Craig R Smith

Dr. Craig R. Smith is a physician, author, and entrepreneur whose career has spanned academic medicine, the bio-pharmaceutical industry, and environmental biotechnology. Dr. Smith began his career serving on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. After 16 years at Hopkins, Dr. Smith joined a biotechnology company, Centocor Inc. After directing the clinical development of the Company’s products and later serving a leadership role in Business Development, Dr. Smith returned to Baltimore and co-founded Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. Under his leadership Guilford grew into a fully integrated, publicly traded company. After 12 years leading Guilford, Dr. Smith retired to Florida where he learned of a new method for converting carbon dioxide into ethanol using hybrid algae. Dr. Smith saw the potential value of this method for carbon capture and utilization and co-founded Algenol Biofuels Inc. Dr. Smith served as Chief Operating Officer for 8 years before retiring again. Dr. Smith has served on many corporate or nonprofit Boards of Directors, been elected to several academic societies, and received numerous awards for his academic and public service.