Biography
Peter Smith
As Aviat’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Smith leads the advancement of the Company’s financial and operational performance, while strategically navigating through a rapidly evolving industry.
Mr. Smith has more than 25 years of leadership experience in business management and a proven track record of creating value for companies. He most recently served as Senior Vice President, US Windows and Canada for Jeld-Wen, where he had full profit and loss responsibility for Jeld-Wen’s $1B+ windows business, implementing lean manufacturing principles and strategic development programs to deliver growth and improved profitability. Prior to Jeld-Wen, he served as President of Polypore International’s Transportation and Industrial segment and oversaw transformative initiatives that helped prepare the former public company for sale to the Asahi Kasei Group. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer and a director of Voltaix Inc., until its sale to Air Liquide.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Smith held various executive leadership positions at Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, including Cooper Industries, Dover Knowles Electronics and Honeywell Specialty Materials. In these roles, his responsibilities ran the gamut of operations, sales and marketing, business development, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Smith also served on the board of Soleras Advanced Coatings from 2015 to 2018. He has both a Bachelor of Science degree in Material (Ceramics) Engineering and PhD in Material Science and Engineering from Rutgers University, and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Arizona State University.