|
Ben T. Smith, IV - Chairman and Co-Founder, MerchantCircle Ben has always been excited about local businesses in his community. Growing up in the Mobile Bay area of Alabama, Ben spent a lot of time around a quite a few small businesses. One of his first jobs was at Daphne Pharmacy, which eventually went out of business as CVS and Walgreens came to town. He often walked past Manci's Bar, where one of his grandfathers spent a bit of time, on his way to Triones grocery store, which eventually closed as Winn Dixie and Wal-Mart came to town. All of his father's family worked at Original Bens Jr., a famous BBQ pit founded by his grandfather that is still one of the best BBQ places in the south. Smith is the Co-Founder and Chairman of MerchantCircle, and is an Executive in Residence at Rustic Canyon Partners, one of the investors in MerchantCircle. Ben began his career at A.T. Kearney. While a Partner at A.T Kearney, Ben was selected as one of the most influential consultants in the world in 2002. He was one of the youngest partners in the firm's history, and helped spearhead EDS and Kearney's venture development efforts. While on leave from EDS and A.T. Kearney after 9/11, Ben was honored to have the opportunity to serve the Bush Administration as the Senior Advisor for Strategy and Planning, to the Secretary of Transportation. Thereafter, Ben co-founded Spoke Software with US Venture Partners, Chris Tolles (who also serves on MerchantCircle's advisory board), and a couple of other great entrepreneurs, in 2002. Ben has been actively involved in advising a number of Fortune 500 and emerging technology companies on strategy, marketing, and business models. Recently, he successfully spun off CodeGear, a Borland company, as their first CEO. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business and received a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Davis. | 