Patrick "Rick" Smith has served as Chief Executive Officer and a director of Axon Enterprise, Inc. since 1993, and is also the company's co-founder. He founded the company (formerly TASER International, Inc.) in September 1993 with his brother, Thomas P. Smith, after completing graduate school that summer.
Mr. Smith graduated from Harvard University cum laude in just three years (class of 1991) and entered directly into the M.B.A. program at the University of Chicago. In two years he completed both a master's degree in international finance from the University of Leuven in Belgium and an M.B.A. with honors at the University of Chicago, graduating in the top 5% of his class.
As the visionary of the company, Mr. Smith brings extensive executive leadership experience in the technology industry, including the management of worldwide operations, sales, service and support as well as technology innovation. He currently holds 53 U.S. patents.