Ryan Smith: Co-founder of Qualtrics and Owner of the Utah Jazz

Ryan Smith: Co-founder of Qualtrics and Owner of the Utah Jazz

Business Owner · Sports & Entertainment

Salt Lake City

Ryan Smith co-founded Qualtrics with his father and brother while at BYU, and in 2020 bought a majority stake in the Utah Jazz.

About Ryan Smith: Co-founder of Qualtrics and Owner of the Utah Jazz

Ryan Smith (born June 28, 1978, in Eugene, Oregon) is an American billionaire businessman and chairman of Smith Entertainment Group. He is the executive chairman and co-founder of Qualtrics, an experience management company based in Provo, Utah, and the owner of the NBA's Utah Jazz and the NHL's Utah Mammoth in Salt Lake City. He was also a former co-owner of Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake. Smith was born into a Latter-day Saints family; his father, Scott Smith, worked as a professor at BYU and his mother, Nancy, earned a PhD in information systems. While attending BYU's Marriott School of Business he founded Qualtrics with his father and brother, Jared, and in his junior year he dropped out to work on it, returning to complete his degree in 2016. On October 28, 2020 he bought a majority stake in the Utah Jazz from Gail Miller, in a sale that also included the Delta Center. Sources: English Wikipedia (Ryan Smith (businessman), accessed September 2026).

Basic Information

Executive chairman and co-founder, Qualtrics; chairman, Smith Entertainment Group

Company Details

Qualtrics / Smith Entertainment Group

Experience Management Software, Sports Ownership