Daniel B. Smith, recently retired from the Foreign Service with the highest rank of Career Ambassador, served as the State Department’s Transition Director for the 2020 Presidential Transition and subsequently as Acting Secretary and Acting Deputy Secretary of State in the early months of the Biden Administration.  He served prior to that as Director of the Foreign Service Institute, the premier foreign affairs training academy for the U.S. Government.  

Ambassador Smith held a series of other senior leadership positions in the State Department, including as Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research and as Ambassador to Greece from 2010 to 2013.  He also served as Executive Secretary of the State Department, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs. In addition to Greece, his overseas tours include Bern, Istanbul, Ottawa, and Stockholm, as well as a recent assignment as Chargé d'Affaires in New Delhi. He has taught Political Science at the U.S. Air Force Academy. 

Ambassador Smith is a recipient of the State Department’s Arnold L. Raphel Memorial Award for mentoring, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award, a Presidential Distinguished Service Award, and the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal. 

Ambassador Smith received his Ph.D. and M.A. from Stanford University, and his B.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder.