A SMITH & CO - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Executive Vice President of Post Production

Anna grew up in Oklahoma and received her BA in Communications from Loyola University, New Orleans. She began her television career as a logger for Bunim/Murray Productions and continued to earn her stripes while working as a freelance Post Supervisor and Post Producer for various production companies, including Toy Plane Industries, Katalyst Films, and Reveille. In 2008, she accepted the position of Director of Music Production at DreamWorks Studios. Two years later, Anna joined Magical Elves, where she served as the Head of Post Production until 2017, when she was named the Executive Vice President of Post Production for Tinopolis, USA.

Job Titles:

• Executive Producer
• Vice President

Anthony Storm serves as showrunner and executive producer for a variety of A. Smith & Co. programs. Storm has executive-produced hundreds of hours of documentary and reality programming, including NBC's Emmy-nominated American Ninja Warrior, NBC's Titan Games, Netflix's Floor Is Lava, ESPN's NFL Pro Bowl Games, NBC's Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge, Discovery's SciJinks, ESPN's Pro Bowl Skills Challenge, TNT's Dunk King, TVOne's Celebrity Crime Files, six seasons of UFC Countdown, MyNetworkTV's IFL Battleground and CMT's Chainsaw Gang. He also produced 26 episodes of Fox Sports Network's sports documentary series, Beyond the Glory; wrote and directed multiple episodes of TVOne's Unsung, BET's American Gangster, the UFC documentary Road to the Octagon; and the emmy-nominated Ronda Rousey: Breaking Ground. Prior to joining A. Smith & Co. in 2006, Anthony served as a supervising producer on ESPN's Sport Science, FSN's In Focus and FSN's The Sports List. He started his career as a Production Assistant for HBO's Wimbledon coverage, ESPN's French Open, CBS's US Open and NBC's 1992 Summer Olympics. After helping to launch The Golf Channel, Anthony served as a feature and live show producer for Fox Sports News, spearheading coverage from the World Series, NBA Finals, Super Bowls and NCAA Final Fours. Anthony studied Radio/TV/Film at Northwestern University.

Job Titles:

• Chairman & CEO, a. Smith & Co. Productions Chairman, Tinopolis Group U.S
• Chairman of Tinopolis Group U.S

Arthur Smith has been a hands-on, trendsetting producer in the unscripted television space, creating innovative, larger-than-life formats at A. Smith & Co. Productions, for two decades and counting. He is a pioneer in nonfiction television, and since founding A. Smith & Co. in 2000, Smith has created some of the longest-running, culture-shaping unscripted series in television history. He was honored as one of Variety's "Titans of Unscripted TV" in 2022, inducted into the Realscreen Awards Hall of Fame in 2021, awarded Broadcasting & Cable's "Producer of the Year" in 2020, and is the recipient of dozens of industry awards. With more than 200 shows for over 50 networks, under Smith's leadership, A. Smith & Co. essentially forged the modern food competition reality genre in the United States with the launch of FOX's longest-running reality show "Hell's Kitchen," which has since spawned numerous projects starring Chef Gordon Ramsay. Smith's flagship summer primetime show, "American Ninja Warrior," now in its 15th season on NBC has garnered 7 Primetime Emmy® Award nominations. On top of elite titles like "Hell's Kitchen," "American Ninja Warrior," are Smith's earlier genre-spanning successes including, "Kitchen Nightmares," "The Titan Games With Dwayne Johnson", "Trading Spaces," "Pros vs. Joes," "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," "The Swan," and "Paradise Hotel," to name just a few. Among the eclectic array of current A. Smith & Co. series are "The Floor is Lava", "Mental Samurai," "Welcome to Plathville," "American Ninja Warrior Junior," "Unsung," "American Gangster: Trap Queens," and the "NFL's Pro Bowl Games." Smith also serves as Chairman of Tinopolis Group U.S., a leading TV production and distribution group. In this role, Smith also oversees the unscripted powerhouse Magical Elves, the Emmy Award®-winning producer of uplifting unscripted series such as "Top Chef," "Nailed It!," "Sugar Rush" and more. Smith's life-long journey in entertainment began as a teenager, when he acted in sitcoms and feature films in Canada. He attended Ryerson University where he distinguished himself with multiple student awards and scholarships. Smith embarked on his career as a television producer as a twenty-two-year-old wunderkind, talking his way into sports production at CBC in his native Canada. He quickly distinguished himself as a rising star at the network, where he produced three Olympic Games among countless other high-profile events. At the age of twenty-eight, Smith was named the youngest-ever head of CBC Sports. His successful run at the network ended when American broadcasting icon Dick Clark lured him to Hollywood to develop and produce a wide variety of entertainment programming. Then FOX anointed him, the head of programming and production at FOX Sports Net, where Smith played an instrumental role in the launch and growth of this massive entity, before the biggest reach of his life-the creation of his eponymous production company that has since thrived for more than twenty years and counting. Throughout Smith's prodigious body of work, spanning upwards of tens of thousands of hours, he has consistently earned acclaim for his unparalleled commitment to infusing each piece with heart, ensuring that every Arthur Smith production is one that the audience doesn't just see, but one that they feel on an emotional level. In his recently launched book, REACH: Hard Lessons and Learned Truths from a Lifetime in Television, Smith illustrates just how far you can go when you work hard, take risks, and reach for your dreams. All of his proceeds from the book go to the REACH Foundation which donates money to a number of charities who lift people up in some way so they can "reach" in their own lives.

