It took a lot of people to make Nina Smith one of the top businesswomen in Orange County.
Smith, president of the business management division at software maker Sage Software Inc. in Irvine, heads a group of 2,000 workers developing and selling software for small and midsize businesses.
Along with Sage’s North America Chief Executive Sue Swenson, who started at the company last month, Smith helps run OC’s biggest software company by sales.
She was one of five women honored at the Business Journal’s 14th annual Women in Business award luncheon in Irvine on May 22.
Smith said she credits her career to mentors and other “sponsors.”
“I have had some phenomenal experiences in my career because there was always someone there to help me,” she said. “Sometimes, they are people who I didn’t even realize. They have knowledge about your skills, add credibility and support your growth.”
Smith has spent the past seven years at Sage, a maker of business software that’s the dominant part of Britain’s Sage Software PLC. The North American unit in Irvine has 500 local workers and yearly sales of $1 billion, about 45% of its parent’s total.
Sage’s software streamlines tasks for companies, including accounting, purchasing and other day-to-day operations.
The company’s bread and butter are businesses with five to 250 workers. It sells through a big network of resellers, including Laguna Hills-based Blytheco LLC.
Corporate Changes
Sage has seen big changes of late.
Last year, the company decentralized U.S. operations to help independent sellers of its software work more efficiently with Sage’s some 2 million customers.
Former Sage Software chief executive Ron Verni, who led the North American unit from Atlanta, and former chief financial officer Jim Eckstaedt, were ousted last year by Sage’s English board.
And Sage has changed dramatically as it digests some 20 acquisitions it’s made in the past 10 years.
Smith and new Chief Executive Swenson are focused on a goal of doubling sales in the next few years.
“The thing I like most about the company is that we set a direction and everyone kind of goes for it,” Smith said. “It’s been such a positive experience.”
Smith comes from a modest background. She grew up the oldest of six kids in poor neighborhoods outside Chicago.
Her mom raised Smith and her siblings on her own.
“My mom had me when she was 16, so in some ways we grew up together,” Smith said.
She credits her mom for imparting a sense of responsibility for others.
Smith, who has a grown daughter and a grandchild, helped out around the house, cared for younger siblings and was treated like an adult early on, she said.
Her mom always encouraged her to think big, Smith said.
“She always said to me, ‘You can do and be anything that you want and you don’t have to follow this path of having children so young,'” she said. “My mom communicated to me that I didn’t have any boundaries.”
As a child, Smith said she “could always be found reading a book.”
“That’s how I knew there was a much bigger world out there,” she said.
Smith owes a lot to a tenacious high school guidance counselor who helped her navigate the college admissions process and get scholarships.
“She was a very young woman at the time, but she made such a difference in my life,” she said.
Smith started her career at Xerox Corp. at 22 and stayed for nearly 20 years.
Colleagues and a mentoring program at Xerox helped her move up in the company.
“The number of people, both men and women, inside the company who took me under their wings was incredible,” she said.
Pattern of Mentoring
Smith was given the chance to coach others while at Xerox. She said she continues mentoring today.
“At any given point I have 10 to 15 people I am mentoring, and no matter what I will find the time,” she said. “I feel like after working for 30 years there is so much of my experience that I can share.”
Smith still keeps in touch with her own mentor of more than 20 years.
“Mentors outside the company are extremely invaluable,” she said. “I can pick up the phone and explain a work situation I’m going through. They can give you an objective view and are great sounding boards.”
Smith said she spends her free time visiting her 6-year-old grandson and her 21 nieces and nephews.
One niece lives with her in Yorba Linda while she goes to college.
“Even today, I still tend to be the overarching leader to my immediate family,” Smith said. “Being the oldest aunt, I have helped them to get to college and to complete college. I believe that giving back starts at home. I hold myself responsible for it.”
