Ross Smith is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, a blogger, author of The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention, and holds seven US patents.

He has worked at Microsoft for 27 years and is a Principal Group Engineering Manager in Skype. He is a member of the Leadership Council for the Anita Borg Institute and co-chair for Grace Hopper Organizational Transformation track. He is a leader of ABI Local in Seattle and part of the gender partner LT and “male ally” panel discussions at IEEE Women in Technology, National Center for Women in Technology (NCWIT) Summit, and TechCrunch. He works with iUrbanTeen and Native Americans at Microsoft.

Smith developed 42Projects to promote cultural change, develop organizational trust, and improve the lives of the managed. To help develop the next generation’s interest in STEAM, he works with the Skype in the Classroom program and events like iUrbanTeen day at Microsoft.

He has been invited to the White House four times, including for a discussion on women in STEM and My Brother’s Keeper. He was a keynote speaker for ARTBA’s TransOvation 2014-2017. The work of his teams has been mentioned in Forbes, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, PSFK, the American Journal of Play, Harvard Business Review, and the London School of Business. He has spoken at SXSW, MIT Solve, Grace Hopper, Serious Play, Games for Change, and several other large conferences.

Smith’s academic research papers are published on ResearchGate. He is also a blogger for SHRM, has worked on Skype Translator, and is an avid reader.