The LEADS Center Executive Director

Jane E. Smith, Ed. D.
Center for Leadership and Civic
Engagement, Spelman College

Jane E. Smith is Executive Director of the Spelman College Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement (LEADS). The mission of LEADS is to develop and teach a leadership model based on the experiences of African-American women leaders. This model, Engaged Leadership, requires intellectual, personal and community involvement in activities that improve the quality of life for women, men and children.

Dr. Smith began her professional career in 1975 at Spelman College where she served as Assistant to the President. From 1981 to 1990, she was the Managing Director of INROADS, Inc., responsible for corporate placements for college interns. In 1991, Mrs. Coretta Scott King invited Dr. Smith to serve as Director of Development at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. From 1994 to 1998, she directed the award-winning Atlanta Project at The Carter Center. In this capacity, she reported to former President Jimmy Carter. From 1998-2001, Dr. Smith was President and CEO of the National Council of Negro Women, founded by noted educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune. Prior to rejoining Spelman College in 2004, Dr. Smith was CEO of Business and Professional Women/USA, a national membership organization that promotes equity for all women in the workplace.

Today, in addition to her work as Executive Director of LEADS, Dr. Smith is a member of boards for the following: American Institute for Public Service, “To The Contrary,” a nationally syndicated television program, the Women’s Leadership Exchange and the United States Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Smith was appointed by former President William Clinton to the National Women’s Business Council and by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to the United Nations Beijing Plus Five Conference delegation. She has served as a member of the National Judging Panel for the National Women’s Hall of Fame Inductees, the US Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100, a Trustee of the University of the District of Columbia and a judge for Lifetime Television’s Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Dr. Smith holds a Doctorate of Education in Social Policy Analysis from Harvard University, a Masters in Sociology from Emory University, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Spelman College, and honorary doctorates from Spelman College and Texas College. She has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Emory University Alumni Medal, the American Association of University Women's Woman of Distinction Award, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Roy Wilkins Award, and the Johnnetta B. Cole Spelman College Alumnae Achievement Award.

Dr. Smith has two sons and four grandchildren.

Contact Information:

350 Spelman Lane SW, Box 2021
Atlanta , GA 30314-4399
(404) 270-6069 (Naima Brooks)
janesmith@spelman.edu