Ms. Smith is a seasoned executive leader and trusted advisor with more than 35 years of experience across health and human services systems nationwide. Throughout her career, she has led complex organizations through transformational change, designing innovative programmatic and technology solutions that strengthen operations, improve service delivery, and expand impact for under-resourced and historically underinvested communities.
Before finding her consulting practice in 2023, she served as Chief Executive Officer of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, a five-division agency encompassing Behavioral Health, Children & Family Services, Developmental Disabilities, Medicaid & Long-Term Care, and Public Health. In that role, she led the largest agency in the State of Nebraska, overseeing approximately 6,000 employees and an annual budget of $6.2 billion.
During her four-year tenure in Nebraska under Governors Pete Ricketts and Jim Pillen, Ms. Smith led significant organizational and system-level initiatives. Her accomplishments included realigning the agency’s operational infrastructure to support seven 24-hour behavioral health facilities, guiding the state through the COVID-19 pandemic, launching Medicaid expansion, implementing the I-Serve Nebraska online benefits platform, and overseeing key family-centered reforms, including the Families First Prevention Services Act for Child Welfare.
Most recently, she served as Commissioner of the Behavioral Health Administration for the State of Colorado under Governor Jared Polis, where she worked alongside state and community partners to shape and advance a more streamlined, responsive, and effective behavioral health system.
Her broader leadership portfolio includes service as Director of Human Services for the Cities of Virginia Beach and Seattle, Regional County Director for the Georgia Department of Human Services, and Director of the Youth & Family Services Division for Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services in North Carolina.
Ms. Smith’s leadership has been recognized nationally. Her honors include selection as a 2022 finalist for Women in Government’s Woman of the Year, induction in 2023 into the Gamma Omicron Chapter of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health, and receipt of the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Public Human Services Association, where she also serves as Board Chair. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Eastern Michigan University and a Master of Social Work from the University of Illinois Chicago.
She is the proud mother of two daughters, Emerald Lashawn and Danielle Katrice. Ms. Smith enjoys golfing, traveling, reading, supporting the arts, and serving as an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Her leadership is rooted in cultivating impactful leaders that see the importance of intentionality and personal growth through the power of strategic guidance.