David C. Smith

President and Founding Partner

David ranked as a top-producing recruiter for two national executive search firms before developing his own management consulting and executive recruitment company, now known as Merit Consulting, Inc. Previously, he was the Director of Environmental, Health and Safety for Allied Signal where he was integrally involved with management of engineering and operational improvements which led to recognition by the State of Florida for Corporate Advancement of Environmental Initiatives on privately held land.

The bulk of David’s knowledge and experience is in manufacturing, specifically in the automotive and aerospace sector. Existing OEMs and new start-ups find him especially helpful securing engineering and operations talent for the electric and hybrid vehicle industry. His passion and experience is in understanding, and teaming with, stakeholders of mid to large public and private companies, and with Private Equity firms. David has a large network of talent who know how to grow through implementation use of Continuous Improvement initiatives He has placed hundreds of Presidents, Board Members, and C-suite talent, including their complete staff (from Manager to VP level) for key roles with companies located in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Throughout his executive search career, David has also successfully trained and developed numerous executive search professionals, and also writes and speaks at the local and national level on progressive methods used in the search industry to find, motivate and place top level talent. He earned his B.S. from the University of Florida in 1984.

David and his wife, Diane, and their three children live in St. Johns, FL.