Kathleen Smith

Kathleen brings over three decades of commercial experience to her role as Chief Operating Officer. She is responsible for executing Man Bites Dog’s strategy, drawing on her expertise in leadership development, digital transformation, and process design and implementation to drive the consultancy through its next phase of growth.

Kathleen has dedicated her career to optimising business culture, structure and performance. She has held COO positions at a number of high growth organisations across a range of industries, including software, staffing, services, and digital marketing – where she led initiatives to drive profitability, streamline operations and boost employee engagement.

At Man Bites Dog, Kathleen is focused on building a consultancy that delivers sustainable growth, overseeing all internal functions, including Finance, Operations, Technology, Legal, Risk, People and Talent Management. Her strategic priorities include enabling ‘one-touch’ data, scalable systems architecture, and clear, consistent communication across the business as well as with clients and external partners.

Kathleen’s leadership ensures that Man Bites Dog’s clients directly benefit from a consultancy that is as strong operationally as it is creatively. By building a high-performance culture and embedding innovative, scalable systems, she enables our teams to focus on delivering exceptional work for Man Bites Dog’s impressive roster of clients.

Her commitment to employee engagement and sustainable business practices helps us attract and retain the very best talent, while robust processes and a values-driven approach mean clients can rely on consistently high-quality delivery, underpinned by transparency, sustainability, responsibility, and long-term partnership.

Kathleen was the first woman to sit on the Executive Committee of the Technology Sector group of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), and she has previously been a Regional Director of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).