Overview

Gender

male

Richard Smith is the shamed, soon retiring Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer at Equifax Inc. since September 2005. Equifax is the most troubled of the three major providers of information solutions that empower consumers and businesses to make critical decisions with greater confidence. Headquartered in Atlanta, Equifax is a $1.55 billion publicly traded company (NYSE: EFX) that operates in 14 countries in North America, Latin America and Europe. It is one of the largest sources of consumer and commercial data in the world, and provides advanced analytics and enabling technologies to provide real-time answers to its customers. Richard joined Equifax in September 2005 after more than two decades with General Electric Co. In his first year with Equifax, Richard spearheaded a strategic planning process that has defined the company’s growth strategy for the next four years. The strategy focuses on driving growth through new product innovation, emerging market opportunities, differentiated data and deepening customer relationships.

Prior to joining Equifax, Richard held several CEO, President and COO positions with GE, where he was appointed a Corporate Officer in 1999. Most recently, Rick was Chief Operating Officer of GE Insurance Solutions, where he led all GE Insurance operating business units, including property and casualty reinsurance, commercial lines insurance and life and health reinsurance. These business units totaled approximately $10 billion in revenues and over $50 billion in assets. Richard's career at GE also included leadership roles in a number of areas including leasing, asset management, distribution and engineering thermoplastics.

Richard earned a B.S. degree in 1981 from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Richard lives in Atlanta with his wife, Joan, and their three daughters.

Richard serves on the Executive Committee of Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the board of directors for the Commerce Club and the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta.

Richard is also a Trustee of the Woodruff Arts Center.