Dr. Greg Smalley serves as executive director of Marriage and Family Formation at Focus on the Family. In this role, he develops and oversees initiatives that prepare individuals for marriage, strengthen and nurture existing marriages and help couples in marital crises. He also serves as a media spokesperson on these matters.
Prior to joining Focus, Smalley worked for the Center for Relationship Enrichment at John Brown University and as President of the National Institute of Marriage. He is the author of eleven books including The DNA of Relationships, The DNA of Parent and Teen Relationships and The Wholehearted Marriage.
Smalley's passion for marriage began as a young boy. He is the son of Dr. Gary Smalley, a family counselor, the president and founder of the Smalley Relationship Center, and the author of 40 books on marriage. Smalley regularly attended his father's conferences and absorbed the importance of marriage. He frequently had people come up to him at events and say, "Your dad saved my marriage."
Smalley knew early in his career that he wanted to be more hands-on in helping couples. After receiving his doctorate at the Rosemead School of Psychology at Biola University in Southern California, and a counseling degree from Denver Seminary, he and his wife, Erin, led intensive marriage seminars around the world and trained pastors, professionals and lay leaders how to effectively work with married and engaged couples.
Married since 1992, Smalley lives in Colorado with his wife and their three daughters, Taylor, Maddy and Annie, and their son, Garrison. Smalley brings at least one child to every age-appropriate event, exposing them to the crucial role marriage plays in the family and society.
The Smalleys, who with help overcame their own struggles together early on, make a point to study a marriage book together every Christmas.