Gene M. Smith is the President of SBI and founded the company in 1996 with Harry B. Brandon. She specializes in international business intelligence and investigative services, and has extensive experience in economic and political analysis.  Since SBI's founding, she has worked on projects around the world, with an emphasis on developing countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Central Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Ms. Smith has particular expertise in providing investigative services, including:

• Due diligence
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations
• Industry-specific country reports
• Risk avoidance analysis
• Background investigations of US and foreign businesses and individuals
• Support for market entry abroad by newly formed business entities
• Tailored business and competitive intelligence

She also has assisted international law enforcement authorities in the investigation and prosecution of fraud.

Gene Smith has developed a broad array of global resources that include a network of in-country associates who support strategic intelligence-gathering operations and state-of-the-art databases.

Her practice provides unique access to sources of information on companies, individuals and potential partners in developing nations and emerging economies. Beyond professional associates in countries around the globe, she has developed relationships with US and foreign government sources, international diplomatic resources, as well as sources in the US from competitive intelligence and law enforcement circles.

Ms. Smith is a former Officer with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), serving at the US Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil, and the US Consulate in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Prior to her service with the US Government, Ms. Smith was a prosecutor and trial attorney in Louisville, Kentucky and New Albany, Indiana.

Gene Smith received a B.A., with honors, from Spalding University (Louisville, KY). She has a Juris Doctor from the University of Louisville School of Law (Louisville, KY), which included a comparative law program through the University of Houston Bates College of Law in Cuernavaca, Mexico. She is fluent in Portuguese and speaks Spanish and French.