Southwest Director
Molly Smith believes in creating Common Ground by celebrating the intersection of educational vision, community values and creative design. She is an educational planner, facilitator, author, speaker, community member and a Mom. She is the founder of thinkSMART planning which is committed to the creation of learning environments that support the latest thinking in teaching and learning. She provides expert leadership in creating the learning plans, educational specifications, master plans and strategic plans for educational facilities all over the US. Her broad-ranging experience includes facility programming, master planning, space utilization analysis, budget and financial analysis, and site selections for well over $1B of educational space over the last 20+ years. Molly has been fortunate to work nationally with a wide range of award winning design firms and prominent school districts creating amazing environments for teaching and learning. A nationally-recognized authority on all aspects of K-12 planning, Molly is often invited to teach, speak and write about planning and facilitation. A natural presenter, Molly has addressed numerous practitioner-based audiences at national educational conventions. She has been invited to guest lecture at the Arizona State University School of Architecture, and has written and spoken extensively on school planning techniques and school facilities’ connection to student improvement. Molly has been an active member of the Association since 2000, serving on many committees, juries, lead planner for MacConnell Award Winning School 2008 / Finalist School 2010 and Southwest Region President 2004.