Meet SVPAZ Staffer Steve Smiley

Jun 4, 2017

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“Retired”

We are fortunate to have an Encore Fellow in our midst. Steve Smiley joins us after a 30+ career in software engineering at Intel. Steve on-boarded last summer and has served as the In honor of Strategic Project Manager, launching programs like the Next Gen Partners, Full Circle, #EducateAZ, and helping SVPAZ internally with processes, CRM and workflow.

“Steve brings a quiet, thoughtful and rational approach to our team,” shared Executive Director Terri Wogan Calderón. “His expertise and way of thinking has added a lot of structure and purpose as our team continues to grow and shift to meet the needs of SVPAZ. We’re so thankful for his time and talent.”

In honor of his birthday (Happy Birthday, Steve!), we sat down with him to ask him a few questions …

  1. Favorite part of working at SVPAZ: Fast Pitch Mentor – it’s extremely rewarding to see the progression of your mentee during the process.

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    Steve with Next Gen Partners and grant recipients

  1. Favorite memory of your time at SVPAZ: Bantering with my SVPAZ co-workers and Partners while cleaning up after the Fast Pitch kick-off event at Partner, Susanne Hensing’s house.
  1. If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring three items, what would you bring? A flint for starting fire, shovel, and large bottle of RUM, because… pirates!!
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    With wife Jacquie toasting to life!

    When you’re not working at SVPAZ, how do you spend your time? Craft beer drinking, mountain-biking, road-cycling, drumming, consulting on Product Development and Agile methods.

  1. Tell us about your family (furry members, included!). My Mom and Dad met at the end of WWII in the Philippines. Mom was Spanish & Filipina and Dad was from Iowa. After the Navy, Dad servied in the U.S. Dept of State, so spent my childhood living in many different countries: Ecuador, Germany, Vietnam, Kenya, Laos, Philippines, Washington D.C. I’ve been married for 30 years to my wife Jacquie and we have two grown boys: Justin, 27 and Patrick, 24. Justin has been married for about a year to Angie, and they’ve blessed us with our first grandson, Chase! Patrick is single and works as a Software Engineer at Carvana. We have two female dogs: Molly, 9, our white lab (princess) and Jonesie, 7,  our black lab (whom we named after a character in the movie Horrible Bosses).
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    Family

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  1. You are never without: my back pack (aka: “man purse) which has everything I need to be productive anywhere… another part of my PTSD from 31 years at Intel.
  1. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, it would be: Jacquie’s steak and oven roasted veggies… food of the gods! OR fresh seafood and the best red sauce EVER in Italy.
  1. When you’re not hard at work at SVPAZ, we would find you (either at a location or doing a particular hobby … or both!): At a craft beer tasting room working on product development plans with a client!!

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    Facilitating internal SVPAZ discussions

  1. Favorite quote: “The goal is to die with memories, not dreams…”  unknown
  1. Favorite vacation spot and why: Kauai– best hiking & snorkeling