Title: Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Axon Enterprise (TASER International at founding, 1993) · Scottsdale, Arizona Next voter decision: none; he answers to shareholders
Record
Smith built the taser company into the public-safety bundle Asheville bought: body cameras, in-car cameras, drones, the Fusus real-time platform (acquired 2024), and, since 2025, fixed plate readers that mount inside streetlights (Axon). Under his leadership Axon proposed taser-armed drones for schools in 2022 over its own ethics board’s unanimous objection; nine board members resigned and the plan was paused (Wikipedia). In December 2025 the company announced it was resuming facial-recognition research on body cameras, “responsibly and transparently,” with a Canadian police pilot (Axon). His framing, from the company newsroom: “We see ourselves as a technology company committed to making the world a safer, less dangerous place.” Revenue under him reached $904 million in the second quarter of 2026 alone, up 35% (Axon blog, on its Freethink interview).
Why he is on this site
Every promise Asheville officials made about the RTIC is a promise about what Axon’s platform will and will not do. The facial-recognition ban in Policy 1703 binds APD staff; it does not bind a vendor that has announced it is evaluating the feature (The RTIC Policy · Promise Tracker). The city’s contract term outlasts the current mayor, chief, and city manager; it will not outlast him.
The question for him
Will Axon publish, for every agency, which other agencies can search its fixed-reader data, and will it contractually bar facial recognition on feeds from cities that have banned it?
Company: Axon · Last updated: Aug 22, 2026