Mr. Smith has served on the Young Marines Board of Directors since February 2009 and as Chairman since 2013. He retired from the Marine Corps as a Colonel after thirty years of active duty service. Following his Marine Corps service, he worked for LMI government consulting. In addition to his service with the Yong Marines he is currently the Chairman, Board of Directors of the American History Project, a nonprofit dedicated to youth education and support to veterans and their families. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Piedmont Global Language Solutions, LLC.
Colonel Smith’s Marine Corps operational, training, and staff assignments included: command of infantry organizations from platoon through battalion; Director, Drill Instructor School MCRD Parris Island; United Nations Peacekeeper, U.S. Military Observer Group Palestine; Pentagon staff assignments at both Headquarters Marine Corps and the Department of the Navy; He also served as the Director, Coalition and Special Warfare Center; and as Commanding Officer, Officer Candidates School.
His LMI assignments included on-site management of corporate activities in Saudi Arabia and in Tripoli, Libya; a year-long effort in Iraq to assist Coalition Force advisors develop sustainment and logistics capacities of Iraqi Security Force ministries; and supporting the U.S. Institute of Peace and National Defense Panel’s report to Congress on the DoD’s 2009 Quadrennial Defense Review. He also worked extensively with the Department of State in assignments that included lead planner to develop an interagency plan to re-establish U.S. diplomatic presence in Libya and at the U.S. Embassy Kabul to develop plans for an enduring diplomatic presence in Afghanistan post-2014.
Mr. Smith is a graduate of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, a distinguished graduate of the Naval War College and holds a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies, a Master of Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Smith is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, and Marine Corps Association. In 2021 he was inducted into the Hall of Honor at J. Frank Dobie High School in Houston, TX.