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Megan Smith

Founder and CEO of shift7 & Former U.S. Chief Technology Officer

In-Person Fee Range:
$30,001 - $50,000
Fee Details
Traveling from:
District of Columbia

Why Book

  • Megan Smith is an award-winning entrepreneur, engineer, tech evangelist, and CEO and founder of shift7, working on systemic social, environmental, and economic problems by scouting and scaling solutions and solution makers.
  • She formerly served as U.S. Chief Technology Officer, working on 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.
  • Smith also served as CEO of PlanetOut, an online LGBTQ community and digital media company in the early days of the Internet.

Biography

Megan Smith is an award-winning entrepreneur, engineer, and tech evangelist. She is the CEO and founder Shift 7, a company working collaboratively on systemic social, environmental, and economic problems — finding opportunities to scout and scale promising solutions and solution makers and engage proven tech-forward, open, shareable practices to drive direct impact, together.

Smith served as the third U.S. Chief Technology Officer from 2014-2017 — working on 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. Prior to serving in government, Smith was a Vice President at Google for eleven years leading new business development where she managed early-stage partnerships, pilot explorations, and technology licensing across the global engineering and product teams; she led acquisitions of Google Earth, Maps, and Picasa; led the google.org transition to increase engineering adding Google Crisis Response, GoogleforNonProfits, Earth Outreach/Engine; and later co-created SolveForX and Women Techmakers. Earlier, Smith served as CEO of PlanetOut, an online LGBTQ community and digital media company in the early days of the Internet, working on early smartphone technologies at General Magic and at Apple Japan.

Board member of MIT, Vital Voices, LA Olympics 2028, Thinkof-Us; Co-founder of the Malala Fund and UN Solutions Summit, advisor to Silicon Valley Comes to the UK and the Algorithmic Justice League, and World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. Smith has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT, and a Master’s thesis at MIT Media Lab. Smith was a member of the MIT student team that designed, built, and raced a solar car 2,000 miles across the Australian outback in the first World Solar Challenge. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and National Academy of Engineering.

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Programs

Innovation Nation: How to Creatively Source and Accelerate Solutions to Our Most Significant Challenges

Can we scout and scale technology solutions to the biggest challenges our society faces using the venture capitalist model? Can we capacity build the American people? Megan Smith argues that we can—in fact, she shows that we already are. At Google, General Magic, and Apple Japan, she brought deeply cross-functional teams together to solve significant challenges. Smith adopted that same approach in the federal government, identifying patterns and best practices that are making a difference in towns and cities across the United States, and then exploring how to reproduce them in other parts of the country. From retraining and building confidence in coal miners in Eastern Kentucky to reducing prison populations in Miami-Dade County, Smith’s examples will illustrate how your organization can identify what’s already working and how best to replicate that success.

How to Build a Creative, Confident, Inclusive, and High-Impact Workforce

Megan Smith believes that, in order to fully unleash your organization’s economic potential and competitiveness, you have to include a broader team in problem-solving. She refutes the notion that diverse voices haven’t always been part of the story, pointing to significant contributors from America’s “missing history.” Smith also explains how we can move much faster to retain and recruit inclusive teams, mitigate unconscious and institutional biases, and foster “ecosystem thinking”—bringing more people to the table, inspiring creative confidence, and solving our biggest problems.

How Technology and Innovative Approaches Can Transform Your Organization

During her tenure as the third chief technology officer of the United States, Megan Smith fundamentally altered the composition of the federal government. Her team collaboratively recruited top talent “rabble-rousers” from Silicon Valley and other tech sectors to address such critical issues as artificial intelligence, education and training, urban and rural poverty, data science, and economic inclusion. Smith describes how they teamed up with colleagues to employ their talents and adopt new approaches to using data, innovation, and rapid iteration in order to create a more open, collaborative, and responsive government—and explains how your company can do the same.

Diversity in Tech

Megan Smith Reviews

“Megan was fantastic! Our audience and employees absolutely loved her and walked away feeling inspired.”

— Yext

“She was an absolute HIT!

— Indeed

“Megan was excellent! She was personable, on-point, personalized the messaging and a true pleasure.”

— Exelon's Innovation Expo

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NEED MORE IDEAS?

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Speak with our experienced Program Consultants.

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NEED MORE IDEAS?

We are here to help.
Speak with our experienced Program Consultants.

Call us or Live Chat Below

NEED MORE IDEAS?

We are here to help.
Speak with our experienced Program Consultants.

Call us or Live Chat Below

NEED MORE IDEAS?

We are here to help.
Speak with our experienced Program Consultants.

Call us or Live Chat Below

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