Job Titles:

• Vice President of Post Production at a. Smith & Co

Brian McCarthy is the Vice President of Post Production at A. Smith & Co., where he has helped produce hundreds of hours of award-winning unscripted television since 2012. With a passion for storytelling and a commitment to producing exceptional content, Brian has contributed to the success of a wide range of television and documentary film projects throughout his career with credits at A. Smith & Co including the Emmy Award-nominated American Ninja Warrior (NBC) and the NAACP Award-winning documentary series Unsung (TV One), as well as many other beloved hit series such as: Welcome to Plathville (TLC); Floor Is Lava (Netflix); Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge (NBC); WWE: Next Gen (Roku); NFL Pro Bowl Skills Challenge (ESPN); The Dunk King (TNT); Ellen's Next Great Designer (HBO Max); Profiled: The Black Man (OWN); and American Gangster: Trap Queens (BET+). Brian served as Post Production Supervisor at A. Smith & Co. from 2012-2015 and was promoted to Director of Post Production in 2016. In 2017, he transitioned to A. Smith & Co's sister company Magical Elves to help launch the premiere season of Sugar Rush (Netflix). Prior to returning to A. Smith & Co in his current position, Brian served as the Head of Post Production at World of Wonder from 2018-2020, overseeing series such as the Emmy Award-winning series RuPaul's Drag Race (VH1); RuPaul's Drag Race: UK (BBC3); Million Dollar Listing: New York (Bravo); Million Dollar Listing: Los Angeles (Bravo); and Dancing Queen (Netflix), along with several documentary films, including: Liberty: Mother Of Exiles (HBO), Stonewall Outloud (Youtube), and Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts (Netflix). Born and raised in upstate New York, Brian received a BFA in Film, Photography, and Visual Arts from Ithaca College and an MFA in Filmmaking from the New York Film Academy.

Job Titles:

• Vice President of Music for Tinopolis USA

Carrie Hughes is Vice President of Music for Tinopolis USA, parent company to A Smith & Co. Productions, Magical Elves and Base Productions. In her role, Hughes oversees music supervision for all projects as well as music publishing initiatives for all Tinopolis entities. Hughes began her career landing coveted positions at DreamWorks Records, BMG Publishing and the esteemed entertainment law firm Carroll, Guido & Groffman. In 2004, Hughes began working with Bunim-Murray Productions, licensing and creating the soundtracks to MTV's "The Real World," "Road Rules," "The Challenge," and FOX's "The Simple Life." It was here that Hughes found her calling as a Music Supervisor and went on to launch her hugely successful Reflection Music, supervising music for numerous hit TV shows including "America's Best Dance Crew," "The Hard Times of R.J. Berger," "The Hills," "The Sing Off," "The Real L-Word," "Project Greenlight," "Fashion Star," "Braxton Family Values," "Buck Wild," "TI & Tiny: The Family Hustle," "Sisterhood of Hip Hop," "Cold Justice," and many more. Hughes was born into a musical family (her grandfather was a music teacher and member of the Cleveland Orchestra) and grew up playing piano, clarinet, and guitar both solo and in her high school and college orchestral bands. Since her passion for music extended beyond performance, Hughes went on to obtain a degree in Entertainment Business from Cal State Northridge. Hughes made such an impact on the professors and staff at CSUN that she was offered the highly regarded position of Executive Director of Campus Entertainment. During her two years she put on multiple concerts and events booking numerous acts including Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday, Nikka Costa and Mos Def. Highly respected by her peers, Hughes is an eight-time Music Supervisor Guild Award nominee.

