LTTE: Why Liz Smith Will Make an Excellent Board Member for Swampscott

April 14, 2025 by To the editor

To the Editor:

I am submitting this letter in support of Liz Smith, candidate for Swampscott Select Board.

Why Liz Smith Will Make an Excellent Select Board Member for Swampscott

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Liz Smith for over twenty years in the fashion industry, and I can say without hesitation that she will be an outstanding Select Board member for the town of Swampscott.

Liz managed multi-million-dollar accounts with Fortune 500 brands throughout her career, overseeing complex projects across global supply chains. She consistently united diverse stakeholders — from manufacturers and retailers to executive teams and quality assurance leads — to align on goals, solve challenges, and deliver results. Her ability to coordinate across departments, cultures, and time zones demonstrates her exceptional diplomacy, systems thinking, and collaboration skills.

What sets Liz apart is her calm, measured approach to decision-making. She gathers facts, analyses data, and draws well-reasoned conclusions without getting tangled in emotion or noise. Her strength lies in building bridges, not burning them. Whether dealing with a problematic vendor or a high-pressure product launch, Liz always leads with patience, kindness, and a solutions-first mindset.

Liz is approachable and grounded. She listens attentively before speaking, ensures that every voice at the table is heard, and acts with integrity in all that she does. Swampscott needs a leader who shows compassion, thinks strategically, and acts only after fully grasping the nuances of a situation.

Liz uniquely combines business acumen, emotional intelligence, and civic-mindedness. She understands how to achieve results while prioritising people in every decision. Swampscott would be fortunate to have a leader like Liz on the Select Board —she embodies what our town requires for a thoughtful, inclusive, and forward-looking future.

Fiona Barrett

Swampscott

LTTE: Why I'm Excited to Vote for Liz Smith

April 14, 2025 by To the editor

As a Swampscott resident for 30 years who has known Liz Smith for virtually all of that time, I am pleased to enthusiastically endorse her candidacy for the Swampscott Select Board.  She has experience as a successful businesswoman, a mother, and an advocate for Swampscott, particularly for her efforts to clean up its beaches. An MIT Sloan School of Management graduate, she is one of the brightest people I know. Yet, Liz brings a down to earth style and a natural curiosity to all her interactions.

Serving in international roles as a management consultant and manufacturing leader, Liz has an outstanding record of achieving positive results within complex systems, collaborating with people of all types to solve major problems. She’s applied those talents to clean our beaches, first as a volunteer and then as the town’s Chair of the Water and Sewer Infrastructure Committee. Not adverse to literally getting her hands dirty, Liz has even waded into some of the not so clean beach waters to personally test quality. Proximity to the ocean is one of the charms of Swampscott, so it’s comforting to know someone is so committed to its safety.

Electing Liz will expand that dedication and skill to other critical town initiatives. She will approach each decision with an openness to understanding the facts and to communicating information to us with full transparency. Knowing personally of her skills and integrity, I couldn’t be more excited to support Liz’s desire to serve our town!

Sincerely,

Howard Seidel

Swampscott

LTTE: Liz Smith brings the leadership we need

April 9, 2025 by To the editor

To the editor:

I am writing in support of Liz Smith for Swampscott’s Select Board and I encourage all to vote for her. Swampscott has some challenges coming up and I believe Smith has experience to help us meet them. I believe her international management experience has help honed her ability to meet and manage challenges — and the ability to listen to other points of view. Her work on King’s Beach and the water and sewer infrastructure advisory committee demonstrate her commitment to understanding the issues, listening to constituents, and working on solutions.

I believe the Select Board needs a shakeup. From the dynamics from the board meetings, I have attended online or watched afterwards, I think the board could use more collaboration, transparency and follow through. Why didn’t we have a financial summit last summer? Why did the town administrator disappear? Why did the budget work miss key deadlines this year? I am not disparaging different points of view, and I encourage vigorous debate. I believe respectful disagreement and discussion often produces good and solid solutions.

Everyone claims that we need more civility and collaboration on the board. And that is why I am voting for Liz Smith — she has the experience and the commitment to work with all on what is best for the town,

And whatever the outcome of the election, I ask the current and future select board members to do the work, deliver commitments, improve communications within the board, and conduct open and transparent communications with the community.

Martha Curry

Swampscott Precinct 3 Town Meeting Member

LTTE: Liz Smith has my support for Swampscott Select Board

April 2, 2025 by To the editor

To the editor:

I am writing today to encourage Swampscott residents to vote for Liz Smith to fill one of the two Select Board vacancies. I want to share several reasons I feel Liz has the right combination of professional background, experience and personality to deserve your vote.

Liz has held executive positions with an international corporation leading teams based in seven countries. She also earned a Master’s Degree from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. I feel her private sector experience and business-related education will be invaluable as Swampscott balances its residential and commercial interests in the years ahead.

Liz Smith has demonstrated her commitment to our town by accepting the responsibility to serve as the first Chair of the relatively new Water and Sewer Infrastructure Advisory Committee. Liz provides overall direction and motivation to the Committee’s team of eight members and four alternates addressing water, sewer and storm water issues, often of a technical nature. Liz has insisted that the Committee’s meetings be fully open and transparent by recording all of them and ensuring that up-to-date minutes are available on the town website. I believe Liz will carry this commitment to transparency and productive teamwork to the Select Board if elected.

Liz is probably best known in town as an energetic, determined “clean beach advocate.” She sees the vital importance, as I do, of ridding Fisherman’s Beach and King’s Beach of the pollution that makes them often dangerous to swimmer’s health. It makes little sense to me to develop a boutique hotel at the Hadley School or a park at the Hawthorne property if our shoreline is posted with no swimming signs. As a Select Board member, I know Liz will continue to be a vocal advocate for our beaches.

Finally, it is no secret that lately there has been an unfortunate degree of conflict and lack of effective decision-making in the proceedings of the current Select Board. I know that Liz would bring with her a professional demeanor, a gift for analysis, and a penchant for civility In her relations with others to counter this negative trend. 

I urge you to join me to support Liz Smith in the Swampscott Select Board election on April 29.

Jim Olivetti

Swampscott