Dr. Smart is a professor emeritus of Business Strategy and former Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University. She has spent the last 30 years as an academic and administrator in the British Columbia post-secondary system. Carolyne has published extensively on issues relating to improving organizational decision-making processes, particularly during crises, and the quality of strategic decisions made by entrepreneurial enterprises. She was the founding director of the Scotia Bank Centre for Women Entrepreneurs at SFU.

Carolyne also has a particular interest in strategic decision-making in arts and cultural organizations and she served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Arts Stabilization Team for six years. She also was a member of the BC Degree Quality Assessment Board for six years and continues to work with BC post-secondary educational institutions.

Prior to undertaking an academic career, Carolyne spent eight years in the fashion business as a manager and buyer for a national retail organization.