Tony Smith, Ph.D is a visionary leader who has spent 25 years facilitating organizational and personal change for various entities in the business and non-profit sectors. Tony leads the Executive Leadership practice area at Lang Strategies, LLC.
Expertise
Tony is the founder of Odyssey Institute for the Study of Transition in San Francisco. He and his colleagues have advised organizations on building transition strategies and creating cohesive and diverse work teams and cultures for more than 20 years. He is also an executive coach, and has counseled hundreds of CEOs on leadership and team-building.
His clients have included research organizations such as SRI International, the Ford Foundation and the National Science Foundation; businesses such as CitiBank, Fannie Mae, Ameritrust, Kreuger International, and Paymap; the Washington, DC Chamber of Commerce, a non-profit; and public sector organizations such as San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tuolumne Counties in California, the city of Antioch, Calif., the Metropolitan Transit District of Portland, Ore., the Oregon Community Mental Health Providers Association, and the American Astronomical Society.
Accomplishments
Not only is Tony a change management professional who has helped shape and reshape some of the most well-known brands in the country, but he is also an author. Parsifal’s Briefcase and the upcoming Falling in Love with Life Again are both about how ancient teachings can be used today to help people and organizations transform what they do and how they do it.
Credentials
Tony has a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, both in political science. He has taught at the University of Illinois and Golden Gate University, and developed and headed the business management program at Antioch University in San Francisco. He has spoken on organizational change, leadership, team building, and successful transition strategies to organizations throughout the United States and Europe.
Personal
Tony is an avid reader of philosophy. While he is on the road for much of the year on business, he enjoys turning those frequent flyer miles into trips around the world, including France, England and Italy. If you’re ever in the Bay Area, Tony can also point you in the right direction for more than a couple epicurean delights at the area’s finest restaurants.