Ann Kowal Smith

Ann serves as Founder and Executive Director of Reflection Point. Previously, Ann served as project manager for EducationWorks, a philanthropically-supported learning initiative whose work gave rise to Reflection Point (formerly Books@Work). Ann has also served as Principal with Heidrick & Struggles International and as an Expert with McKinsey & Company. Prior to joining McKinsey, Ann practiced corporate and securities law in private practice with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, LLP and Benesch LLP and in corporate practice with KeyCorp, where she served as Vice President and Senior Counsel. Ann is a Research Fellow at EPS@Weatherhead, a practitioner-scholar research community at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). She has also served as Adjunct Professor and Director of Praxis in Weatherhead’s Doctor of Management (D.M.) Program. Ann serves as an Advisory Board Member at CWRU’s Baker Nord Center for the Humanities and a Fellow at the Center for Evidence-Based Management. She holds an A.B. in History of Art from Bryn Mawr College and a M.A. in History of Art from the University of Michigan, in addition to a J.D. and a DBA from CWRU. Her dissertation examined organizational learning and innovation.

Companies

• Founder and Executive Director Reflection Point (2011)
• Affiliate; Visiting Ass't Professor/ Post-doc Fellow; Adjunct Professor | Doctor of Mgt Program Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University (2011 — 2018)
• Project Manager Education Works, a NEO regional initiative (2007 — 2011)
• Principal Heidrick & Struggles (2005 — 2007)
• Practice Expert - Strategy McKinsey & Company (2000 — 2005)
• Corporate Associate Squire, Sanders & Dempsey (1996 — 1999)
• Vice President and Senior Counsel KeyCorp (1991 — 1996)
• Corporate Associate Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff (1986 — 1991)

Education

• DBA (Doctor of Business Administration), 2010 Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management (2007 — 2010)
• JD, 1986 Case Western Reserve University School of Law (1984 — 1986)
• MA, 1982 University of Michigan (1981 — 1982)
• AB, 1981 Bryn Mawr College (1978 — 1981)