About
Jeff Smith, HR Professional
Jeff Smith is a human resources professional with over a decade of experience in HR leadership and executive roles. Jeff has a proven track record in partnering with CEOs and Executive Teams on the overall strategy, business operations and all aspects of talent from hiring and performance to compensation. Jeff spent over ten years serving as BlackRock's Head of Global Human Resources and was a member of the Global Executive Committee, the Global Operating Committee and oversaw the Management Development and Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors.
In this capacity at BlackRock, Jeff was a primary advisor to the company’s Chief Executive Officer and senior leadership team. He led the transformation of the talent and diversity agenda and the HR function to support the growth of the business, both organic and through multiple acquisitions. In addition, he advised the business and the Board of Directors on all aspects of its investment in people and culture and the management of organizational change. He oversaw recruiting, compensation, employee benefits, management and leadership development, executive succession planning, and HR infrastructure and analytics. He also was the Chairman of the internal Philanthropy Board at BlackRock, which set the strategy across the firm.
Jeff's service with BlackRock dated back to 2006, including his years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Jeff was one of the co-leads on the BlackRock/BGI merger from start to finish. At BGI he was Global Head of Human Resources. Prior to joining BGI, Jeff was Vice President of People Development at Time Warner from 2001 – 2006 where he joined during the merger with America Online where he was from 2000 - 2001. Previously, he was a Senior Consultant at Personnel Decisions International from 1997 - 2000, specializing in executive assessment, leadership development and executive coaching.
He has spoken regularly at business schools and industry conferences on talent innovation and culture. Jeff’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including HBR ‘Building a Game-Changing Talent Strategy’, “Blackrock: Diversity as a Driver for Success’ and in the book Talent Wins, authored by Ram Charan, Dominic Barton and Dennis Carey.
Jeff earned a BS degree in psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1992 and received a PhD in industrial-organizational psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1997.