About Us
SmithPilot is a team of compensation experts helping nonprofits determine fair, reasonable and competitive pay.
We provide specialized and cost-effective compensation consulting advice to nonprofit boards and executives.
We serve all types of nonprofits, from small charities to a wide variety of associations to large multinational organizations. Combined, our team has over 60 years of direct service to the nonprofit community.
Our Team
Pete Smith
Founding Partner
The former chief executive of Watson Wyatt Worldwide (now Willis Towers Watson), Pete Smith has significant experience in both the private and public sectors. Mr. Smith now focuses on executive compensation consulting services for nonprofit clients.
Rebecca Pilot
President & CEO
Rebecca is a human resources professional with over twenty years of experience in consulting to private and nonprofit organizations. In addition to leading the firm, she directs a variety of client engagements involving nonprofit compensation and benefits issues.
Leyla Hurt
Partner
A compensation and human resources professional with over twenty years of experience working in consulting, professional services, telecommunications, and technology. Leyla Hurt is a Partner at SmithPilot who directs a variety of projects involving executive and staff nonprofit compensation and benefits issues.
Jenn Wendus
Partner
Jenn is a compensation consulting professional with more than fifteen years of experience. As a Partner at SmithPilot, she directs a variety of projects involving executive and staff nonprofit compensation and benefits issues.
Charlene Lindsay
Consultant
Eileen Prophett
Senior Research Associate
Beth Rollison
Research Associate
Toni Dewees
Research Associate
Kathy Krug
Manager, Operations and Surveys
Sarah Burrell
Research Associate
Mandi Myers
Admin/Invoicing/Jr Researcher
Let's Talk.
We would be glad to discuss whether our services meet your needs.
Please call us at 202-256-4719 or email info@smithpilot.com and let us know what kind of services you are seeking and how best to contact you.
Pete Smith
Founding Partner
The former chief executive of Watson Wyatt Worldwide (now Towers Watson), Pete Smith has significant experience in both the private and public sectors. Mr. Smith now focuses on executive compensation consulting services for nonprofit clients.
In his thirty-year career with Watson Wyatt, Mr. Smith consulted in areas ranging from executive compensation and benefits design to global human resources strategy. His clients included major Fortune 100 corporations, start-ups, technology firms, multinationals, professional services firms, family held businesses, and nonprofits.
Mr. Smith joined Wyatt in 1968 as a compensation consultant. In 1972, he was named Executive Vice President of Cole Surveys, then the leading provider of financial institution compensation survey data. In 1985, he was appointed Managing Partner of Wyatt’s San Francisco office. He was appointed to the Board of Directors in 1986, as Global Compensation Practice Director in 1987, and as Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C. office (the firm’s largest) in 1992. In 1993, he was elected President & CEO. During his tenure, he engineered a major transformation of the firm, strengthening its focus, improving its financial results, and substantially extending its worldwide operations – including combining Wyatt with R. Watson & Sons to form Watson Wyatt Worldwide. The firm recently merged to form Towers Watson.
A graduate of Harvard and a certified member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Mr. Smith served for seven years as a Director of Alliance Berstein, a New York based asset management firm. He also served previously on the boards of the ADDX Corporation, Celerant Government Services, and the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group.
Active in civic affairs, he is currently on the board of the Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ). In the past, he has chaired the Board of the Association of Management Consulting Firms and the National Rehabilitation Hospital, is past Vice Chair of the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington and the Washington Performing Arts Society, and served as a Trustee of American University and the Community Foundation of the National Capital Area. He also served on the Independent Review Committee evaluating governance problems at the Smithsonian Institution.
Leyla Hurt
Partner
A compensation and human resources professional with over twenty years of experience working in consulting, professional services, telecommunications, and technology. Leyla Hurt is a Partner at SmithPilot who directs a variety of projects involving executive and staff nonprofit compensation and benefits issues.
Before joining SmithPilot, Ms. Hurt served as the primary compensation consultant at TPO, Inc. where she conducted compensation studies for a variety of nonprofit organizations. These studies included working with executives and board members in order to ensure fair pay practices, developing salary structures and providing recommendations on compensation program implementation.
Ms. Hurt’s experience also includes working at NII Holdings (Nextel International) where she managed compensation committee reporting and analysis, analyzed executive compensation, managed short-term and long-term incentives, and oversaw global compensation programs. In addition to compensation work, Ms. Hurt was a member of the human resources department, where she advised executives on a wide variety of issues including staffing, compliance, employee relations, and performance management.
Ms. Hurt received her undergraduate degree with a bachelor's in Economics from the University of Virginia and earned an MBA from the George Washington University. Active in school affairs and an avid sports fan, she and her husband and their two boys live in the Washington DC area.
Rebecca Pilot
President & CEO
A human resources professional with over twenty years of experience in consulting to private and nonprofit organizations, Rebecca Pilot is the President and Chief Executive Officer of SmithPilot. In addition to leading the firm, she directs a variety of client engagements involving nonprofit compensation and benefits issues.
Rebecca’s compensation background includes over ten years of service in Accenture’s human resources department, and five years of consulting for nonprofit organizations.
Prior to joining SmithPilot, Ms. Pilot served as human resources director for a variety of nonprofit organizations, leading the human resources functions for these nonprofits as well as designing and implementing new programs as necessary.
Ms. Pilot’s experience also includes advising executives at Accenture on a wide variety of HR issues including staffing, leadership development, compensation planning, performance management, succession planning, and diversity.
Prior to her tenure with Accenture, she managed graduate student and alumni programs in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington DC.
Rebecca received her undergraduate degree from Lafayette College and earned a Master of Arts in Communication, Culture, and Technology from Georgetown University.
Active in school and community affairs, she and her husband and their three children live in the Greater Washington DC area.
Jenn Wendus
Partner
Jenn is a compensation consulting professional with more than fifteen years of experience. As a Partner at SmithPilot, she directs a variety of projects involving executive and staff nonprofit compensation and benefits issues.
Jenn has a proven track record in project management, leading compensation analyses and systems development, and developing organizational total rewards strategy. She has worked with clients in a variety of industries including not-for-profit, professional and trade associations, technology, energy, transportation, local banking, education, and professional services. Jenn's specialties include developing organizational total rewards strategy, nonprofit executive compensation, staff compensation, market pay studies, salary structure design, incentive compensation plan design, custom compensation surveys, and career pathing.
Before joining SmithPilot, Jenn served as lead consultant and Managing Director of Keating Advisors, a strategic human resources consulting firm that specialized in compensation, performance management, and organizational development. She also worked as a contractor to the Compensation team at Amtrak, supporting special projects and providing recommendations for strategic compensation initiatives.
Jenn is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), WorldatWork Total Rewards Association, and Rhode Island SHRM.
Jenn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from American University in Washington, DC, and a Master’s degree in Organizational Sciences with a concentration in Organizational Management from The George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Jenn is based in Providence, RI.