Richard A. Smith
International Member (United Kingdom)
Smith was recently elected president of the International Association of Institutes of Navigation. He has also been actively engaged in the creation of the U.N. International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems.
He served in the U.K. Royal Navy for 35 years, rising from ordinary seaman to retiring as a captain. He specialized in navigation, serving at sea in minesweepers to aircraft carriers. On exchange with the U.S. Navy, he was the only foreign officer ever to head the U.S. Naval Academy navigation department, and he held the navigation desk in the U.K. Ministry of Defence (Navy).
He is a graduate of the British, U.S. and NATO war colleges. On leaving the navy, he was appointed the first chief executive of the Royal College of Physicians. He remained active in navigational circles, became President of the Royal Institute of Navigation from 1999 to 2002, and he was the first British Chairman of the European Group of Institutes of Navigation from 2002-05.