Adam Smith

Adam Smith serves as Chief People Officer and Chief of Staff to the CEO at Laureate Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: LAUR), where he combines the roles of Chief People Officer and Chief of Staff to the CEO — a dual mandate spanning organizational leadership and CEO partnership at a publicly traded company operating five universities across Mexico and Peru.

Laureate serves approximately 500,000 students through institutions including UVM, UNITEC, UPC, UPN, and CIBERTEC — and employs more than 30,000 faculty and staff across Mexico and Peru. This scale makes Laureate simultaneously a major regional employer and a workforce pipeline for Latin America's rapidly expanding middle class, positioning Adam at the precise intersection this board exists to advance: the relationship between education, talent development, and economic mobility.

Over 12 years at Laureate, Adam has made culture, talent, and organizational health central to how the company grows — developing leaders at all levels across a complex, multi-institution enterprise. Adam's current agenda centers on Laureate's AI-enabled transformation, the culture and leadership development programs he has championed across the enterprise, and the executive talent strategy that positions the company for its next chapter — a scope that spans people, communications, and organizational strategy.

Prior to Laureate, Adam served as CEO of the Foundation for Young Australians and EducationFoundation Australia, leading national initiatives at the intersection of education reform and workforce readiness. He holds the belief that higher education institutions are among the most underutilized assets in building employer-ready talent — and that AI is accelerating the urgency to redesign how people learn, develop, and advance throughout their careers.