Dodgers’ Janet Marie Smith promoted to executive vice president
The Dodgers announced Thursday that Janet Marie Smith has been promoted to executive vice president of planning and development.
Smith joined the Dodgers in 2012 as senior vice president, planning and development and has overseen the large-scale improvement and expansion projects at Dodger Stadium and Campo Las Palmas, the club’s home in the Dominican Republic.
“Janet has done a tremendous job leading our improvement projects over the last nine years, embracing every nuanced challenge and incorporating Dodger history at every turn. Dodger Stadium has always been the most beautiful place in the world to watch a sporting event, and now it has the modern amenities to match that beauty,” said Dodger President and CEO Stan Kasten. “From day one, our priority has been to have the best facilities in sports, and under Janet’s leadership, we’ve completely reimagined what’s possible at Dodger Stadium from a business, baseball and fan experience perspective. The Dodgers and our fans are fortunate to have her.”
Smith began her first large-scale project with the Dodgers after joining the team in 2012 with the removal of Field Level seats and the construction of new home and visiting clubhouses, batting cages, weight rooms and HD DodgerVision boards. Smith and her team have worked to create entrance plazas, tiered seating and bar areas overlooking the bullpens, widened concourses, renovated restrooms, enhanced concession stands and children’s play areas.
She has made it a point with her work — including with the Dodgers’ new Center Field Plaza and renovations to the Right and Left Field Pavilions — to add modern, fan-friendly elements to Dodger Stadium without jeopardizing the memorable aspects or iconic feel of the ballpark. Her latest Dodger Stadium project — which fans were set to see in 2020 prior to the pandemic — was complete with two acres of food and entertainment offerings and included improved ballpark circulation with the addition of elevators, escalators and bridges.
“The Center Field Plaza is intended to literally connect the dots between the two Field Level plazas we did in 2014 and to give us an opportunity to create that front door that Dodger Stadium has never had,” Smith said last year.
In 2017, Smith oversaw the design and installation of the Jackie Robinson statue— the first statue at Dodger Stadium. That year, she also oversaw the renovation and expansion of Campo Las Palmas, which includes state-of-the-art baseball training facilities and houses 96 players, 19 coaches and support staff. The facility features classrooms, social areas and a community field for little league play.
Prior to her time with the Dodgers, Smith worked for the Orioles (vice president of planning and development from 1989–94 and 2009–12), Braves (vice president of planning and development from 1994–2000) and Red Sox (senior vice president of planning and development from 2002–09).
She oversaw the design and construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the preservation and improvements at Fenway Park and the transformation of the 1996 Olympic Stadium into Turner Field in Atlanta, where she also oversaw the development of Philips Arena (then home to the Hawks). Her renovations on Camden Yards set the standard for baseball’s new wave of ballparks when it opened in 1992.
Smith is a native of Jackson, Mississippi, and earned her degree in architecture from Mississippi State University. Smith also has a masters degree in urban planning from City College of New York. In October 2019, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame announced Smith was among six people to be inducted into its Class of 2020.
