Taiya Smith

Background

About Taiya Smith

Taiya Smith is a Senior Fellow at the Climate Leadership Council where she focuses on the nexus of climate change and international economic growth, including carbon pricing and trade. In addition, she co-leads an initiative to create a dynamic map of the global carbon supply chain. Previously, as Managing Partner at Garnet Strategies, Smith advised multinational companies, financial institutions, and trade associations on climate and energy policy, U.S-China relations, geopolitical risk, and matters arising in global forums. Serving as Deputy Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Smith led the U.S- China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), a cabinet level bilateral dialogue. She managed the U.S. negotiating team across 7 government departments and established the U.S.–China Ten Year Framework on Energy and the Environment and the EcoPartnership program, both of which served as the platform for U.S- China cooperation on climate change across U.S. administrations. Smith served as special assistant to Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick advising on for Africa, Europe, and political/military affairs. Prior to that, Smith was the State Department’s point person on Darfur, spending much of her time in Darfur working with international donors, the Sudanese government and rebel factions. Smith holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a M.P.P. from the Kennedy School of Government. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Committee on United States-China Relations. She is a nonresident Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Smith is a regular speaker on China, climate change, and the U.S-China relationship. An avid horse rider, mountaineer, and aspiring alpine skier, Smith resides with her husband and three children in Washington, DC and at their farm in Rappahannock County, Virginia.