The Gabe Smith Appreciation Campaign

As you all know by now, Gabe Smith, our beloved "Chief Evangelist", was in a tragic accident in which he broke his neck resulting in emergency surgery. Typically, such an accident ends in the individual being either paralyzed or dead. Incredibly, Gabe will make a full recovery. 

For those of you who know and worked with Gabe, I doubt I would have to convince you of his passion and dedication to Pricefx. Gabe has played a variety of critical roles in the company from opening the first US office, hiring the first employees and closing the first US-based clients. Additionally, Gabe has been at the very center of many important sales cycles, playing a critical role in closing clients like Owens Illinois, Iron Mountain, Cox Automotive, nVent, Mabe, Metrie, Sonoco, Delphi, and Certain Teed.  Those deals alone account for roughly $2.5M in ARR. Additionally, Gabe is constantly on the road, having racked up over 150K miles(!!) in the first half of 2019 alone. It goes without saying that Gabe's skill set, experience, and passion are irreplaceable. Despite the seriousness of the injury and the restrictions placed on him by his doctor, Gabe not surprisingly is looking for a way to get back to work soon. 

Gabe and I have been working a very strategic deal together with HermanMiller , a high-end US office furniture manufacturer. It's a company that he is head over heels in love with, in large part based on his admiration for their design thinking and cutting edge furniture. Very few at Pfx realize that Gabe studied architecture for his undergrad which has fueled a certain aesthetic mindset. Since traveling to Herman Miller with Gabe on a few occasions, he has talked extensively about the famous "Eames  Chair ," an iconic lounge chair that has a reputation for quality, craftsmanship, and style. In short, the chair is widely recognized as an icon for American design. So much so, that he asked the client the last time we were there if she could "keep her eyes open for any special deals on an Eames chair." 

Knowing that the chair is expensive, I've joked with Gabe a few times that when we win Herman Miller's business I would gift him a miniature replica of the chair. (Which in its own right isn't cheap!) When thinking about Gabe's current circumstances and how we can rally around and support him, the thought came to me that we should gift this chair to him.  What better way could we express our gratitude for all his hard work and dedication while reinforcing his doctor's advice to rest in order to make a complete healing? I would like to recommend to all of my colleagues that we pool our money together and gift him this chair.  

As I mentioned above, the chair is a very unique and high quality built item. That being said, it isn't cheap. We are fortunate that Marcin and the executive staff have agreed to match 100% of each Euro/Dollar contributed, which will be a huge lift to reaching our goal of $7,000. If we all chip just a few Euros/Dollars and have 100% participation, we can easily meet our goal. Please join us in helping gift this important token of support and encouragement to Gabe.  Thank you again to Marcin and the team for your tremendous support!



A note from Gabe's Brother Jesse - sent on 7/4

I’m writing to inform all of you last week, while on a family trip in Merritt Island Florida, my brother Gabriel Smith suffered a major shallow water diving accident. He dove off the end of a dock approximately 250 feet from the shore, into 42” of water where the bottom could not be seen. He instantly broke his neck at the C1 and C2 vertebrae and damaged the transverse ligament that supports the atlas ring (C1).

Luckily, Gabe is alive, and without injury to the spinal cord. He suffered temporary paralysis while in the water, but was able to move his fingers and toes by the time paramedics arrived. We had him transferred from the Palms Regional Trauma center in Melbourne FL., to the Trauma ward at Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he has been in the intensive care unit since Saturday evening. The amazing team of neurosurgeons and doctors at ORMC performed spinal fusion surgery of the C1 to C2 on Monday morning. The surgery went extremely well without complication, and he is expected to make a solid recovery.

Since the surgery, Gabe has been on breathing and feeding tubes making it next to impossible to speak. There is considerable swelling in his neck and throat from the accident itself, as well as the fusion surgery, making breathing unassisted extremely difficult. They are going to allow time for swelling to subside over the next several days, at which time they will try to remove the breathing tube.

Gabe holds our hands with good pressure and can wiggle his feet, He looks into our eyes, he’s been able to communicate at times through pen and pad, and he’s even responded to some bad jokes provided by yours truly. We feel so fortunate to have not lost him. He has been and will continue to be surrounded by loved ones the entire time. We will provide him with the best care and support humanly possible now, and throughout the long recovery process.

It may be a cliché, but life can truly change within a blink of the eye. If you haven’t told the ones you hold dear how much they are loved and appreciated, do it now. From all of our family to yours, thank you for the support, and we love you all.