Courtney Smith
Chief Creative Officer
Courtney has been successfully branding and marketing companies since 1991. She began her career as an art director in East Lansing, MI, and then launched a successful design firm, which she owned and operated for three years. In 2002, Courtney relocated to California and co-founded PureMatter where she currently serves as creative and strategic lead for the PureMatter brand and its clients. An accomplished creative thinker, designer and copywriter, Courtney has a knack for simplifying the complex.
Since its inception, Courtney has earned over 100 awards including ADDYs (Best in Shows, Special Judges Awards, Gold, Silvers and Bronzes), Neenah Paper International Design Award, PRINT International Design Annual, Logo Lounge Master Library Series and Graphic Design Monthly. Courtney is a past Bay Area board advisor for CREATE! Magazine and has held various leadership positions in the American Advertising Federation (AAF) including national board member, National ADDY committee member, District 14 Governor, District ADDY Chair, Western Region Conference chair and past president of AAF-Silicon Valley.
In addition to creating award-winning creative work, Courtney is also a member of the International Association of Visual Arts (IAVA), an invitation-only global clearing house for nationally qualified creative competition judges, sharing company with other creative professionals from HBO, MTV and the Ellen DeGeneres show, to name a few. Over the last 12 years, she has judged numerous local, regional, national and international creative competitions, including the W3 Awards sponsored by Adweek, and ADDY award competitions across the country.
Courtney holds a BA in Advertising and Graphic Design from Michigan State University.
Connect with Courtney on LinkedIn.
