DSCC taps Rep. Mike Smith as president while he seeks another term
September 30, 2026
WILMINGTON – Republican State Representative Michael F. Smith, who represents Pike Creek Valley, Newark and parts of Hockessin in the Delaware General Assembly, will be the next president of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce.
He will succeed Michael Quaranta who retires from the position after eight years of service in mid-December. There will be a transition period, though Smith said on Wednesday he has not met with the DSCC board to hammer out all the details.
Smith told the Delaware Business Times that he intends to see his re-election bid through and continue to serve in the statehouse if he wins.
His career spans corporate roles as well as economic development, with key roles at the Greater Newark Partnership. Today, he currently serves as the director of strategic initiatives & partnerships at the University of Delaware’s College of Health Sciences.
Smith said he sees the job as a natural progression in his career. He directly tied it to his career in politics, which started in the office of U.S. Rep. Mike Castle.
“I do think that the business community has been kicked in the teeth for the last decade. I’m a big believer that if you can’t put bread on your table for your family, nothing else matters,” Smith told DBT. “I look at this opportunity to have an even bigger impact in Delaware, so I can build an environment where my kids can have more opportunities to work here and stay here. I hope to see my grandkids thrive here too.”
The appointment comes amid a highly competitive process; Smith was one of more than 400 people who applied for the DSCC top job and was considered by a search committee organized by the chamber’s board of directors. It also reflects a changing tide for the state’s chamber of commerce, which has been taking a more direct role in holding lawmakers accountable and building out a 501(c)4 for election-related issues.
Smith was endorsed by the DSCC earlier this year for his re-election bid in November and is scored B+ by the DSCC legislative scorecard. He has also received donations from political action committees for both the DSCC and New Castle County Chamber of Commerce.
“The PAC,” which lists its address as the DSCC post office box, contributed $600 to Smith’s campaign in 2018, and later in 2022 and 2024. In 2020, the DSCC also contributed $600 to Smith’s campaign as a business, group or organization.
The New Castle County group contributed $1,200 in 2018 and $600 every year from 2019 to 2021. In 2024, that group gave $500 to his campaign and $275 in 2026.
When asked if he considered serving as president of the DSCC a conflict of interest, he pointed to other elected officials that hold jobs with unions or nonprofits that secure funding from the state’s Bond Bill or Grant-in-Aid package.
“The problem in Delaware we don’t have enough opportunities for Delawareans for regular jobs that they can get, and that’s why they end up in some. That’s why they end some of those roles they’re at,” Smith told DBT.
Inside the search process
Earlier this year, DSCC formed a search committee for the next president and named Beebe Healthcare CEO and President Dr. David Tam as its chair. Korn Ferry, an executive search firm based out of Los Angeles, was hired and quickly put out a job description in mid-July of this year.
DSCC Chair and M.Davis Chief Operating Officer John Gooden confirmed that Korn Ferry was responsible for electronically screening the hundreds of applicants based on a set criteria established by the board and the search committee. That narrowed the field to 15 to 20 candidates for the first round of interviews.
Gooden credited Quaranta for his hard work over the past eight years in making the process so competitive. When Quaranta was brought in for the organization in 2018, he was tasked with a rebuilding of the organization and sources told DBT that many longstanding staff members left in the first few months of his tenure.
Today, the DSCC has since doubled its budget and expanded opportunities for members to engage in policy discussions through new committees and programming. Quaranta, who also served as Castle’s chief of staff, has also spearheaded the recent movement to advocacy through voter tools like the scorecard and the Delaware Competitiveness Bluebook.
Perhaps one of the last major moves under Quaranta’s leadership was to aid the development of a partnership with First State Educate on an initiative that ideally would serve as another bridge between business leaders and educators to work on improving student outcomes.
“I think [Quaranta] has created an awesome foundation that Mike Smith can build upon. Certainly, he’s been a good mentor, and I’ve enjoyed working with him,” Gooden said.
From the limited pool of candidates, the search committee selected four people for final consideration. Each finalist completed a psychological leadership profile with Korn Ferry, and was given the opportunity to develop a vision of DSCC’s future, based on its finances and strategic plan. Those candidates then presented that vision to the full search committee.
Gooden said that, in his mind, selecting Smith for the job was less about politics and more about the skills he developed while working in politics.
“It was more about Mike’s ability to go across the aisle, and he has a track record of being able to speak with both sides and move issues forward – as well as in the governor’s office,” he said. “It’s about the advocacy piece and moving forward business issues that are critical to the state chamber.”
Who is Michael Smith?
Smith, 41, began his career in politics as a field director and assistant finance director for Castle’s congressional campaign. He also spent several years in corporate roles at Comcast and Verizon. He later ran the Greater Newark Economic Development Partnership, part of the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, for two years.
Since 2014, he has worked at the University of Delaware and currently serves as director of strategic initiatives and partnerships in the College of Health Sciences. Four years later, he narrowly won against Democrat Guillermina Gonz
alez for the seat vacated by retiring Rep. Joe Miro, winning by just 140 votes.
His campaign pitch at the time focused on bipartisan, pragmatic approach that focuses on small business. During a Wednesday afternoon interview with DBT, Smith said that he’s gotten “a front row view” to how government impacts small businesses.
“A lot of these bills alone, the intent is to do good. But when you stack them all on top of each other, year, after year, the small business doesn’t have all the staff to handle all these,” Smith said. “To me, we have to allow the business community to get back into the fold of helping shape public policy rather than being defensive of it. . . I’ve found in my short tenure in the legislature that the business community has never even consulted on the impact of these.”
Smith is a member of House Small Business Caucus and is a co-chair of the Life Sciences Caucus, which was established a few years ago to further policy to guide the burgeoning life sciences sector. He currently holds a seat on the influential Bond Bill Committee which decides what is funded every year in the state’s billion-dollar capital improvement plan. He also sits on the following committees: House Economic Development, Education, Revenue & Finance and Health & Human Development.
When asked whether his party affiliation could create friction in the business community in a Democratic-leaning state, he said he believes his record speaks of desire to work in the interest of Delaware’s future.
“I jokingly always say policy making is like being married. You have to give in on 80% of what you want for 20% of what you’re willing to receive. It’s how you make things less bad and better, and that’s the position I’ve taken on working with my colleagues,” Smith said.
Jennifer Antonik contributed to this story. This story has been updated to offer clarity on the transition between the outgoing and incoming DSCC president.
