Jeff Smith (HR, human resources)

Jeff Smith is an accomplished human resources (HR) executive, with decades of experience leading talent strategy for high-profile organizations.

Smith spent over 10 years at BlackRock. There, he was head of Global Human Resources and was a member of the Global Operating Committee and the Global Executive Committee. He also oversaw the Management Development and Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors. In this position, he was a primary advisor to the senior leadership team and even to the CEO of BlackRock.

While at BlackRock, Jeff Smith led the transformation of the talent and diversity agenda and the human resources aspect of growing the business. He also advised the board of directors on the company's investments in people and culture, and on how to manage organizational change.

Furthermore, Jeff Smith oversaw HR functions including recruiting, compensation, leadership development, executive succession planning, infrastructure and analytics, as well as other HR-related aspects of the business. Finally, he was the Chairman of BlackRock’s Internal Philanthropy Board. This board set the philanthropic strategy for the company.

Jeff originally worked for Barclays Global Investors, and he stayed on when that company merged with BlackRock in 2009. He was one of the co-leads on the merger team throughout the merger process. Before he joined Barclays, he was Vice President of People Development at Time Warner. He attained that position during the merger with America Online (AOL), where he was working prior to joining Time Warner. Prior to his job at AOL, he was a senior consultant at Personnel Decisions International.

More recently, Jeff Smith, HR pro, has had regular speaking engagements at business schools and industry conferences, where he talks about talent innovation and culture. His work has also been featured in several publications. These include “Talent Wins” and “BlackRock: Diversity as a Driver for Success.”

Jeff Smith has a degree in psychology from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in industrial-organizational psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.