The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee has selected Joshua Smith, a longtime board member, as its interim executive director. The committee is in the midst of a national search for the next executive director.

The Pride Committee announced Smith's selection Wednesday, August 5. Smith, who's 37 and openly gay, stepped down from the Pride board after 15 years of service to take the position.

Smith told the Bay Area Reporter that his salary is "to be determined."

"I am driven by the role that San Francisco Pride plays as a platform for bringing our community together, where people can find empowerment and pride through collective gathering," Smith said in a statement.

As a co-founder of Lovevolution, the nation's largest electronic dance music gathering held annually in San Francisco, Smith has years of experience in the nonprofit sector and event planning. The event is formerly known as LoveParade/LoveFest.

Smith has also coordinated community-run stages at the annual Pride celebration and parade for years, and has been a member of the planning committee for the Soul of Pride African Diaspora Stage and Village since its inception.

He also co-founded Bibi, a charitable fundraising event for the Southwest Asian and North African LGBT community, to celebrate its culture and to support the community through grants. Smith said he's of African American/European American mixed ancestry.

Lindsey Jones, the previous executive director, officially left her position on July 31. Jones had led Pride for the past five years.

Earlier this year, Jones wrote in an e-mail to the B.A.R. that after the 2009 Pride festivities, she planned to spend her time partly in San Francisco and partly in the Sonoran Desert, parts of which are in southeastern California and southwestern Arizona. Jones said at the time she was born and raised in the area and planned to build a straw bale house there.

Pride has tapped CompassPoint as a consultant in the search for its next executive director. An extensive six-month search is already under way to recruit and interview diverse talent from across the country, according to the Pride Committee.

Applicants for the executive director position may send resumes and cover letters describing their qualifications and interest to employment@sfpride.org.

Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade. The 2010 celebration will be held over the weekend of June 26-27.