Gary A. Smith is co-founder and senior partner of IVY Planning Group (Ivy), a 20-year-old management consulting and training company that specializes in strategy, diversity, leadership and change management.

Consulting Magazine honored Smith as one of the Top 25 Consultants of 2007.  Profiles in Diversity Journal named him a Diversity Pioneer.

Minority Business & Professionals Network, Inc. named Smith one of “Fifty Influential Minorities in Business”.  He has more than 25 years of strategy, technology and management consulting service to large private sector and government organizations.

He has led numerous engagements to develop core business, technology, diversity, and marketing strategies, leading to improved revenue performance, mission-critical improvements, and more effective customer service.

Smith assists clients in solving problems.  His skills in management, marketing, and information technology allow him to synthesize data to meet his clients’ challenges.  He has worked directly with corporate CEOs, executive teams, agency administrators, and senior officials to build strategies, facilitate challenging discussions, and achieve their organization’s vision.

Ivy is recognized as one of the Top 50 minority-owned companies by DiversityBusiness.com. The company also was named “Emerging Company of the Year Finalist” by Black Enterprise Magazine and received the Working Woman magazine “Entrepreneurial Excellence Award”.

Smith and his wife/business partner, Janet Crenshaw Smith, are profiled in “DreamMakers: Putting Vision & Values to Work”, a book that chronicles how leading edge organizations are able to succeed and realize their vision and values.

Smith is profiled for building a premier strategy firm – one of the leading black-owned management consulting firms in the country.

IVY has been featured in numerous publications, including USA Today, The Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, Working Woman, Diversity Journal and Black Enterprise.

Smith provides a cross-sector, cross-industry perspective.  He has successfully developed and implemented strategies, led teams, and served the needs of a wide spectrum of clients; experiencing best practices in management consulting in multiple venues.

His private sector clients include MetLife, Nike, Lehman Brothers, L’Oreal, Lockheed Martin, Rockwell Collins, Deloitte Consulting, Harrah’s, Verizon and Allianz.  He has worked at the senior executive level with U.S. Departments of Treasury, Justice, Labor, State Department, PTO, USPS, D.C. Government and utilities including Pepco, WSSC, Progress Energy, and PSEG. His work with non-profits includes Special Olympics International and United Way.

Smith co-founded IVY Planning Group after a successful career managing sales, marketing, and technical organizations, including IBM where he held marketing and technical positions; Amdahl Corporation as account executive; Masstor Systems as director of U.S. Operations; Comdisco Inc. as director of Federal Marketing; and Technical Software Services as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Smith is a member of the Yale Club of New York City, and his board service commitment includes the Boards of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, Lakewood Country Club, the Capital Chapter of Strategic Leadership Forum, The International Society for Strategic Management, and the Strategic Planning Board and Treasurer of Florida Avenue Baptist Church.  Smith received the distinguished Torchbearer’s Award for Community Service from the Greater Washington Morehouse College Club.

A native of Washington, D.C., Smith earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Yale University.  He lives in Maryland with his wife.  They have three sons.