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Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith

Formal First Name
Jeffrey (Jeff)
Location
United States

Jeff Smith is Co-Founder, CEO, Managing Member, and Chief Investment Officer of Starboard Value, an investment adviser with a focused and fundamental approach to investing in publicly traded companies. Jeff is one of the most respected activist investors and hedge fund managers with extensive public company board experience. Prior to launching Starboard, he was Partner and Managing Director of Ramius LLC, Chief Investment Officer of the Ramius Value and Opportunity Master Fund and a member of Cowen's Operating Committee and Cowen's Investment Committee. He began his career in the Mergers and Acquisitions department at Société Générale.

Professional Experience

Academic History

CURRENT AFFILIATIONS


STARBOARD VALUE

  • Starboard Value is best known for its 2014 takeover of Darden Restaurants, where it replaced the entire board and turned around Olive Garden, leading to a sharp rise in the stock.

  • The firm played a stabilizing role at Papa John’s during a leadership crisis and pushed for the successful Office Depot–OfficeMax merger.

  • The firm also targeted tech and software names like Yahoo, Symantec, Mellanox, and more recently Autodesk.

  • Other high-profile positions include Pfizer, Tripadvisor, News Corp, Qorvo, and Bloomin’ Brands.


EARLY CAREER

  • In 2014, William Cohan of Fortune called Jeff "the most feared man in corporate America."

  • He served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Papa John's International and Director of Cyxtera Technologies, Inc.

  • He served as Chair of the Board of Directors of Advance Auto Parts, Darden Restaurants and Phoenix Technologies, and has served as a director on a number of other public company boards.

  • He also served on the boards of Yahoo! Inc., Quantum Corporation, Office Depot, Inc., Regis Corporation, Surmodics, Inc., Zoran Corporation, Actel Corporation, Kensey Nash Corp., S1 Corp and the Fresh Juice Company.


MEDIA & PUBLICATIONS

Warnings and Disclaimers

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