Nolan Smith is a business leader at Corning Optical Fiber.  He is an active contributor to the Wilmington, North Carolina bicycle and pedestrian community and is a sports enthusiast. 

Nolan began his career as an applications engineer for Barnett + Company, a Georgia-based manufacturer’s representative of process instrumentation.   Exposure to a wide variety of industries and applications, combined with great mentoring from Bill Barnett and Walter Houle, helped Nolan become the staff factory automation engineer and the premier Iconics Genesis developer in Georgia. 

Affection for high-speed machinery lead Nolan to Control Dynamics, where he learned to develop and build turn-key automation systems, design control panels, write motion-control and PLC software, as well as gained business exposure in a "job-shop" operation.

Recruited by Jim Bercik, a former customer, Nolan was drawn to Raleigh, NC to work for I. Krüger as a project engineer/manager in the electrical department.  Here, Nolan was responsible for the design and implementation of plant-wide automation systems for water and waste-water treatment facilities. 

Demanding travel schedules while raising young children led Nolan to Wilmington, NC to Work for Corning Optical Fiber. 

As a contract engineer, Nolan developed and led the installation of advanced technology process equipment; in the US and internationally.   Hired as a direct employee of Corning, Nolan led the installation of high-speed automation equipment under the guidance of another great mentor, Mike Whipple.  During the telecom slow-down, Nolan sharpened his technical skills as a manufacturing engineer while earning his MBA in the executive program at UNCW.  As the fiber business rebounded, technical expertise combined with business training led Nolan to his current role as Strategic Sourcing Manager.

As a procurement professional, Nolan manages a portfolio of strategic raw materials and strategic cost-reduction projects.  Nolan generates generous tangible savings while rigorously ensuring supply needs are met and the quality of incoming materials is improved.  A strong balance of technical knowledge and business acumen, analysis and modeling skills, relationship management and negotiation capability ensures value generation for the business.

Nolan enjoys traveling and spending time outdoors: playing USTA tennis, league soccer, boating, and camping.

Nolan co-chairs the Betsy W Lewis Tennis Challenge, an annual charity tennis tournament that raises money for the Zimmer Cancer Center at New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

Nolan is the mayoral nominee to the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee.

Nolan graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s with a Masters of Business Administration and holds an Electrical Engineering Technology degree from DeVry University.