EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of the May edition of Auto Remarketing, which will focus entirely on a new special feature: Who to Watch.

This special feature will recognize auto industry executives and companies — selected by Cherokee Media Group’s senior editors — who are significantly shaping the future of the used-car industry. This is not an awards issue, but rather a collection of special features on leading companies and executives from retail, remarketing, auto finance, loss mitigation, and investor segments of the industry.

Brad Smith has combined lessons learned while in the military and the corporate world and blended it with one of his technological passions to embark on an entrepreneurial path via his own firm.

“Being an entrepreneur is something that’s always kind of been woven into me,” said Smith, a husband and father of two adult daughters who are now married and taking their own life journeys.

“With the kids graduating college and moving out of the house, I’m able to take on more risk now. And so, the time has kind of come. And plus, I’ve gotten to a point in my career where I used to be motivated by climbing the corporate ladder of sorts, because I thought that’s what you were supposed to do,” he continued.

“And at this point in my career, I’ve achieved so much, and I want to really build the things that I’m passionate about. And one of those things is to build a business,” Smith added.

Smith now is the founder and principal consultant of Leroy Lynn, which aims to empower organizations with data, artificial intelligence and blockchain. Smith officially opened Leroy Lynn just few months ago, but his working life started many years earlier.

Like many youngsters at that time, Smith delivered newspapers beginning at age 12. Upon graduating from high school, Smith enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and served in the military as a fire truck mechanic.

Upon departing from the Air Force, Smith, like many Michigan natives, entered into the automotive industry, honing his technical skills at the General Motors Proving Grounds, where he worked as a ride and handling technician on prototype vehicles.

Smith then moved away from the manufacturing part of automotive into the data sphere, serving more than 15 years in executive roles with Automotive Lease Guide (ALG), R.L. Polk and Experian. He attributed part of his successes in those corporate positions to what he learned from the Air Force.

“You learn attention to detail. You learn respect for the chain of command. And those two things I think are paramount because you’re self-accountable for attention to detail in a certain way,” Smith said.

“Your peers will quickly call you out if something is not to the detail that it is supposed to be. In the military, everything is highly detailed, you know, from the corners on your bed sheets to the ribbons on your uniform. There is a protocol and a standard for each and every one of those,” he continued. And the details associated with those are critically important. So that was probably the most important thing I learned as a young man going into the military.

“And then coming out, there was always this respect for chain of command,” Smith went on to say. “And I worked in organizations where people at the lowest levels in the organization would just leapfrog everybody and go straight up to the CEO.  I wouldn’t do that. I always respected my chain of command, my reporting relationships and reporting lines and tried to lead and manage and influence from wherever I was in the organization. I think that helped me of climb the corporate ladder pretty quickly throughout my career.”

Before launching Leroy Lynn, Smith was with Experian for a decade, cultivating a series of accomplishments. He developed and led AI-driven initiatives, aligning AI strategy with business goals and driving annual revenue growth. He also implemented patented consumer loyalty measurement products.

Being with such a large organization now helps Smith now because when looks in the mirror, he sees Leroy Lynn’s entire workforce.

“It’s the visibility and exposure and the participation in all aspects of what it takes to bring a product to market, sell that product to client base, support that product to include recognizing the revenue and associated tax obligations, having visibility at the levels that I operated at with Experian and other employers really set me up well,” Smith said.

“And while I never worked inside of a sales organization, I was always deeply attached to sales. And so understanding what’s the product market share for this product? How big is that product opportunity? How many people do we need to effectively tackle that opportunity? You know, is it best to exhibit at trade shows or try to go cold call those clients individually? Things like that, outside of my traditional product role, having visibility into that really kind of helped me better prepare for the things that are outside of my core expertise, which is really data product management.”

Now with Leroy Lynn, Smith is hopeful of what blockchain can do in automotive to improve the situations he’s seen throughout his career.

“It’s my belief that in time as these things are adopted, the current administration is showing a lot of support, so we’ve got some tailwinds behind us from a regulatory standpoint, that as we start to see situations where stable coins are used to facilitate business, especially in terms of an automotive transaction, where you have foreplan lending, you have consumer lending, you have all these F&I things, all of these things can be tracked on a decentralized ledger, which effectively what a blockchain is. Then the reduction in settlement times alone from two to five days for dealers is going to drive significant dealer profitability,” Smith said.

“When a dealer can immediately settle a vehicle transaction, whether they have a vehicle price as well, about $45,000 now, if a dealer can immediately settle that across the entire inventory of vehicles that they’re selling, both new and used, the opportunity is huge. And that’s where I’m really dedicating the rest of my career is to help dealers unlock that because they’re not prepared today,” he continued.

Smith understands he is still in start-up mode, but he’s hopeful his momentum can build quickly.

“Well, it’s been exhilarating, I’ll say is the best word that I can use to describe it,” Smith said about his entrepreneurial journey so far. “I’m building something and iterating through the things that I’m building and having meaningful conversations with industry participants. And it’s motivating and encouraging.”