Jim Smith

James B. (Jim) Smith’s love affair with Boulder and CWA began six years ago, and the annual pilgrimmage to old friends and new ideas becomes even more exciting every year. Smith has worked for Raytheon for the past five years in a variety of positions, most recently as the international business development executive for Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.

Previously, Smith had a distinguished military career, retiring from the U.S. Air Force as a brigadier general in October of 2002. His aviation career included 4,000 hours in the F-15 and T-38 and combat sorties during Desert Storm. During his military career, his responsibilities included the command of both the 94th Tactical Fighter Squadron and the 325th Operations Group. Later, he served as commander of the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base in Japan. His staff postings included a variety of Joint and Coalition assignments, among them the North American Air Defense Command, where he was the deputy for operations; the National War College, where he was a professor; and, finally, as commander of the Joint Warfighting Center, Joint Forces Command.

Smith is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy (BS in military history), Indiana University (MA in history), the Air Command and Staff College, the Naval War College, and the National War College. He's married to CWA panelist, Janet Breslin-Smith, and they have four children … the youngest graduated from CU last spring.