February 21, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
Background: Ms. Smith, 35, worked as a real-estate agent before taking the reins of FocusDriven, a Grapevine, Tex., organization incorporated in November that seeks to increase public awareness of the dangers of driving while distracted by cellphone use. Ms. Smith’s mother, Linda Doyle, was killed in an automobile accident in 2008. She was hit by another driver while he was talking on his cellphone.
Education: Ms. Smith attended the University of Oklahoma and community colleges in the Dallas area.
Her group’s origins: Ms. Smith co-founded the group with four other survivors of people killed by distracted drivers. The charity formed after she and other families who have suffered a similar loss met Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at a meeting on distracted driving in Washington last fall; Mr. LaHood suggested that the issue needed an advocacy group like Mothers Against Drunk Driving to create public awareness.
Her agenda: “We’re modeling it just like MADD,” says Ms. Smith, FocusDriven’s only paid employee. Like the anti-drunk-driving organization in its early days, her group intends to raise public awareness of its issue by giving victims and their survivors a voice and to work to change state laws and tighten enforcement. “We hope to change the whole culture of cellphones and driving,” she says.
Salary: $60,000
