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Michael T. Smith is the retired chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Hughes Electronics Corporation. He was elected to those positions in October 1997.
Previously, he had been vice chairman of Hughes Electronics and chairman of Hughes Aircraft Company responsible for the aerospace, defense electronics and information systems businesses of Hughes Electronics. (This Hughes defense business was sold to the Raytheon Company in December 1997.)
Smith joined Hughes Electronics in 1985, the year the company was formed, as senior vice president and chief financial officer after spending nearly 20 years with General Motors in a variety of financial management positions. Hughes Electronics was formed after General Motors acquired Hughes Aircraft Company. In 1992, he was elected vice chairman of Hughes Electronics and chairman of Hughes Missile Systems Company, a subsidiary composed of the former General Dynamics missile operations, acquired by Hughes in 1992, and the former Hughes Missile Systems Group. In 1995 he was elected chairman of Hughes Aircraft Company.
Smith is a member of the board of directors of Alliant Techsystems, Inc., and Teledyne (both are NYSE listed companies). He is also the former chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association, an industry trade organization, is a member of the board of directors of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, and is a charter member of the Electronic Industries Foundation Leadership Council. He also serves as a trustee of the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences at the Claremont Colleges in California and is a trustee of Providence College, Providence, RI. Smith was born October 5, 1943, in Worcester, Mass. He received his bachelor's degree in political science at Providence College and obtained an MBA from Babson College in 1971. He was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from Pepperdine University. He served as an officer in the U.S. Army, including a combat tour in Vietnam. | 