Dr. Zeric Smith has 30 years of development experience. Currently serving as the Deputy Mission Director for USAID/Senegal with responsibilities for the Sahel where he leads all technical, program, humanitarian assistance, and business support services for USAID teams and activities in Mauritania, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Cape Verde, and Chad, and provides support to USAID/Niger (Sept. 2020 - Present).  He provides technical direction and management support for 39 staff in these countries with an annual budget in excess of $700 M. 

Previously at USAID/Senegal, he was the Director of the Sahel Regional Technical Office (SRTO), a multi-sectoral team and concurrently served as the Regional Resilience Coordinator for the Sahel (2017 - 2020).  In that role, he led the development of the Sahel Development Partnership, and the design and launch of Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced (RISE 2) program.  

He previously served USAID in DRC heading the Eastern Congo Office (2015-17), Indonesia where he was Deputy, and then Director of the Democracy Rights, and Governance Office (2011-15), Afghanistan serving with ISAF in Kabul and on the PRT in Badakhshan Province (2010-11), and in Africa Bureau, Office of Sustainable Development where he was the Bureau’s Conflict Advisor (2005-2009). 
  
After getting his BA at Brigham Young University, Dr. Smith began his career as a PCV in Mali (1989 -91) followed by graduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1991 - 97) where he earned an MA and PhD in Political Science. Dr. Smith was a Visiting Research Professor at the University of South Carolina in Columbia (1997 – 99).  Between 2000 and 2005 he worked for Management Systems International as a Senior Political Scientist where he consulted extensively for USAID and other government clients. 

He speaks fluent French, basic Indonesian, and remedial Bambara.