Ryan Smith

Ryan Smith is the founder and executive chairman of Qualtrics, the leader and creator of the experience management (XM) category, and one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the world. In 2002, he started Qualtrics in his family basement in Provo, Utah with his dad Scott and brother Jared. His dad had been diagnosed with cancer so Ryan came home to be with him. Some kids work on cars with their dad, Scott and Ryan decided to build a tech company. In 2019, Qualtrics was acquired for $8 billion, the largest private enterprise software acquisition ever at the time. In 2021, Qualtrics went public as an independently operated company operating under the Nasdaq ticker symbol XM. Ryan co-founded 5 For The Fight, the campaign to eradicate cancer by funding groundbreaking research. He and his wife Ashley established Smith Entertainment Group in 2020, the parent company of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, the MLS’s Real Salt Lake, and a number of other sports and entertainment related entities.