Veteran CIO James Smith on the Decision to Craft a “Portfolio Chapter” to Cap His Career

James “Jay” Smith, who primarily serves as a board level executive at AEG Fuels, also devotes time to consulting, executive coaching and speaking. He explains his approach in this installment of the My CIO Career interview series.

A typical CIO career is not a series of straight-line ascensions. There are key moments where a rising leader will ask themselves, “What’s next?” and, if they are fortunate, there may be multiple choices. For James “Jay” Smith, the answer to his most important recent moment was “Yes, and.”

After decades of working in conventional roles such as CTO, CIO and head of innovation, Smith decided in mid-2024 he wanted to leave behind long workweeks. He had considered retirement but realized he still had plenty of contributions to make.

These days Smith splits his truncated workweek between multiple positions as part of what he calls his “portfolio career.” He spends most of his time as a board level executive at AEG Fuels, a global aviation fuel and logistics provider and international trip support company. Then there’s the “and.” He is also a venture capital investor, consultant and executive coach. And he is passionate about telling stories to help others through his speaking engagements. He is also pursuing writing opportunities as a way to broaden his reach and impact.

Smith started his professional life as a senior systems engineer at Lockheed Martin Space Operations and from there advanced through various roles, including senior leadership positions at Oracle, NASCAR, and World Fuel Services. From 2018 to 2021 he was CIO and Head of Innovation at TracFone Wireless. Following Verizon’s $7 billion acquisition of TracFone in 2021, he became CTO of Verizon Value, the unit that, like TracFone, provides prepaid wireless services to a segment of the population who needs wireless services to survive in today’s technology-driven society.

“When I joined TracFone, I walked into a company that was full of challenges and opportunities. I was brought in to help the CEO and the rest of the C-suite reinvent the company, to be change agents, to be change leaders,” Smith said. He saw the opportunity to boost TracFone’s market position, inspire what had been an unmotivated technology team, and position the company for a strategic sale as professional challenges that would help him hone his executive skills and, consequently, prepare him for larger opportunities.

Smith said his experience driving transformation at TracFone and then leading a new division pre- and post-acquisition prepared him “to transcend from a top technology role to a more strategic and broader business leadership role.” With that experience, he assumed his current board level executive role at AEG Fuels.

In a November 2024 interview for the “My CIO Career” series, Smith discussed his role as a board level executive and his approach to a portfolio career.

Mary K. Pratt: What do you do as a board level executive?

James “Jay” Smith: I have an advisory and strong influence responsibility for technology and operations, including guiding the strategy of the company’s business transformation efforts, which will have a direct impact on the business’ growth objectives. My leadership style is to steer from the back allowing the other high-caliber leaders to execute with autonomy. I communicate my experience through questions, suggestions, and persuasion to deliver the expected outcomes for AEG’s customers and employees.

I assumed this role, in part, because the company is making a significant investment in technology as a key enabler for the required business transformation. From the onset, we positioned the program as a business-driven initiative powered by world-class technology and further enabled through people and process with the ultimate outcome to disrupt the aviation fuel industry.

Why take this role?

I wanted to transition into another chapter in my career, into a portfolio career, and so far, it has been great. In addition to the board-level position, I am a keynote speaker. And I am a venture capital investor in the early-stage startup community. I enjoy the vibe and the energy coming from startups and they are a great source of exponential thinking. I also specialize in helping larger corporate environments tap into and leverage the “startup innovation energy” as a competitive advantage. I also do executive coaching, and I offer management consulting services.

I predominantly focus on the first three, and I am more selective with the last two, providing those services to close colleagues in my network. I went from long work hours to now working 20 hours a week. The portfolio career provides flexibility and intellectual engagement, which I thoroughly enjoy.

Why did you decide to pursue a portfolio career?

After the strategic sale of TracFone to Verizon, I wanted to provide my experience and leadership to others making society better while also fulfilling my intellectual curiosity. A portfolio career is a way for me to be able to dial back my day-to-day intensity but lean in on the ability to give back, make a difference and still stay intellectually engaged.

