MANAGEMENT

Mr. Smith is the CEO and principal owner of Docere. He is a veteran of both television and commercial production, having worked over the years for Seven Seas Cinema, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, Unapix Entertainment, Newsweek Productions and now, Docere Digital Studios.

Shortly after he received his masters from Columbia Journalism School, Mr. Smith, along with his older brother, Michael, set up Seven Seas Cinema in New York City. At Seven Seas, he moved the company into the production of television and political commercials as well as films for universities and colleges including: Brown , Colgate, UCLA, University of Rochester, Bryn Mawr.

In 1983, he was hired as a producer for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. At the Newshour, he was charged with conceiving and producing 12-15 minute, magazine-style tape pieces in the areas of science, medicine and education.  In all, he produced over 100 pieces on diverse subjects from the economics of the sneaker industry...to the conundrum of whether the universe is expanding or contracting...to an epidemiological look at America's bloody culture of violence. In addition to two EMMY nominations and an EMMY Award, his segments received screenings both before the U.S. Senate and the White House. Two of his stories for The NewsHour became made for television films.

After the NewsHour, Mr. Smith moved into the world of non-fiction television as vice president for development and production at Unapix Entertainment and then became president of its Docere division. 

During his tenure, Mr. Smith moved Unapix into the co-financing and production of quality non-fiction content on a global basis -- building Unapix into a leading non-fiction studio. The non-fiction series he developed and produced met the demanding needs of both broadcasters and viewers: Ushuaia (26x 60, CNBC) tripled the ratings of its predecessor series and was aired repeatedly. Superstructures (11 x 60, TLC) far exceeded expected ratings and was renewed for a third season. For Animal Planet, he developed a reality series, ESPU (13 x 30). This series showcased the behind the scenes exploits of South Africa's famed, Endangered Species Protection Unit.  

In all, Mr. Smith developed and oversaw the production of 90 hours of original non-fiction and reality programming for Unapix -- much of it based on his own concepts. He also initiated strategic marketing alliances with a number of media companies to help co-market our series, bring in additional revenues and help develop ancillary products. Those companies included: Disney Publishing, Carlton Television (UK), Time Inc., Wiley & Sons, Simon & Schuster Audio, Forbes, WGBH, PBS, Warner Home Video.

It was while at Unapix that the Docere unit was established as a separate division of Unapix. Docere was dedicated to the production of high-quality, non-fiction programming and series. Mr. Smith came up with the idea for a Docere division and was appointed the division's president. 

In 2000, Mr. Smith joined  Newsweek Productionas a vice president. His charge was to help the company expand its television programming into new and varied outlets. From $2 million in sales in 1999 and only one broadcast outlet (PBS), Mr. Smith ramped up Newsweek's production into $5 million of television sales by 2002. New broadcast clients included: CNBC, A&E, MSNBC, AMC, The History Channel and National Geographic Channel. 

He also initiated a co-venture between Carlton Television (UK) and Newsweek Productions. The goal was to jointly develop and produce non-fiction programming for the U.S. and international television markets. The co-venture, called Newsweek/Carlton Television(NCTV), combined the content strength and brand name of Newsweek with the international distribution and television capability of Carlton. In their 2001 Annual Report, Carlton described NCTV as, "one of our great success stories of 2001."

One of Mr. Smith's more successful endeavors for Newsweek Productions was creating Surviving West Point, a 14 x 30 reality series for National Geographic Channel. This $2.2 million series aired to wide acclaim in October, 2002. It was backed by a marketing and promotional campaign funded by Boeing with ads in Newsweek and The Washington Post. The series was recently released as both a DVD and home video by Warner.

In 2002, having already established his formula for producing, packaging and funding high level, high concept non-fiction programming, Mr. Smith left Newsweek Productions to re-launch Docere Digital Studios. Docere is now an independent corporation 100% owned by Mr. Smith.