STU SMITH
Stu’s background includes over 30 years of industry experience with Ford Motor Company (automotive – marketing and field sales), McDonald Douglas (aerospace – supplier contracts) and Disneyland. While at Ford, he led the Marketing and Sales recruiting team (20 years) and Ford’s cross-functional recruiting team (4 years) at Purdue University. His collaborative style and passion for finding and aligning great talent with the right opportunities led to record hiring results for the Purdue team.
Prior to joining C12, Stu Smith served most recently as a career transition coach for Right Management, equipping people to optimize their search efforts in today’s job market, whether seeking similar work, identifying self-employment opportunities or moving into retirement.
While at Right Management, Stu also served as an operations and leadership development consultant at PCS-Global, a leadership consultancy in Northville, MI.
Stu has a passion for Christ and for life, for others and for building relationships, having mentored people formally and informally, in life and at work, across the last couple of decades. Stu has also officiated wedding ceremonies and enjoys coaching and encouraging couples as they prepare for their next journey in life.
Stu actively serves as a small group leader for a men’s small group Bible Study. He has served as a co-lead for men’s ministry, small group shepherd in the youth program, co-developer of a discipleship curriculum for a church plant, and gone on mission trips to Mexico and Rwanda.
Stu lives in Northville, Michigan, with Tracey, his wife of 34 years. They have 3 adult children who are all married and live in the local area – Connor (and his wife Sarah and grandson Franklin), Jacob (and his wife Katherine), and Emma (and her husband Brock).
One of Stu’s favorite verses is Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (NLT). That verse (as EPH2TEN) has been put on his license plate.