Gary B. Smith is a British-American executive, and the chief executive officer of

Ciena Ciena Corporation is an American optical networking systems and software company based in Hanover, Maryland. The company has been described as a vital player in optical connectivity. The company reported revenues of $4 billion and more than 8,50 ...

, an American

telecommunications network A telecommunications network is a group of Node (networking), nodes interconnected by telecommunications links that are used to exchange messages between the nodes. The links may use a variety of technologies based on the methodologies of circuit ...

ing multinational.

Early life and education

Smith was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, United Kingdom, and received an MBA from the Ashridge Management College, now part of

Hult International Business School Hult International Business School (also known as Hult Business School or Hult) is a private business school with campuses in London, San Francisco, Dubai, New York City, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hult is named for the school's benefactor B ...

.CEO Profile, Institutional Investor, March 2011
/ref>

Career

From 1995-1997, Smith was vice president for sales and marketing at

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly Intel-Sat, Intelsat) is a Luxembourgish-American multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, United States. Originally formed ...

, a global provider of fixed satellite services. He also previously was vice president of sales and marketing for Cray Communications, Inc.

Ciena

Smith joined Ciena in 1997 and has been president and CEO since May 2001. Prior to serving as CEO, Smith was chief operating officer; and prior to that, senior vice president of worldwide sales. Smith joined Ciena in November 1997 as vice president of international sales. He has been on Ciena's board of directors since October 2000.TheStreet.com, January 2011
/ref> During his tenure as CEO, Smith has led the acquisition of seven companies. Most recent is the acquisition of the Optical Networking and Carrier Ethernet assets of bankrupt

Nortel Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It was founded in ...

's Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) for $774 million. This acquisition, which closed on March 19, 2010, doubled Ciena's size from around 2,100 to 4,000 employees and significantly increased total revenues. In November 2011, Smith was interviewed by Light Reading about Ciena's acquisition history. Since the first full year of Smith's tenure as CEO, Ciena's revenues have gone from $361 million in fiscal year ended 2002 to $2.1 billion in fiscal 2013.

Additional affiliations and memberships

In January 2011, the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

named Smith to its National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC). NSTAC's mission is to provide the president collaborative advice and expertise regarding telecommunications national security and emergency preparedness issues. Smith is also a commissioner of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission, a confederation of communications technology business executives engaged in telecommunications policy. In addition, he is a Broadband Ambassador to the Internet Innovation Alliance, a coalition of business and nonprofit leaders devoted to making broadband universally accessible. Smith is a member of the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

CEO Council. Smith serves on the

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

Advisory Council for Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship. In addition to Ciena's board of directors, Smith also serves on several other corporate boards. On December 7, 2011,

Avaya Avaya LLC(), formerly Avaya Inc., is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, that provides cloud communications and workstream collaboration services. The company's platform includes unified commun ...

, a global provider of business communications and collaboration systems and services, appointed Smith to its board of directors. Smith also serves as a director of CommVault Systems, a provider of data and information management software applications and related services with a market capitalization of $2 billion.Forbes company profile - CommVault Systems
/ref> Smith has served as a director of CommVault since May 2004 and as lead director since May 2006.CommVault Corporate Governance Biography: Gary Smith
/ref>

Awards and recognitions

In November 2011, industry publication ''Light Reading'' inducted Smith into their Light Reading Hall of Fame, based primarily on his achievements and "staying power" during his 10 years as CEO of Ciena.

Personal life

Smith now resides in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

with his wife and two sons, and has dual citizenship in the United States and United Kingdom. He is an avid photographer.WSJ: A CEO's Stable Regimen Without the Horses
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Gary British businesspeople American businesspeople Hult International Business School alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)