Congratulations to Michelle Smith for her selection to 30 Women to Watch by Utah Business Magazine.
Like most companies, LHM Sports & Entertainment had a Human Resources department. When Michelle Smith assumed functional responsibilities, she made a fundamental change in name, renaming the department to People & Culture, and substance. That signaled a new approach to leadership, benefits, mentoring, inclusion, communications and diversity for the full-time and part-time employees.
For her profound influence and leadership, Smith has been honored by Utah Business magazine among its 30 Women to Watch for 2020.
“Michelle is one of the best leaders in our organization,” said Steve Starks, president of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies. “Her passion for employee engagement combined with her innovative approach to problem solving has made a tremendous impact on our people and culture efforts.”
As a senior vice president, Smith is responsible for aligning the People & Culture teams across the LHM Sports & Entertainment properties, focusing on company culture and people strategy with appropriate practices and policies, and developing programs that are responsive to the changing dynamics of the organization’s growing workforce.
She has done little things like setting up a maternity parking space to big things like an enhanced parental leave policy, 40 percent discounts at sister properties, graduating multiple classes from a LHMSE Leadership Institute, organizing a weekly all-employee “Huddle” and opening up her door to better cultivate a trust between employees and management. Two specific areas of focus have been 1) developing the company’s leaders of tomorrow and 2) fostering a healthy work environment through inclusion, diversity and belonging.
Smith was instrumental in the creation of the “Lead Together” initiative, a collaboration among Utah sports teams and athletes to stand up to racism and hate speech, and to help cultivate a community culture of inclusion and belonging.
“We have leveraged her expertise several times to educate team human resources leaders on how people analytics can elevate our understanding of human behavior,” said Liliahn Majeed, NBA vice president of diversity and inclusion. “In addition, Michelle is my partner in identifying how to best operationalize belonging so we can build an environment where all employees feel safe, seen, heard, and respected. Simply put, Michelle is a thought leader who is integral in shaping the future of human resources at the NBA.”