American businessman (born 1978)
S. Ryan Smith (born June 28, 1978) is an Americanbillionaire businessman and chairman of Smith Entertainment Group. He is the executive chairman and co-founder ofQualtrics , anexperience management company based inProvo, Utah .[ 1] [ 2] [ 3] Utah Jazz of theNational Basketball Association (NBA) and theUtah Mammoth of theNational Hockey League (NHL) in Salt Lake City. He was also a former co-owner ofReal Salt Lake ofMajor League Soccer (MLS).
Early life and education [ edit ] Smith was born inEugene, Oregon .[ 2] [ 4] PhD in information systems.[ 5] [ 6] Brigham Young University 'sMarriott School of Business , he founded Qualtrics with his father, and his brother, Jared. During his junior year he dropped out of school to spend more time working on Qualtrics, though he returned to school and finished his degree in 2016.[ 2]
Sports team ownership [ edit ] On October 28, 2020, Smith bought a majority stake in theUtah Jazz of theNational Basketball Association (NBA) fromGail Miller . The sale also included theDelta Center , theSalt Lake City Stars of theNBA G League , and management of theSalt Lake Bees .[ 7] [ 8] [ 9] [ 10]
As early as 2022, Smith and his Smith Entertainment Group (SEG) discussed moving aNational Hockey League (NHL) team to Salt Lake City, either via expansion or relocation.[ 11] [ 12] [ 13] Delta Center , and perhaps later in a new to-be-constructed arena in the Salt Lake City area.[ 14] Arizona Coyotes ' hockey assets (personnel, draft picks, roster) fromAlex Meruelo for $1.2 billion. Meruelo retained theCoyotes brand, allowing Smith to establish his new team. It operated under the interim name of "Utah Hockey Club" in the 2024–25 season[ 12] Utah Mammoth .
In January 2022, Smith and investorDavid Blitzer purchasedReal Salt Lake ofMajor League Soccer (MLS) andAmerica First Field , which included affiliateReal Monarchs andZions Bank Stadium , fromDell Loy Hansen .[ 15] [ 16] Utah Royals of theNational Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2023, with the original team becoming theKansas City Current in 2020.[ 17] Gail Miller .[ 18]
Smith lives inProvo, Utah , and is married with five children.[ 6] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and spent two years inMexico as amissionary .[ 6] [ 19] Fortune 40 Under 40 ."[ 20] Forbes [ 21]
^ Levy, Ari (January 28, 2021)."Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith made $153 million in Qualtrics IPO a day after his NBA team snagged first place" .CNBC .Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. RetrievedJanuary 28, 2021 . ^a b c Semerad, Tony; Larsen, Andy (October 28, 2020)."What you need to know about Ryan Smith, the new owner of the Utah Jazz" .The Salt Lake Tribune Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. RetrievedOctober 30, 2020 . ^ Konrad, Alex (October 19, 2018)."Utah Cloud Unicorn Qualtrics Files To Raise Up To $200M In IPO" .Forbes Archived from the original on June 11, 2019. RetrievedOctober 30, 2020 . ^ Schoenfeld, Bruce (June 7, 2021)."Ryan Smith: Utah's Jazzmaster" .Sports Business Journal . RetrievedAugust 2, 2023 . ^ Raymond, Art (February 2, 2018)."Qualtrics co-founder Ryan Smith honored as Entrepreneur of the Year" .Deseret News the original on October 31, 2020. RetrievedOctober 31, 2020 . ^a b c Lev-Ram, Michal."A Unicorn Founder's Big Life Hack" .Fortune .Archived from the original on October 14, 2020. RetrievedOctober 30, 2020 . ^ "Gail Miller and Family Announce Agreement to Sell a Majority Interest in the Utah Jazz to Qualtrics Founder Ryan Smith" .UtahJazz.com (Press release). NBA Media Ventures, LLC. October 28, 2020.Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. RetrievedDecember 21, 2020 .^ Wojnarowski, Adrian (October 28, 2020)."Sources: Jazz being sold in $1.66B agreement" .ESPN.com Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. RetrievedOctober 30, 2020 .^ Stein, Marc (October 28, 2020)."Utah Jazz to Sell Majority Stake to Tech Entrepreneur" .The New York Times the original on October 29, 2020. RetrievedOctober 31, 2020 .^ "NBA approves sale of Jazz to Utah technology entrepreneur" .AP NEWS . December 18, 2020.Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. RetrievedJanuary 28, 2021 .^ Fox, Derick (January 24, 2024)."Utah sports mogul Ryan Smith submits bid to bring NHL to Salt Lake City" .ABC4 .Archived from the original on June 19, 2024. RetrievedJanuary 27, 2024 . ^a b Kaplan, Emily (April 18, 2024)."NHL approves Coyotes sale, relocation to Salt Lake City" . ESPN.Archived from the original on April 19, 2024. RetrievedApril 19, 2024 . ^ The Canadian Press (January 24, 2024)."Jazz's parent company initiates NHL expansion process" .TSN Archived from the original on June 13, 2024. RetrievedApril 10, 2024 .^ Rosen, Dan (January 24, 2024)."Salt Lake City group formally requests NHL to initiate expansion process" .NHL.com Archived from the original on April 11, 2024. RetrievedApril 10, 2024 . ^ "David Blitzer & Smith Entertainment Group to Purchase Real Salt Lake" .rsl.com . January 5, 2022.Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. RetrievedFebruary 1, 2022 .^ McDonald, Ryan (January 6, 2022)."How the deal for Ryan Smith, David Blitzer to buy Real Salt Lake came together" .Deseret News .Archived from the original on March 3, 2022. RetrievedMarch 2, 2022 . ^ Gonzalez, Roger (March 12, 2023)."Utah Royals FC to return to NWSL under David Blitzer and Ryan Smith as owners; club will begin playing in 2024" .CBS Sports .Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. RetrievedJuly 30, 2023 . ^ Novy-Williams, Eben (April 18, 2025)."Miller Family Buying Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals From Blitzer" .Sportico . RetrievedApril 20, 2025 . ^ Watson, Carlos (November 29, 2014)."Mormon Mad Men: Hold the Whiskey + Cigarettes" .OZY .Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. RetrievedMay 30, 2021 . ^ "Ryan Smith" .Fortune .Archived from the original on April 25, 2017. RetrievedOctober 30, 2020 .^ "Eduardo Saverin" .Forbes . RetrievedJanuary 7, 2025 .
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