MEET STEVE

Steve Smith has a one-of-a-kind background: space, business, engineering, and diplomacy. This mix allows Steve to connect the dots with credibility: how lessons learned in exploration ventures can increase performance for individuals, teams, and leadership. As a keynote speaker he delivers specific, actionable advice and connects with crowd members regardless of audience size using personal stories, transparency, gorgeous photography, and a delivery varying from serious to humorous.

Silicon Valley PROFESSIONAL

Steve traveled 16 million miles in space, but he was a Stanford MBA first. He remains the only person to enter the Astronaut Corps with an MBA. He has two electrical engineering degrees from Stanford, serves as director on multiple boards, and consults to Silicon Valley venture capitalists. At IBM he led an R&D team in semiconductor fabrication and as a Product Manager co-led definition of a product and its sales force rollout.

LEADER AMONG LEADERS

The United States Astronaut Corps is an elite organization featuring incredibly talented personnel. Steve rose to the second in command position – the Deputy Chief Astronaut – and managed the daily operations, policy development, and aircraft use of the 125-member Astronaut Corps.

ACCOMPLISHED DIPLOMAT

For 12 years residing in Europe, Steve served as a Diplomat in the role of the United States’ space station negotiating representative to the European Space Agency and associated barters with the Russian Space Agency. He facilitated this multi-national effort to reach consensus while balancing financial, technical, and political realities.

RESILIENT OPTIMIST

Steve identified his dream – reflected in childhood drawings – to be an astronaut at age 7. That dream came true despite a 4-day near death experience at age 15, medical flight disqualifications from the Air Force and NASA, and four rejections from the Astronaut Corps.

SENIOR ASTRONAUT

After selection by NASA, Steve was the first assigned to fly in his class. He flew on 4 space shuttle missions and performed 7 spacewalks, including 5 to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. He ranked third on the all-time historical world spacewalk duration list at the completion of his flight career.

CHAMPION ATHLETe

Steve was a 7-time All American in swimming and water polo and a two-time NCAA Champion with the Stanford water polo team. He was captain of the 1980 national championship team.

FAMILY MAN

Steve has been happily married for 30 years. The family's two children are in technical fields.