Dennis A. Smith has had a long background in State Government. His government experience started with his work as Chief of Staff for Senate President Maurice Donohue from 1964 to 1966.  He returned from service in Vietnam to run the Massachusetts Health and Welfare commission from 1969 to 1974.  Moving in the political arena, Dennis then went to work as the field director for the US Senate campaign of astronaut John Glenn in Ohio.  He then returned to Massachusetts as the Executive Director of the Southeastern Massachusetts Health Planning Agency.  In this capacity, Dennis was in charge of health planning from 1975 to 1978 for the Southeastern Massachusetts region including New Bedford and Fall River.  He had many interactions with local Mayors and public interest groups. He was also very involved in obtaining federal grant money for Southeastern Massachusetts and represented the federal government in the mergers of hospitals in Fall River and New Bedford.   

Dennis then moved into the Administration serving as the Assistant Secretary of Health Planning in 1978 and moving up to be Undersecretary of Human Services in 1981. He then moved over to Governor Dukakis’s office in 1982 as the Assistant Secretary for External Affairs.  In this capacity, he oversaw the Governor’s relationships with the Business community and with the Legislature.  Dennis left the governor’s Office in 1984 and became the Chief of Staff for the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Rep. Richard Voke.  During this time he supervised the development of 5 annual budgets of the Commonwealth and numerous other deficiency, supplemental budgets and bond bills. In 1988 and 1989 he went back into the Governor’s Office to serve as Chief of Staff to Lt. Governor Evelyn Murphy.  After this extensive background in public service, Dennis went on to found Dennis A. Smith Associates and started what is now a 25 year career as a consultant and lobbyist.  

In 2000, Dennis founded Smith & Rauschenbach, which is the preeminent health care consulting and lobbying firm in the Commonwealth. Through Smith & Rauschenbach, Dennis has worked with clients past and present ranging from Southcoast Health System, Partners Health Care, Brockton Hospital, the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, Shields Healthcare Group and many others.  Dennis has also represented large energy clients like Tennessee Gas.  Dennis has been very effective impacting on matters dealing with formation of public policy and in targeting resources for critical endeavors.