LightRiver Appoints Former Verizon SVP Steve Smith to Board, Enhancing Tier 1 Telecom Financial Expertise

In a significant move to bolster its leadership in network automation and optimization, LightRiver has proudly announced the appointment of Steve Smith, former Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance at Verizon, to its esteemed Board of Directors.

LightRiver announced the appointment of Steve Smith to its Board of Directors. This appointment spotlights LightRiver’s scale and brings decades of experience during the expansion of its network solutions and automation efforts to a wider audience of Tier 1 network operators, integrators and software vendors.

Smith has more than 30 years of experience in advancing enterprise growth in the global Technology, Media, and Telecommunications industry with one of the largest telecommunications providers in the world. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance for Verizon, responsible for enterprise-wide financial planning and Wireless Business Development (M&A). During his tenure with Verizon, Smith held domestic and internationally focused senior leadership roles in finance, operations, sales, M&A, and strategy.

“Steve’s understanding of the network and capital efficiency challenges that exist in Tier 1 multi-generation, multi-vendor operations, and the benefits of solving for them, are a perfect complement to our software-enabled services portfolio” stated Mike Jonas, CEO at LightRiver. “His guidance in prioritizing the most impactful use cases will be an intelligent transformation game changer for LightRiver and our clients.”

Smith holds an M.B.A. from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester and a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Binghamton University. He is also a CFA® charterholder.

“There is a tremendous opportunity for service providers to unlock value by simplifying their network infrastructure and operations. I’m delighted to join the LightRiver Board and help LightRiver realize this opportunity,” commented Smith.

Smith offers his skills and experience with a Tier 1 Service Provider to the seasoned team of business leaders at LightRiver and the Grain ecosystem, working together to deliver the next generation of open, disaggregated and automated solutions, services and products to help make complex networking, simple.