“We approach our work with the belief that our process can not be static. We are constantly learning and invite our innovators into that space to learn with us.”

Charmaine Smith moved to Saint Louis in 1987 from Wichita, Kansas to open a satellite office for the International Association of Machinists Center for Administering Rehabilitation and Employment Services (IAM CARES), a National social service agency.  In 2003, she left IAM CARES to start Discovering Options, a local non-profit dedicated to delivering high quality after school programs to at-risk children.  Charmaine believes, “We have an obligation to all children to provide them the access to the tools they will need to use in order to bring innovation to the way we work, play, learn and are transported in the future.”

Charmaine has served on the board of the Missouri Children’s Trust Fund since 2010. She joined Innovative Technology Education Fund on July 7, 2014 and is looking forward to advancing innovation in technology by funding school-based projects in the Greater Saint Louis Metropolitan area.