Moore School of Business - Brenton Smith, an alum with global business experience

Brenton Smith, left foreground, at a site performance review at a Delphi plant in Changchun, China

Brenton Smith (MIBS '98) jokes that he has "perpetual jet lag" - and for good reason. As Delphi Packard Electric Systems Director of Planning, Asia Pacific, and Delphi Connection Systems' newly appointed Director of Global Planning, he typically travels one to two weeks each month. Smith's major destinations from his Shanghai base? Other areas of China as well as Japan, Korea, the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Germany.

Smith, 36, first began working for the worldwide manufacturer of mobile electronics and transportation components in 1996 while on his internship for the Moore School's Master of International Business Studies program (now called the International MBA program). It went so well that Delphi hired Brenton, who is fluent in Mandarin, as Marketing and Communications Manager for Delphi China as soon as he graduated from USC.

Since joining Delphi, the Florida native has climbed swiftly through the company's ranks, holding positions in sales, marketing, manufacturing, business development, information systems, and, most recently, planning. In his new post, he is focused on "planning for business growth, execution, and capability development" for Delphi's global connection systems business.

Smith, who has lived in Harbin, Beijing, and Shanghai in the past ten years, met and married his Chinese wife while on the MIBS internship. He has had a ringside seat over the past decade watching China's amazing economic growth and sociopolitical transformation. "There is risk and opportunity around every corner," Smith says. "It may sound strange, but the American Dream of rags to riches is alive and well in China. All you need is ambition, hard work, and a little luck."

Smith calls China "the new melting pot of ideas and opportunity" and says that "anybody who wants to do business globally must have an understanding of China and its impact on global economics, business, and politics. I would strongly suggest that any business student or business person spend time learning about China and even find time to experience China firsthand."

Smith recalls that when he first started visiting Shanghai nearly ten years ago, "there were few foreigners and only about ten true high-rise buildings. Today there are literally hundreds of high-rise office buildings and hundreds more high-rise residential buildings." And, he says, it's no longer a "carnival event" - as it used to be in smaller Chinese cities - to see foreigners. Now it's a "daily event and warrants hardly a "Hello."

There are other changes, as well. English is more widely spoken (or written/read) in China today than in other non-English-language-speaking countries of Asia, and Chinese women now have "a much more prominent role in the workplace compared to most other Asian nations."

This is not to say, he adds, that China doesn't face tremendous challenges. "A massive social transformation is under way, unemployment for those over 40 years of age is very high, and poverty remains a very real problem in the countryside. The young are moving to the big cities, the old are struggling with a weak social insurance system, and environmental degradation is getting worse. These are all problems that the government hopes economic growth will help it to overcome."

Smith says that he, his wife, and their two young daughters plan to stay in Asia "for a few more years." They are, however, "flexible and always ready for new opportunities and experiences." Regardless of where they eventually settle, however, "China will always be our second home."

Alumni News

Brenton Smith, finding opportunity in China