NAB President Gordon Smith Suffers Stroke

Tuesday night, NAB President-CEO Gordon Smith suffered a stroke and was admitted to the hospital.

According to NAB, the former two-term Senator from Oregon “is responding well to treatment, is stable and alert, and is resting comfortably. His prognosis is good, and he is expected to make a full recovery.”

Smith joined the National Association of Broadcasters as president and CEO in November 2009. Prior to joining NAB, he served as a two-term U.S. senator from Oregon and later as senior adviser in the Washington offices of Covington & Burling. In 2017, NAB extended his contract through March 31, 2023.

During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Smith’s committee assignments included the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, the panel that oversees all broadcast-related legislation. He also served on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Sen. Smith’s role on the Commerce Committee and as chairman of a Senate High Tech Task Force helped foster his interest in new media and new technology issues.

Smith attended Brigham Young University, received his law degree from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, and practiced law in New Mexico and Arizona before returning to Oregon to direct the family-owned Smith Frozen Foods business in Weston, Ore. Before his election to the U.S. Senate in 1996, Smith was elected to the Oregon State Senate, rising to the position of president of that body after only three years.