Job Titles:

• Head of Business & Legal Affairs
• Head of Business Affairs and General Counsel for Tinopolis USA

Chi Kephart is Head of Business Affairs and General Counsel for Tinopolis USA. She leads all facets of business affairs and production legal for Tinopolis USA, and is responsible for all negotiations, including rights acquisitions, format options, co-productions, talent holds, shopping deals and other key attachment agreements and all license deals with networks and other media platforms. She also oversees all general corporate matters for the company including litigation, company policies and employment matters. Chi established the business and legal affairs department at Magical Elves in 2008 which expanded to include A. Smith & Co. Productions and A. Smith & Co. Dox after Tinopolis acquired Magical Elves in 2014. Tinopolis USA entities are the producers behind critically acclaimed hits like Bravo's Top Chef and Project Runway, NBC's American Ninja Warrior, Netflix's Floor is Lava, Nailed It and Sugar Rush, Oxygen's Cold Justice, and TLC's Welcome to Plathville and many more. Prior to joining Magical Elves, Chi served as a business and legal affairs executive at various entertainment companies including ABC Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, FremantleMedia and Paramount Studios. Chi is a member of the New York Bar and the California Bar, and earned her Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law. Chi received her Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA.

Job Titles:

• Senior Vice President of Development

Eli Baldrige is the senior vice president of development for the award-winning unscripted television powerhouse, A. Smith & Co. Productions, where he spearheads all aspects of development. An Emmy Award®-winning producer and series developer, Baldrige has produced hundreds of hours of highly-rated unscripted TV shows including "Welcome to Plathville" (TLC), Pharrell Williams' "Voices of Fire" (Netflix), and "Canine Intervention" (Netflix) since joining the company in 2018. Prior to joining A. Smith & Co. Productions, Baldrige produced unscripted content including ESPN's "Sport Science" and The Weather Channel's "Brainstorm," where he served as the showrunner. He has also produced several award-winning feature documentaries, including "Citizen Soldier" and "Apache Warrior." After growing up in Lancaster, PA, Baldrige studied journalism and film at San Diego State University.

Job Titles:

• COO of Tinopolis
• President of a. Smith & Co

Frank Sinton is the COO of Tinopolis and the President of A. Smith & Co. Dox, a division launched in 2016 dedicated to documentary and factual programming. Sinton currently serves as Executive Producer for TV One's NAACP Image Award-winning hit show Unsung, now in its twelfth season, Discovery's Scijinks, ESPN's Pro Bowl Skills Showdown, and the feature-length documentaries: Apache Warrior, Danger Close, Citizen Soldier, The Hornet's Nest and Semper Fi. Sinton's other EP credits for A. Smith & Co. include: Welcome to Plathville, American Gangster: Trap Queens, American Gangster, Pros vs. Joes, Trading Spaces, The Game of Dating, Inside the Label, Full Throttle Saloon, Wizard Wars, Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, UFC: Countdown, Joe Rogan Questions Everything, Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller, Dumbest Stuff on Wheels, America's Worst Driver, Ultimate Car Build-off, Crime Scene University, The Sports List, and Harlem Globetrotters: A New Generation, along with the Emmy-nominated documentary series Fearless and the award-winning documentary series Beyond the Glory, as well as many others. Prior to becoming an independent producer, Sinton was the VP of Programming for FOX Sports Net, where he first met and worked for Arthur Smith. Before joining Smith at FOX, Frank was VP of Programming at The Disney Channel.

Job Titles:

