Daniel Smith

Dan Smith followed his father’s footsteps into executive search and joined Raines in 2005 as a research associate. Then as now, the firm provided an accelerated career path within the field, and within a year Dan was able to work directly with top 10 PE firms and Fortune 100 companies on critical leadership roles. Over the past 15 years, he has developed a broad network across every major industry sector and functional area.

Dan believes that the top 5% of executive search consultants are remarkable professionals with specialized expertise and a true passion and track record for solving critical client challenges. He also believes that an executive search firm best serves its clients (the organizations and the specific executives running the search) when it has ongoing communications throughout the year, and not just when an outside executive is needed. Major talent decisions should be toughly made, and we are designed to have those tough discussions.

Dan has worked across the entire landscape of client situations – VC-backed pre-revenue startups; entrepreneurs who have taken growth equity to achieve their vision; founders who did it all on their own; PE investors with portfolios from the lower middle market up through the largest club deals in history; first-time CEOs of multibillion dollar public companies; and seasoned executives of the Fortune 50.

The primary thread of Dan’s personal search experience has been a focus on growing businesses through commercial excellence, M&A, international expansion, and new product development.

Dan is a proud Founding Board Member of America Needs You, a national nonprofit that fights for economic mobility for ambitious, first-generation college students by providing transformative mentorship and intensive career development.

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