Executive Biographies

Neil Gaydon - President and Chief Executive Officer

Neil Gaydon was appointed President and CEO of SMART Technologies in October 2012 and became a director of the Company in February 2013. Prior to joining SMART, Mr. Gaydon was CEO of Pace plc, a technology developer for pay TV and broadband service providers. During his tenure as CEO at Pace, he led the company through a major turnaround resulting in a ten-fold increase in revenues to become the world leader. Prior to becoming the CEO of Pace, he served in numerous executive and senior positions there, including President Pace Americas, which he established and led for five years. Before joining Pace, Mr. Gaydon worked with a number of technology companies in various key roles. Throughout his career, his hallmark has been defining and executing strategy, creating effective structure and changing business culture on a global scale.

Mr. Gaydon is a graduate of Harvard Business School in the Advanced Management Program. His awards include 2009 Institute of Directors 'Director of the Year', 2009 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner, 2008 TechMARK Personality of the Year as well as leading Pace to three consecutive Queen's Awards.

Warren Barkley - Chief Technology Officer

Warren Barkley joined SMART in November of 2012 as the Company’s Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Barkley has over 17 years of technology experience and most recently served as General Manager in the Unified Communications division at Microsoft. He has held several key positions in Microsoft over his tenure and was instrumental in the development of Microsoft Lync as the communication and collaboration software of choice for Fortune 500 companies. At Microsoft, he played a central role in establishing WiFi as a worldwide standard and building world class real time communications technologies used by hundreds of millions of users every day. He holds over 35 worldwide patents in networking, wireless and communications.  Prior to his career in the technology sector, Mr. Barkley was a school teacher. He holds advanced degrees from the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia.

Kelly Schmitt - Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer

Kelly Schmitt was named Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of the Company in November 2012. Ms. Schmitt joined SMART in January 2008, and has served in a number of senior roles within the finance organization including Treasurer, Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Controller. Prior to SMART, she served in various treasury and corporate finance roles for both small and large cap energy companies. Ms. Schmitt is a Chartered Accountant, a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree.

Greg Estell - President, Education

Greg Estell joined SMART in March 2013 as President, Education. Greg has nearly 30 years of global technology experience including executive positions at Hewlett-Packard and Motorola. Over the course of his career, Greg has lived and worked in Asia, Europe and throughout North America inspiring change and driving focused strategies and operational excellence leading to record growth and profitability in fiercely competitive technology businesses.  His cross-functional expertise spans sales, marketing, product development, operations, finance, distribution and strategy. Mr. Estell holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Patrick Lelorieux - President, Enterprise

Patrick Lelorieux is responsible for all aspects of SMART’s Enterprise business unit.

Mr. Lelorieux brings over 30 years of successful general management and international business experience to SMART. Mr. Lelorieux was named President, Enterprise in December 2012.  He joined SMART in 2008 as Vice President and General Manager, EMEA and took on the role of Senior Vice President, International and Global Business Segment in June 2012. Prior to SMART, he held executive positions with some of the world's largest and most well-known technology companies, including Cisco, AVAYA, and Hewlett Packard.  Mr. Lelorieux holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and an MBA in marketing.

Jeffrey A. Losch - Vice President, Legal and General Counsel

Jeffrey A. Losch was appointed Vice President, Legal and General Counsel in September 2008. Prior to joining us, Mr. Losch provided consulting services to businesses and individuals from September 2005 to August 2008. Mr. Losch was Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel of InterTAN, Inc., a consumer electronics specialty retailer, from September 2001 to May 2005 and was its Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel from March 1999 to September 2001. From December 1993 to March 1999, Mr. Losch was Corporate Counsel of Whirlpool Canada Ltd., the Canadian subsidiary of Whirlpool Corporation, a manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances.

Jeff Lowe - Vice President, Marketing

Jeff Lowe leads the development, coordination and execution of SMART's global marketing strategies and oversees all marketing functions, including strategy, market operations, social media initiatives and marketing communications.

Mr. Lowe joined SMART and was appointed Vice President, Marketing in 2012 and brings more than 22 years of marketing experience in technology and telecom sectors. Prior to joining SMART, Mr. Lowe was vice president of marketing, business solutions at TELUS, a leading Canadian national telecommunications company, where he was responsible for branding, marketing communications, product marketing and channel marketing. He has held senior positions with several global technology organizations, including IBM Corporation. Mr. Lowe is currently a member of the board for the Canadian Marketing Association and holds an honors degree in marketing.

Pam Ramotowski - Vice President, People Services

Pamela Ramotowski is responsible for all people strategies and practices at SMART, including recruitment and retention, learning and development, compensation and benefits, organizational effectiveness, and employee relations.

Ms. Ramotowski joined SMART in 2008 as Director, Total Compensation & Employee Relations and was appointed Vice President, People Services in 2012. She brings over 14 years' experience in human resources management to SMART. Ms. Ramotowski held a number of senior positions at prominent energy, geophysical and agricultural companies. Prior to joining SMART she led the human resources function for a global drilling organization where she designed and implemented people strategies, supporting policies and programs for more than 8,000 staff. She holds a bachelor of management degree in accounting and a master of business administration degree in the management of organizations and human resources. She also holds a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation.

Dan Rodrigue - Vice President, Operations

Dan Rodrigue is responsible for the direction and day-to-day management of all plant and contract manufacturing operations, supply chain management, quality, facilities, health and safety, and security functions.

Mr. Rodrigue joined SMART in 2007 after spending 20 years in the telecommunications industry where he held progressively senior positions in production, process and test engineering, quality, product repair services, new product introduction and supply chain management. Earlier in his career, Mr. Rodrigue held sales and sales engineering positions in the oil and gas industry in Calgary and Edmonton. He holds a bachelor of science degree and an MBA.