Also, I had always aspired to have a board level position, and I was strategic and intentional in building a career that would lead me to that role.

How so?

For example, assuming the CIO role at TracFone and leading the reinvention of the company positioned me for greater opportunities in the future. Through hard work, strategic thinking and leadership, the Tracfone reinvention was a success. This achievement was a major career accomplishment for me, and it catapulted my career to the next level.

After the sale of TracFone to Verizon, I connected with several executives at AEG who were close colleagues of mine from World Fuel. They knew my leadership and experience from World Fuel and also had followed my career development through TracFone and Verizon. Through these relationships and the success at Tracfone and Verizon, I was able to close the deal with AEG.

What steps did you take to prepare yourself for success?

Some of it is foundational: constantly looking for the areas where you need to improve, being honest with yourself about that, being very transparent, seeking feedback from others and really listening to them – particularly the people who work for you. That ability to seek and receive feedback from employees is actually a sign of extremely high levels of trust which is a key characteristic of a high-performing team.

Why does team feedback signify a high-performing team?

When an employee can give feedback to a leader, it shows that the employee has the comfort and the trust to be able to do that and that the leader has the humility and transparency to listen and then act on the feedback and is able to lean into the uncomfortable.

Leaders who can do that are open and honest with themselves about where they need to improve and recognize that no one is perfect and that everyone has “blind spots.” Embracing that and being public about it helped shape me into the leader I am today.

Can you cite an example of how being open to feedback changed how you lead?

I had a one-on-one meeting with one of my senior leaders and he said, “Jay, the team and I feel like your expectations are unrealistic and there is nothing we can do that is good enough.”

And I was like, “Wow. So, first, thank you for giving me that feedback. Two, my intention is to challenge us and, certainly, we have accomplished amazing results together. And I need to change if I am not being clear about that and if I am not providing enough recognition of that.”

I did not say I did not believe him; I did not say he did not understand my intentions. I acknowledged what he saw and, based on that, realized that I needed to work on providing the right recognition. We had some good dialogue from there.

What else do you think makes you a good leader?

I would say my communication and storytelling abilities as well as my ability to set a compelling vision for the future. Those are critically important to any leader’s success.

A compelling vision of the future should not just be, “We want to double revenue in five years.” Ideally it has what I call a grander purpose behind it.

To give you an example, after I started at TracFone, we established our vision as coverage and access for all. Our mantra was serving a community that was going through hardships. We made our vision serving the underserved by providing coverage and access for all. And through those two very short phrases we were able to really rally people and connect them to something bigger. Once we did that, everything started to fall into place.

But you also have to have the culture and talent pieces right, too.

When you get those three things – culture, talent and purpose -- right, any business problem can be solved and innovation can flourish.

How can culture, talent and purpose come together to drive a successful work environment?

I was holding a meeting with my top leaders, including one who had only been on the team for two or three months. I proposed a solution and she raised her hand and said, “Hey, I disagree with that” and went on to say why.

I took note of the moment and said, “I want everybody to realize what just happened. We have someone new to the organization who had the courage to challenge me and speak her mind.”

That is what we want. I always say, “Check our titles at the door,” and I mean it. Because regardless of who is in the room, we expect people to challenge ideas and have healthy debate and listen. Without that, you do not get to the best solutions. I share that story a lot.

What objectives do you still want to accomplish?

Taking on more board-level positions is one objective with a specific focus on public companies, with an ultimate target of the Fortune 100. Another is acquiring paid speaking engagements. I have led many keynotes in various forums, but I have not crossed into paid speaking engagements which is an interesting goal. I would like to write a book, because I feel I have a lot to share around leadership, culture, talent, purpose and innovation.

And then traveling and spending more time with my wife. Our two boys are at the University of Florida; our younger one is a freshman this year. This is our first year being empty-nesters and so we have more flexibility to do things we enjoy together. We both love working out, outdoor sports and traveling abroad.