Kirby Smith

Kirby Smith is the Chief Strategy Officer at Arnold Ventures, where she leads cross-organizational strategy to maximize impact across programmatic areas and organizational capabilities. In this role, she integrates policy, advocacy, and operations to serve as a force multiplier for change. She partners with program teams to guide strategic rationale and foster collaborative decision-making. Additionally, she oversees internal, cross-portfolio projects that strengthen organizational effectiveness and collaborates with advocacy and operational leaders to implement innovative approaches.

Kirby also directs the identification, exploration, and incubation of new ideas for Arnold Ventures, including work on emerging issues such as sports betting and contraceptive access.

Since joining Arnold Ventures in 2016, she has shaped major strategic decisions and launched key initiatives, including developing and scaling the higher education team. She also led affordable housing efforts that resulted in the creation of the mission-aligned investment team. To date, she has overseen more than $300 million in philanthropic investments and played a pivotal role in Arnold Ventures’ transformation into a philanthropic LLC.

Earlier in her career, she was a management consultant at Bain & Company, specializing in growth strategy and organizational design in health care and financial services. She holds dual Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Policy degrees from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University.