Dear WCA Community,

The WCA Board of Directors is excited to announce the appointment of a new Chief Operating Officer, Dan Smith!

Dan has been actively involved with the WCA for over four years. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors, WCA Treasurer, and Senior Member of the Quality Assurance Committee, and currently serves as a member of the Finance Team and a WCA Delegate.

Dan’s professional background outside the WCA focuses on operations leadership, team development, process improvement, and delivering complex technical solutions. He has over 15 years of project management experience and has led teams of up to 25 while managing budgets up to $8 million. He holds an MBA from the University of Colorado and a BSc from the University of Maryland University College (now known as University of Maryland Global Campus).

Dan has been an active member of the speedcubing community since 2018, having organized and delegated over 50 competitions. In 2023, he joined the WCA Quality Assurance Committee, where he helped maintain educational materials and develop the Delegate training system (LMS).

In January 2025, Dan was elected to the WCA Board of Directors, where he made an immediate impact. He has worked closely with our sponsors on new initiatives, strengthened relationships between WCA leadership and teams across the organization, and engaged with volunteers at all levels.

As the WCA continues to grow in size and complexity, Dan understands that the COO role is not about changing the volunteer-driven identity that defines our organization, but about helping shape the WCA for the future.

The Board believes this role is best filled by someone who understands how the organization works at every level. Having worked closely with our global volunteer community, we believe Dan is the right person to serve as the WCA’s Chief Operating Officer. He stepped down from the Board and assumed his new role effective Thursday, March 5, 2026.