James C. Smith

James C. Smith was born in 1959 in Carlisle, Kentucky, where he spent his youth. Attending Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia on a football scholarship, he was active in student affairs before graduating magna cum laude in 1981 with a bachelor's degree. In 2017, the university awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Early in his career Smith worked as a journalist for small newspapers such as the Carlisle Mercury, where he was both a reporter and an editor. He was the managing editor of the Charleston Daily Mail when it was acquired by Thomson Newspapers in 1987, at which point Smith joined the Thomson newspaper group. He initially held several staff and operating positions, after which he was made responsible for Thomson Newspapers' operations in North America. According to Reuters, while he was the head of the unit in the United States, Thomson Newspapers became "one of the first media companies to shift away from the declining newspaper business to focus on electronic publishing."

After the company sold its newspaper business in 2000, Smith moved to the Thomson Corporation's professional publishing side. With responsibility for "a number of businesses serving the legal, regulatory and academic markets," in December 2001 he became Thomson's executive vice president of human resources and administration. He then became the company's executive VP of development and corporate affairs in January 2002, and in April 2005 he was appointed president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Thomson Corporation's academic publishing division. Smith subsequently was Thomson's chief operating officer (COO).

Thomson Reuters COO and CEO

After the formation of Thomson Reuters in April 2008, Smith was named president and CEO of the combined company's professional division, which sells tax, legal, and accounting products. Smith was then made COO of Thomson Reuters Corporation in late September 2011 as "part of a move by the company to overhaul the structure of the group." On January 1, 2012, Smith became CEO and president of Thomson Reuters. Smith was succeeded by Steve Hasker as Thomson Reuters' President and CEO in February 2020.

He lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with his wife Pam Kushmerick. He has four sons.

He was inducted into the Marshall University College of Business Hall of Fame in 2014, and he delivered the keynote address for Marshall University's commencement ceremony in 2017.