Janet Blackwood

Janet joined Smile Train in 2006 and currently serves as Senior Director, Grants Management. She oversees a team responsible for high quality grantmaking operations and integration across departments, as well as Smile Train’s global programs information system for partners and staff.

Janet served for six years in progressively advancing roles in Smile Train’s Programs department, managing all aspects of Smile Train global cleft programs with medical partners, international staff, and medical advisory boards. She then spearheaded a separate Grants Management department to streamline grantmaking, and led the launch of Smile Train’s first grants management system, enabling the organization to successfully manage the growth of global programs. She is motivated every day to provide Smile Train staff and partners with effective tools to work together more efficiently, saving valuable time and resources better devoted to the children Smile Train serves, and to increase access to key information for best decision making that is data driven and outcomes focused.

Janet received a BA in neurobiology from Cornell University, and her experience also includes working with Save the Children in Nepal to support locally driven women’s empowerment programs, as an editor for the Overseas Development Network, a national student organization promoting awareness of international development issues, as an associate editor for Internet news provider ClariNet Communications, as an inner city Youth and Elder Program Coordinator as a VISTA volunteer in San Francisco, and as a children’s ski instructor in Squaw Valley, California.