GCS International Consulting was established in 2004. GCS International Consulting’s founder and President, Guy Smith, has more than 18 years experience as a business person and lawyer working on international commercial matters. He was employed as Vice President, International for NRG Energy, an independent power producer with in excess of $2 billion in annual revenue. In that capacity, Mr. Smith was responsible for NRG’s European and Latin American operations, which generated in excess of $180 million in annual revenue. Prior to occupying that role, Mr. Smith served as NRG’s Vice President, Latin America where he was responsible for the company’s Latin American business. Preceding that, Mr. Smith occupied the position of Senior Counsel for NRG, where he provided legal advice on international corporate matters and complex international commercial transactions. Mr. Smith also served as in-house counsel for General Electric Company where he acted as the general counsel for the Americas (North, Central and South America) region for GE’s Water & Process Technologies business. In addition, Mr. Smith spent a number of years in private law firm practice in Washington, D.C. where he advised clients on a variety of international commercial-, international trade-, export/import- and sanctions-related matters. Before entering private legal practice, Mr. Smith worked as an attorney-advisor for the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was actively engaged in U.S. government-driven export and trade promotion initiatives and participated in bilateral and multilateral trade and investment agreement negotiations. In the course of his experiences, Mr. Smith has been exposed to virtually all facets of international business and international trade-related matters and has worked on numerous transactions in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Mr. Smith has an extensive network of contacts around the world in a myriad of complementary fields (e.g., investment banking, private equity, engineering, construction, trade associations, financial, legal and technical advisory services, etc.) and associates in certain specialized areas (e.g., international tax and accounting) who can be called upon to assist on projects when needed.
Mr. Smith grew up in Latin America (Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Colombia) and has traveled extensively to Latin America, Europe and Asia on business. He is fluent in Spanish, possesses good proficiency in French and is conversational in Portuguese. Mr. Smith received a JD and MA in Law and International Affairs from The American University in Washington, D.C. and a BA from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
