Gartner Expert

Stephen E. Smith

VP Analyst

Stephen Smith is a Vice President and Chief of Executive Leadership Research with Gartner in the CEO and Digital Business Leadership Research team. Mr. Smith covers digital business, organizational politics, the cross-industry impact of disruptive innovation and strategic planning. During his tenure with Gartner, he has led the Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Consumer Goods, Retail, Energy and Utilities, Media, Government and Education teams. He has also served as the Retail agenda manager, the cross-industry Key Initiative Leader and currently serves as the Executive Leadership, Digital Business Transformation Key Initiative Leader.

Previous experience

In addition to his 17.5 years with Gartner, Mr. Smith has more than 18 years of sales and marketing experience in the grocery retail, consumer products and advertising industries. Prior to joining Gartner, he was VP of marketing for The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., a division of Ahold. Before that, he held senior marketing and sales management roles at The Quaker Oats Co., and was employed in advertising account management at William Esty Advertising.

Professional background

Ahold USA

VP, Marketing - The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co.

The Quaker Oats Co.

Director, Kids Ready-to-Eat Cereals

William Esty Advertising

Account Executive

Areas of coverage

CIO Technology and Innovation Leadership

Executive Leadership: Digital Business

Executive Leadership: Enterprise Strategic Planning and Execution

Education

M.B.A., Marketing, J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University

B.A., Writing, Saint Lawrence University

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Top Issues That I Help Clients Address

1Identifying digital business transformation strategies

2Digital business acceleration

3Organizational Politics

4Driving value with innovation

5Leveraging Cross-industry digital strategies