Cameron Smith

Cameron Smith is the CEO and Co-Founder at Bennett Day School, a future-focused PreK-12 educational organization, in the innovative Fulton Market district of Chicago.

Cameron was first inspired as a parent to create Bennett in 2014 for families in Chicago. Today, over 300 students at Bennett from 55 zip codes grow as learners, problem solvers, and critical thinkers with purpose in their lives. Bennett delivers happy, accomplished, and engaged students, families, and faculty via a world-class, dynamic project-based learning program that delivers exceptional outcomes. Bennett also shares resources beyond its own campus with other like-minded educators and schools via the Bennett Labs Collaborative in order to positively impact the lives of as many school children, teachers, and families as possible.

Named a Crain’s Chicago Notable Entrepreneur in 2019, Cameron was previously a Vice President at CHS Capital in Chicago where he focused on investing in education services companies. At CHS, he served on the board of Royall, the leading provider of strategic enrollment marketing services to colleges and universities. He has served on the board of ten organizations also including Premier Early Childhood Education Partners, New York Kids Club, Namaste Charter School in Chicago as Treasurer & Investment Committee Chair, and the Neighborhood Parents Network of Chicago. He is also a member of the Chicago Chapter of Conscious Capitalism.

Cameron holds a B.S. Degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; a Certificate in Space Resources from the Colorado School of Mines given his love of outer space; as well as J.D. and M.B.A. Degrees from Northwestern University. The son of a locomotive engineer and elementary school teacher, Cameron grew up in the Detroit area and lives in the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago with his wife Erica and their two boys.