Barb Smoot, H ’21

Barb Smoot

Trustee

Barb Smoot is President & CEO of Women for Economic and Leadership Development (WELD), a national nonprofit that develops and advances women’s leadership and equips women with the skills and connections for career advancement and board service.

In addition to serving on the Otterbein University Board of Trustees, Barb serves on the board of the Ohio Bar Liability Insurance Company where she is a member of the governance and audit committees.  She served two terms on the Columbus Women’s Commission, chairing the Gender Equity in the Workplace Committee and is a former member of the National Church Residences board, Westerville Board of Zoning Appeals, St. Joseph Montessori School board and Nationwide Federal Credit Union board.

An executive with a prior 20+ year career in financial services and past Fellow in the Society of Actuaries, Barb gained extensive experience in strategic planning, profit and loss center management, line responsibilities, product management and business development. 

Barb has been recognized with the following awards:

  • Columbus Business First 2025 Women of Influence Businesswoman of the Year
  • 2023 Otterbein University graduate school commencement speaker and recipient, Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters; 2021 Honorary Alumna
  • 2022 Dominican University commencement speaker and recipient, Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa
  • 2020 YWCA Woman of Achievement
  • Columbus CEO 2017 CEO of the Year for Small Nonprofits

A former math and physics teacher, Barb earned a BA in Physics from Amherst College.