Terri Southern Schmidt
Senior executive, strategist, business builder, and co-author of Command & Control: Lessons of the Saber.
Terri Southern Schmidt has always thrived in a fast-paced, challenging business environment. As a senior executive with experience in strategy, business development, marketing, and alliance management, she has built a proven track record of developing and growing businesses. Her various leadership positions inspired her to co-author Command & Control: Lessons of the Saber with Judge Bruce Tucker Smith.
Schmidt demonstrated her business leadership in her role as Executive Vice President for Business Development for startup Life & Specialty Ventures, LLC (LSV) by helping facilitate the formation of a new partnership among five Blue Cross and Blue Shield organizations. That work generated more than $100 million in new revenue in the first year alone. To ensure the partnership achieved mutually beneficial outcomes, she also spearheaded the development of an alliance management process. During her tenure at LSV, the company's value grew from $164 million to more than $350 million.
The foundation of Schmidt's career began at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, where she developed statewide marketing plans, analytical frameworks, and planning models that used the science of market research to expand the company's market position. Recognized for her strategic thinking, Prudential Healthcare created a position for her in Atlanta, where she led the development of the small group market across forty-two markets and was accountable for $600 million in revenue.
Recognized as a change agent in the industry, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida later recruited Schmidt back to Florida, where she continued a long career through progressive leadership roles. She developed strategic marketing plans for a $1.2 billion segment and, with her results-focused mindset and tenacity, was selected as one of eight high-potential employees to launch a new subsidiary, Navigy. As a principal for Navigy, she was instrumental in developing future health-industry business models and creating new revenue streams. Her success earned her the organization's prestigious Individual Contributor of the Year award, selected from among 7,000 employees.
Her success positioned her as a critical resource in helping Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida grow its subsidiaries, and she was quickly promoted to Vice President of Business Solutions for Florida Combined Life, Florida Combined Life Insurance Agency, and Comp Options Insurance Company. Within two years, she was promoted to President of those organizations and tasked with beginning the alliance-building work with multiple Blue plans that later created LSV.
Schmidt graduated cum laude from Jacksonville University in Florida with a BS in Economics. She also completed executive education through the Wharton School of Business, the University of Chicago, and the Center for Creative Leadership, along with graduate coursework in business administration.
She remains active in her community, having served on the Board of Directors for the Duval Early Learning Coalition and the alumni board for Jacksonville University. She holds an active Florida real estate license and continues to volunteer and raise funds for charities including Wishes for Heroes, the Humane Society, the Monique Burr Foundation, Yellow Ribbon, and the American Red Cross, where she has helped facilitate millions in donations. She resides with her husband and two dogs in Ponte Vedra, Florida.
Judge Bruce Tucker Smith
Retired United States Administrative Law Judge, retired Air Force Judge Advocate, founder, and co-author of Command & Control: Lessons of the Saber.
Judge Bruce T. Smith is a retired United States Administrative Law Judge who served with the Department of Homeland Security for eleven years. He is also a retired Air Force Judge Advocate, having served for twenty-one years as an active-duty, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve JAG. Following his service to the nation in uniform and on the bench, he founded BartlettJames, LLC, a successful national professional consultation firm. His lifetime of leadership experience formed the basis for his collaboration with Terri Southern Schmidt in the creation of Command & Control: Lessons of the Saber.
Judge Smith served for more than eleven years with the Department of Homeland Security, where he presided over innumerable hearings involving sensitive and highly classified information relating to the security of the nation. He also presided over several highly publicized trials involving ranking government officials, major air carriers, and large commercial maritime organizations.
He is also a retired Air Force Judge Advocate who served for twenty-one years as a decorated military judge, prosecutor, investigator, and defense counsel. Among his military and civilian honors is the prestigious Award for Trial Advocacy presented by the New York City Bar Association. In 1986, he was named Officer of the Year at the Air Force's 97th Bombardment Wing.
Throughout his military, judicial, and private business career, Judge Smith has conducted highly classified investigations into organizational leadership, matters involving national security, and interpersonal relationships in the United States and abroad. Across his military and civilian career, he has provided senior legal counsel on organizational leadership, employee discipline, civil rights compliance, and oversight of federal and state law enforcement conduct, including use of force and related controlling statutes and regulations in large organizations comprised of more than 10,000 service members, civilian employees, and state and federal contractors.
He is a sought-after public speaker and widely published author. Throughout his professional career, he has been recognized as a subject-matter expert on television, radio, and in print media on a wide variety of issues for both general and legal audiences.
Judge Smith is an honors graduate of the Washburn University School of Law and served on the board of editors of the Washburn Law Journal. He holds an LLM in international law from The Judge Advocate General's School, United States Army, in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is a graduate of the United States Air Force Air War College.
Judge Smith resides near Hilton Head, South Carolina, with his wife. Together they are the parents of four, grandparents of eleven, and share their home with a Labrador retriever.