Mar 18, 2021
Do you dream about your work making an impact not only in your organization but in your industry and beyond?
Janet Marie Smith, an Executive with the Los Angeles Dodgers, has 100% done this throughout her career! Don’t miss the latest episode of Game of Her Own and listen in as Janet Marie drops some wisdom as she shares her journey in sports.
Highlight reel of our conversation:
-Why she kept calling the CEO of the Orioles until she got a meeting
-How confidence played a critical role in her getting her first job in baseball
-Why every day is an education for her
-Why collaboration is critical to run successful projects
-The incredible work she’s done in some of America’s most beloved sporting venues including Camden Yards, Fenway Park, and Dodger Stadium
-How she pulled “double duty” for teams
-How she balanced always living in Baltimore even when she was working for the Red Sox and Dodgers!
Are you enjoying Game of Her Own? Help me spread the word by sharing it with other women in sports so they don’t have to go at it alone!
Links:
HOK: https://www.hok.com/
Larry Lucchino: https://www.mlb.com/redsox/team/front-office/larry-lucchino
Stan Kasten: https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/team/front-office/stan-kasten
Connect with Janet Marie:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smithjanetmarie/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SmithJanetmarie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smith.janetmarie/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janet.m.smith.1426
Renowned architect and urban planner Janet Marie Smith is the Los Angeles Dodgers’ senior vice president of planning and development. Since 2012, she has overseen the large-scale improvement and expansion projects at Dodger Stadium and Campo Las Palmas (the club’s home in the Dominican Republic). From modernizing the stadium to incorporating the club’s rich history into the ballpark experience, Smith’s fan-friendly touches have helped keep Dodger Stadium - the third-oldest ballpark in baseball - as one of the premier venues in all of sports. Her latest project, a $100 million renovation of centerfield and completed new circulation around Dodger Stadium was completed for the 2020 season and will be the focal point of the MLB All-Star Game slated to be held in Los Angeles in 2022. She is also working on the design and construction of Polar Park in Worcester, MA which will be the home of the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox in 2021.
Smith is best known in the baseball world for her work on the influential Oriole Park at Camden Yards, saving Fenway Park and the renovations at Dodger Stadium. Smith worked for the Orioles from 1989-94 as vice president of planning and development during the design and construction of the park. Opening in 1992, Camden Yards immediately became the standard-bearer for a new wave of traditional baseball parks that have been built in subsequent years. Smith played an instrumental role in the design of the ballpark, creating a state-of-the-art unique facility that blends with the urban context of downtown Baltimore while taking inspiration from baseball parks built in the early 20th century. Its success spawned over 20 MLB parks to move into urban centers and created a new formula for fan-friendly areas in sports venues and establishing new thinking for how sports fit into cities and elevate design.
Smith served as senior vice president of planning and development for the Boston Red Sox from 2002-2009. Smith oversaw the preservation of historic Fenway Park and led the program that placed this significant ballpark on the National Historic Register. Her work at Fenway Park earned her a Special Achievement Award from the Boston Baseball Writers’ Association in 2012. Additionally, the Boston Preservation Alliance nominated Fenway Park for the 2008 Sports Business Awards’ Sports Venue of the Year and awarded the ballpark a Special Commendation for Outstanding Stewardship at the 2005 Preservation Awards, recognizing the cultural and historic significance of the building, as well as the honorific nature of its renovations including the popular addition of seats on top of Fenway Park’s iconic “Green Monster.”
Before joining the Dodgers, Smith had a second tour with the Orioles as vice president of planning and development from September 2009-August 2012. In that role, Smith directed renovations and expansion of the Orioles’ new spring training facility in Sarasota, Florida, as well as upgrades and enhancements to Oriole Park at Camden Yards to celebrate the park’s 20th anniversary including the popular roof deck on top of the batters eye in centerfield.
From 1994-2000, Smith held the position of president of Turner Sports and Entertainment Development, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, and was the vice president of Planning and Development for the Atlanta Braves. Her work in Atlanta transformed the 1996 Olympic Stadium into Turner Field, home of the Braves, and she also oversaw the development of the Philips Arena, home of the NBA Atlanta Hawks and NHL Atlanta Thrashers.
Smith has worked on urban development projects, including Battery Park City in New York City, where she served as coordinator of Architecture and Design, and Pershing Square—Downtown Los Angeles’s oldest park. Smith worked as senior advisor of planning and design with Baltimore-based Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse on many of their development and rehab projects in the city of Baltimore, from Tide Point to Bond Street Wharf. She was responsible for concept planning for the Indianapolis basketball arena and the renovation of the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, Calif. She was also part of the THINK team, one of the final two teams in the competition for the World Trade Center site in New York City in 2002.
Smith’s work has been published extensively and she has spoken at the “Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture” and the NINE conference in Arizona on several occasions. She gave the keynote address at both conferences in 2014, the same year that she was selected as a recipient of a Women of Inspiration Award from the LA chapter of Women in Sports & Events (WISE). In 2016, Smith was recognized by Maryland Daily Record’s Top 100 Circle of Excellence and was named Sports Business Journal’s “Power Player for Design and Development.” Sports Business Journal also honored Smith in 2011 in their inaugural class of “Game Changers: Women in Sports Business” and in their 2017 Class of Champions. In 2019, Smith was nominated for the Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals and SABR’s Dorothy Seymour Mills Lifetime Achievement Award for Women in Baseball. Smith delivered the commencement speech for Mississippi State University, her alma mater, in 2013 and University of Michigan’s School of Kinesiology in 2018. She was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.
Smith was the Edward P. Bass Visiting Professor at Yale University School of Architecture in 2017. Smith holds a master’s degree in Urban Planning from City College of New York and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Mississippi State University. She is an associate member of the Urban Land Institute, American Institute of Architects, and the American Planning Association. She serves on the advisory board for the University of Michigan Sports Management Program and is a former member of the board of directors of the engineering firm of Syska & Hennessy and the Berklee College of Music in Boston. She has served on the Board of Directors for Port Discovery, the Maryland Science Center, and the College of Notre Dame. Smith lives in Baltimore, MD with her husband, Bart Harvey and their home serves as a revolving door for their 3 children and friends.
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