• Co - Founder and President Emeritus of a. Smith & Co. Productions

Kent Weed founded reality television powerhouse A. Smith & Co. Productions with Arthur Smith in 2000 and brings more than two decades of experience in unscripted formats to bear as an executive producer on all of the company's projects, including the Emmy® and People's Choice Award-nominated hit show Hell's Kitchen, as well as Kitchen Nightmares, American Ninja Warrior, I Survived a Japanese Game Show, Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, Full Throttle Saloon, The World According to Paris, Unsung, American Gangster, Pros Vs. Joes, UFC Countdown, The Swan, and Trading Spaces. In addition to his duties as president and executive producer, Weed oversees the direction of the company's projects, receiving a Directors Guild of America nomination for I Survived a Japanese Game Show, and winning the international Rose d'Or award for best reality show in 2009. He also directed Crash Course for ABC, as well as Skating with Celebrities, I Married a Stranger, and Cookalong Live with Gordon Ramsay for FOX. Known by his peers as an "über director," Weed is one of the most sought-after directors in the television industry - wielding his unique vision as a director and savvy as a producer to create some of the most successful reality formats in television history. Throughout his career, Weed has worked in virtually every genre of television. One of the youngest primetime network directors of his time, Weed made an early start in TV, first cutting his teeth on music videos with his father, Gene, a producer and director at Dick Clark Productions. By his early twenties, he was heading a cable production company, where he produced more than 300 hours of programming each year. Weed established himself as a premiere variety-format television director with his work on the highly rated The Smothers Brothers Thanksgiving Special and The World's Greatest Magic -consistently one of NBC's top 10 shows and one of the highest rated shows of the '90s - while also directing big events such as Farm Aid for ABC and countless hours of magic specials, including Lance Burton, Champions of Magic, Wildest Magic on Earth, and Houdini's Secrets Unlocked. In addition to being one of the leaders of the small-screen magic phenomenon, Weed was on the bleeding edge of another burgeoning format that would later be known as reality television. He built the ground floor of the genre with hit shows Pure Insanity, Made in the USA, and Fantasies of the Stars. Weed further expanded his years of experience as a variety-format television director by expanding into other areas of programming and formats including the talk genre with Dennis Prager and the comedy genre with the syndicated shows The Newz, and Roundhouse, a sketch comedy for Nickelodeon, and directing over 225 episodes of the highly successful game show, To Tell the Truth. The demand for Weed's talents grew as he was hired to take on the producing responsibilities for many of the television shows he became involved with, including The World Music Awards for ABC; comedies such as Haywire for FOX and Comedy Classics for CBS; and reality projects such as Made in the USA for NBC. In the mid-'90s, at the age of 33, Weed added to his already busy slate by creating his own production company, W.A.V.E. productions, after he was approached to do full-service productions by clients who needed more than his directorial skillset. W.A.V.E. also produced the internationally popular variety extravaganza "Paris by Night" for four years. Weed also directed and produced the famous Michael Jackson music video "Earth Song" shot at the World Music Awards - the first time Jackson premiered a song during an awards show. Weed has also worked with numerous top talents in the music world, including but not limited to: Shakira, Mariah Carey, Diana Ross, P Diddy, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, and Brad Paisley.

Job Titles:

• Executive Vice President of Productions

Kristen Stabile serves as Executive Vice President of Productions, specializing in large-scale network reality and event programming. In her role at A. Smith & Co. Productions, Stabile is responsible for production management, financial control, and strategic planning on these productions. Stabile has produced more than 300 hours of major network programming with series and event credits spanning all major networks. Her series credits include: American Ninja Warrior (NBC), Floor is Lava (Netflix), NFL Pro Bowl Skills (NFL), NFL Pro Bowl Games (NFL), Mental Samurai (FOX), Titan Games (NBC), Spartan: The Ultimate Team Challenge (NBC), The Dunk King (TNT), Team Ninja Warrior (USA), Kitchen Nightmares (FOX), Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live (FOX), The Bachelorette (ABC), Million Dollar Password (CBS), American Inventor (ABC), Osbournes: Reloaded (Fox), Game Show Marathon (CBS), Trista & Ryan's Wedding (ABC), The Will (CBS), Are You Hot?: The Search for America's Sexiest People (ABC), High School Reunion (TV Land), The Real Gilligan's Island (TBS), Cowboy U (CMT), The World According to Paris (Oxygen), Intimate Portrait (Lifetime) and Opening The Lost Tombs: Live from Egypt (FOX). Prior to her current position with A. Smith & Co. Productions, Stabile led series and pilots for FremantleMedia North America, Telepictures/Next Entertainment, Triage, and Reveille.

Job Titles:

• Executive Vice President of Production

In 2011, Cornwall was recognized by Variety as one of Hollywood's New Leaders in Television. Prior to joining A. Smith & Co., Cornwall was the Coordinator of Production and Operations at Asylum Entertainment where she worked on Emmy-nominated Beyond the Glory (Fox Sports Net), The Sports List (Fox Sports Net), In Focus (Fox Sports Net), and Anything to Win (GSN). She began her career in entertainment at Paramount Studios.