Stephen Smith

President, K-12

As president of Hobsons’ K-12 division, Stephen Smith drives his team to consider the impact they are having on the world around them. Steve joined Hobsons in 2007 through the acquisition of Naviance, a company he co-founded. Naviance has grown into the leading college and career readiness solution for schools and districts – serving more than 300,000 educators and five million students in 84 countries.

Prior to serving as CEO of Naviance, Steve was vice president of digital product development at Peterson’s, then a division of The Thomson Corporation (now Thomson Reuters).

Steve believes in “finding your passion, not someone else’s” and wants to help students take ownership of their education so everyone has that opportunity. Steve credits his early mentors for helping him build his professional success: his parents, who were educators; his high school American history teacher; and his thesis advisor. Steve believes deeply in matching corporate commitment with personal action, and he practices this belief as a board member of College Possible.

When Steve is not in the office, he enjoys listening to classical music and traveling to interesting places such as India, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, France, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Steve earned a bachelor of arts degree in history, cum laude, and an MBA from Cornell University.