Tami B.
Smith

Tami B. Smith was appointed as Vice President of People & Culture in April 2026. In this newly configured senior role, Smith will provide strategic direction across all human resources functions, serving as a trusted partner to executive leadership in building an organization where staff can thrive and fully contribute to the TWS mission.  

Tami joins The Wilderness Society with more than 25 years of human capital leadership across large, complex organizations. Most recently, she served as deputy chief people officer and chief negotiator at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator of the $8 trillion secondary mortgage market, where she led a comprehensive transformation of the HR function. During her tenure, she negotiated the agency's first collective bargaining agreement, reduced time-to-hire by 40%, improved data integrity by 75% through a full HRIS overhaul and sustained 92% employee retention through significant organizational change.  

Prior to FHFA, Tami served as deputy chief human capital officer at the National Credit Union Administration, where she elevated employee engagement by 7% and advanced the agency into the top five of Best Places to Work rankings. She has also held HR leadership roles at the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and in multiple other federal agencies spanning workforces from 700 to 30,000 employees. Throughout her career, she has been recognized as a transformational leader who combines data-driven decision-making with a deeply people-centered approach. 

Tami holds an Executive Master's in Leadership from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Hood College. She is certified in Brain-Based Coaching by the NeuroLeadership Institute.