis and Alexander.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2007/10/15/223351/megan-smith-86-sm-88/|title=Megan Smith '86, SM '88: Pioneering change from PlanetOut to Google Earth|last=McCluskey|first=Eileen|date=15 October 2007 |magazine=MIT Technology Review|issn=1099-274X |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology}}{{cite news|last=Schubarth |first=Cromwell |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2011/09/16/google-working-on-social-news-reader.html|title=Google working on social, news reader|date=September 16, 2011|work=San Jose Business Journal}}{{cite news |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimes-tribune/obituary.aspx?pid=155622033 |title=Susan Ann Ventre |type=Obituary |work=Scranton Times |via=Legacy.com |date=24 January 2012}} They separated in 2014,{{r|Wallace 2014}} and were divorced {{asof|2017|lc=y}}.{{cite web|last=Swisher |first=Kara |date=2017 |url=http://www.recode.net/authors/kara-swisher|title=Kara Swisher Biography and Ethics Statement|publisher=re/code|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171230150413/https://www.recode.net/authors/kara-swisher |archive-date=30 December 2017}}

References

External links

[https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/ostp/about/leadershipstaff/smith Official biography] at Office of Science and Technology Policy
[http://www.makers.com/megan-smith Profile of Megan Smith, U.S. Chief Technology Officer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022043649/http://www.makers.com/megan-smith |date=2014-10-22 }} - Makers: Women Who Make America
{{C-SPAN|72020}}

Category:1964 births

Category:Businesspeople from Buffalo, New York

Category:American chief technology officers

Category:American LGBTQ businesspeople

Category:American women chief executives

Category:Apple Inc. employees

Category:Google people

Category:LGBTQ appointed officials in the United States

Category:LGBTQ people from New York (state)

Category:Living people

Category:MIT School of Engineering alumni

Category:Office of Science and Technology Policy officials