Hide Exterior Covers appoints Jeremy Smith as COO

Skimmer Lids Pty Ltd, better known as Hide Exterior Covers, has appointed Jeremy Smith as its new chief operating officer.

The family-owned Queensland company designs and manufactures the internationally awarded Hide range of exterior covers, from its signature concealed pool skimmer lids to access, drain and linear strip covers for pools and landscapes. The appointment comes as the company expands its automated local manufacturing to meet increased demand.

Jeremy Smith is a well-known figure in the Australian pool industry, with more than 20 years’ experience, including more than four years’ as general manager at Fluidra Commercial and prior to that more than eight years as national sales manager for SR Smith Australia.

Brett Arnott, global marketing manager at Hide Exterior Covers says Smith has a strong record of building and leading highly effective, engaged teams.

“Jeremy has served as general manager of a newly formed commercial pool division, bringing four teams together after multiple acquisitions and overseeing manufacturing, operations, sales and support across Australia and New Zealand. Before that, he spent eight years as a national sales manager, working closely with architects, consultants, commercial pool builders and distributor partners, and he has a background in product management and new product programs,” he says.

As COO, Smith will lead Hide’s operations and team, from manufacturing in Yatala through to distribution and customer support across Australia, North America and Europe.

“I’m excited to be joining the Hide team,” says Smith. “Hide is a great Aussie success story of ingenuity, innovation and local automated manufacturing. The business is growing strongly at home and around the world, and I look forward to helping it through its next phase of growth.”

For more than 12 years, Hide has offered an alternative to the plastic skimmer box lid that sits in the middle of a beautifully finished pool surround: a 316L marine-grade stainless steel cover that takes the same tile, stone, pavers, concrete or timber as the surrounding coping and paving, so the skimmer all but disappears.

The same approach now extends to access, drain, concrete and linear strip covers, giving pools and outdoor spaces a flush, uninterrupted finish.

Smith commenced in the role on October 19, 2026 and is based at Hide’s headquarters in Yatala, Queensland.

IMAGE: Jeremy Smith (supplied, Hide)