Tammy Smith, First Openly Gay U.S. General, to Speak on Leadership in High-Stakes Environments

Tammy Smith, a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army Reserve and the first openly gay U.S. general, will speak on leadership within high-stakes environments on Sept. 22 at Haas.

Gen. Smith’s talk, part of the Dean’s Speaker Series, will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Andersen Auditorium. The event is co-sponsored by Veterans at Haas, Q@Haas, and Women in Leadership (WIL).

The event is free and open to the Haas community. Registration is required.

Gen. Smith made history when she was promoted to Brigadier General in 2012, and she's continued to break ground in bringing the Army into the 21st century.

Gen. Smith, who spent a year of her 26-year career in Afghanistan during the war, will speak on leading within chaotic environments. As a woman within a historically male-dominated organization, Gen. Smith can address navigating gender and role. And as an openly gay leader in the military—where "don't ask, don't tell" was the policy until 2011—she can share her experience of combining leadership with an open, authentic expression of self.

Additional Dean’s Speaker Series events this fall include Deanna Berkeley, the president of Alice + Olivia (Oct. 16); Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California and former United States Secretary of Homeland Security (Nov. 4); and Biz Stone, co-founder and CEO of Jelly Industries, and co-founder of Twitter (Nov. 6).

Also planned is a panel discussion on Income Inequality in the 21st Century, on Tuesday, October 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the Wells Fargo Room.

Speakers will include Emmanuel Saez, professor of Economics at the University of California, UC Berkeley; Laura Tyson, professor of Business Administration and Economics, Haas School of Business; and Rich Lyons, dean of the Haas School of Business.

The Dean’s Speaker Series focuses on distinguished leadership, specifically how leaders succeed by helping to create organizations where innovation is allowed to flourish. The series is made possible by the Mary Josephine Hicks Distinguished Speaker Series Fund.

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