Martin Smith

Martin Smith has a wealth of work experience, beginning with their role as Founder and CEO of Justmeans in 2007. Martin moved to Pune, India to build a EBITDA positive SaaS platform company in under three years, working with Fortune 2000 and FTSE 100 companies on their CSR and ESG strategy. In 2002, they founded StartingBloc, a leadership development program that grew to 4000 graduates around the world and established partnerships with MIT Sloan, the University of Pennsylvania, The University of Chicago GSB, Duke University Fuqua School of Business, London Business School, Starbucks, General Electric, Ashoka, and other universities, social enterprises, and corporations. In 2011, they became Chair of the Board, Owner and Director of Corporate Development at 3BL Media. Martin then moved on to become Chief Revenue Officer at Noodle in 2013. In 2016, they joined NextGen Venture Partners as a Venture Partner, investing in companies like Carta, Mercury, and Co-Learn. In 2021, they became Director and Owner at OnFrontiers. Finally, in 2022, they co-founded The Ownership Economy, a fund and thought leadership platform focused on new models of ownership and governance.

Martin Smith is currently a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) candidate at the United Nations University-MERIT, where they are studying Governance and Policy Analysis. Previously, they obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School, where they studied Business Administration and Management, General. Martin also holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Economics from the University of Chicago.