Phone: (714) 628-2900

Fred Smith

Senior Consultant

Fred brings experience and expertise from over 30 years in leadership roles in consulting, industry, and academia.

Fred’s approach emphasizes that leadership matters. Effective leaders think deeply about and work hard at leadership and their need to model the way. He helps organizations improve performance by advising and coaching to assemble the right leadership talent, develop leadership skills, create highly effective leadership teams, and drive strategy and change throughout the organization. Fred consults in the areas of leadership development and coaching, executive team development, strategic plan implementation, change management, leadership retreat design and facilitation, and organization effectiveness.

Fred obtained a BS in Psychology and an MS in Industrial Psychology from Penn State, where he completed all requirements except the dissertation for the PhD. His first two years of undergraduate work were at the US Air Force Academy.

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EXPERIENCE

Fred Smith is a senior consultant at FMG Leading, a group of advisors that helps clients create world-class organizations at the intersection of business strategy and human capital performance. Fred brings experience and expertise from over 30 years in leadership roles in consulting, industry, and academia.

Fred’s approach emphasizes that leadership matters. Effective leaders think deeply about and work hard at leadership and their need to model the way. He helps organizations improve performance by advising and coaching to assemble the right leadership talent, develop leadership skills, create highly effective leadership teams, and drive strategy and change throughout the organization. He consults in the areas of leadership development, executive team development and executive coaching, strategic plan implementation, change management, human capital/talent management, effective leadership retreat design and facilitation, and organization effectiveness.

In addition to his role at FMG Leading, Fred is the founder of Frederick D Smith LLC, which operates offices in Boulder, Colorado and Farmington Hills, Michigan. Before starting his own consulting company, he was the East Region Leader in Mellon’s Human Resources and Investor Solutions group, leading teams that delivered change management, HR outsourcing, organization development, and functional transformation solutions. He also served as the Talent and Performance Practice Leader for Mellon.

Prior to Mellon, Fred was a Director in the Global Human Resource Services practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, working with global organizations on large scale transformation and change management efforts. Before joining PwC, he was Senior Vice President with Aon Consulting Worldwide and Managing Director of the Great Lakes Region. He and his team provided employee and leadership assessment and selection systems to Fortune 500 clients. He also has experience in business education at the university level, and corporate experience in human resource management.

Fred’s clients include well-known organizations from a range of industries, including American Express, BASF, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Burton Snowboards, Carhartt, Devon Energy, Ford, General Motors, Honda American Manufacturing, Morgan Stanley, Nationwide Insurance, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the State of Michigan, US Customs and Border Protection, US Public Building Service, Verizon, and Wendy’s International.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS

An affiliate of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and a member of the Society of Human Resource Management, Fred has contributed invited chapters to books on performance assessment and on absenteeism and has been a psychology instructor and guest lecturer. He has built a variety of specialized training programs, as well as leadership development and coaching to coach curricula for federal and state executives and managers. He periodically speaks on leadership and organization effectiveness topics to education, business, and industry groups.

ACADEMIC AFFILIATIONS

Fred obtained a BS in Psychology and an MS in Industrial Psychology from Penn State, where he completed all requirements except the dissertation for the PhD. His first two years of undergraduate work were at the US Air Force Academy, where he developed his initial interest in leadership studies and experienced first-hand the effects of a wide range of leadership styles.

PERSONAL

Fred is originally from Pittsburgh, and after living in southeast Michigan for over 3 decades, he now enjoys the Boulder Colorado lifestyle with his wife Deborah and overly friendly Great Pyrenees mix Hubble. When not working, he enjoys spending time outdoors hiking, fishing, running, and biking, and also visiting his sons in Tokyo and Detroit. Fred is an avid reader of history, science, and mysteries, and tries to complete the daily crossword.

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