Liz Smith

Liz Smith

Independent Consultant

Liz Smith is passionate about science and conservation communications. Her work has focused on enabling scientists and activists to more effectively share their stories with the general public. She brings with her more than ten years of experience in strategic communications, including branding, marketing, public relations, social media, filmmaking, website development, and science writing. She served on staff as CMG's Director & Chief Operating Officer from 2015-2017.

As a communications consultant, Liz has worked with organizations on projects ranging from exploring shipwrecks off the coast of Albania to filming climate change activists in Washington, DC. She holds an MFA in Science and Natural History Filmmaking from Montana State University and an undergraduate degree in Astronomy from Whitman College. She spent six years working in ocean exploration & conservation and has worked as a science communications director aboard research vessels in the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mediterranean. She has explored 2,000-year-old Greek and Roman shipwrecks, searched for Amelia Earhart’s lost airplane and assisted with search and recovery operations off the coast of Syria.

Prior to working in ocean exploration, Liz produced films and multimedia about astrophysics & earth science at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. She has also produced documentary work for the National Park Service and worked as a science reporter for NBC in Montana. She is a Fulbright Scholar and member of American MENSA. She is also certified as an Advanced and Rescue Scuba Diver, a single-engine private pilot and a wilderness EMT.