Mr. Smith has over 30 years of business and legal experience and is currently Sr. Vice President, Business Development and General Counsel of Cepheid, a leading developer of integrated systems for genetic assessment. He was previously Senior Vice President, Business Development, at Applied Biosystems group of Applera Corporation. In that capacity he directed the activities of Applied Biosystems in scouting and closing new business opportunities and investments, potential acquisitions, mergers, and collaborations