Bryan Smith

As Executive Vice President & Chief People Officer, Bryan Smith leads the strategy and execution of attracting, motivating, and rewarding top talent to drive Nasdaq’s performance and competitive advantage across 40 countries. He also leads the strategic cultural transformation associated with Nasdaq’s transformation from an exchange business to a global, diversified financial technology/information services organization.

By consistently challenging the status quo, he has a strong reputation for designing innovative solutions to redefine the way work gets done and how people excel and grow. Over his tenure, Bryan has modernized the People function in terms of programs, process, technology, and people. He has also led many significant enterprise-wide change initiatives, including M&A diligence/integrations, Agile adoption, and AI integration. Bryan is an active member of Nasdaq’s Management Committee, Global Risk Committee, Pension Committee, AI Steering Committee, and serves as Executive Sponsor for the Women in Nasdaq employee resource group.

Prior to joining Nasdaq in 2012, Bryan was a founding partner with Meridian Compensation Partners LLC, an independent executive compensation advisory firm. He advised Boards of Directors and senior management teams on the full range of executive and board compensation issues and advised companies undergoing corporate transactions including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPOs, spin-offs, joint ventures, and other restructurings. Prior to Meridian, he was a Principal at Hewitt Associates LLC (now Aon), a global human resources consulting and outsourcing firm, where he held various senior operations and strategic consulting roles over his 17-year tenure.

Bryan holds a BA in Economics from Boston College in addition to an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business.