Donald A. Smiley (born December 11, 1955) is the former President and

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Summerfest Summerfest is an annual music festival held in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First held in 1968, Summerfest is located at Henry Maier Festival Park, adjacent to Lake Michigan and Milwaukee's Third Ward business district. Summerfest is known ...

and a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

executive. He served as president of the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. The team plays its home games at LoanDepot Park. The ...

from 1994 to 1998, taking over after the death of

Carl Barger Carl F. Barger (August 18, 1930 – December 9, 1992) was an American Pittsburgh attorney and baseball executive. Biography Barger became the President of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball team, serving from 1987 through the beginnin ...

. He is a graduate of the

University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh The University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh (UW Oshkosh or UWO) is a public university in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs to around 13,0 ...

Career

After graduating from college, Smiley worked at

WFRV-TV WFRV-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on East Mason Street in Green Bay and a transmitter north of Morrison, Wiscon ...

in Green Bay first as a cameraman and then as an assignment reporter. He went on to work as district sales manager for Hoffmaster Paper Company in Oshkosh from 1979 until 1982 when he left to become the director of marketing for the Honda Classic PGA Tournament in Florida in 1982.

Florida Marlins

In 1991, Smiley became the vice president and chief spokesman for South Florida Big League Baseball during which he helped secure the expansion of Florida Marlins. He served as president of the Marlins from 1994 to 2000. The owner of the Florida Marlins at the time,

Wayne Huizenga Harry Wayne Huizenga Sr. (; December 29, 1937 – March 22, 2018) was an American businessman. He founded AutoNation and Waste Management Inc., and was the owner or co-owner of Blockbuster Video, the Miami Dolphins of the National Football ...

, tried to arrange a sale of the Marlins to Smiley for $169 million in 1997.

Summerfest

Smiley was hired in 2004 as the CEO of Summerfest, an annual music festival held at the

Henry Maier Festival Park Henry Maier Festival Park is a 75-acre festival park located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the shore Lake Michigan and is the site of the annual Summerfest musical festival and the home of the American Family Insurance Amphitheater. History Be ...

along the lakefront in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. In 2012, Smiley's compensation as Summerfest CEO was $886,185 according to Milwaukee World Festival. In December 2023, he retired from his position as President and CEO

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smiley, Don Living people Florida Marlins executives Businesspeople from Racine, Wisconsin Major League Baseball team presidents University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh alumni 1955 births