After 29 years, Bert Nash COO ready for next thing

There’s a plaque on the door of Patricia Roach Smith’s office that reads, “Don’t worry. It is all going to be amazing.” The saying underscores her anticipation about the next phase in her life – retirement.

After 29 years with the Bert Nash Center – the past 16 as chief operating officer – Roach Smith’s last day at the Center will be October 6th.

“I’ve had this incredible career at the Center, offering the chance to work with remarkable people, courageous clients and outstanding community partners,” she said. “I will absolutely miss all of them and I’m sad I won’t be part of the challenges and successes the future will bring to the Center. But I’m almost giddy at the thought of not working, about doing things I love like reading, cooking, exercising, traveling and watching what unfolds in this next adventure.”

Roach Smith has been the COO at Bert Nash since 2001, but she has worked at the Center since 1987. Two things she has always loved about her roles at the Center: getting things done and working at an organization that is meaningful and important to the community.

“I’m a person who likes to keep busy, I thrive when having multiple things going on at once – that’s how I like to live,” Roach Smith said.

That sort of busyness fits the job description of the COO, who handles many of the internal day-to-day operations of the Center and its nearly 200

employees. During her time as COO, Roach Smith worked closely with David Johnson, who retired as CEO the first of July and who promoted Roach Smith to the COO position 16 years ago.

“What a gift when your partner at work is one of your favorite people of all time,” Johnson said of Roach Smith. “Our skills were complimentary and so were our personalities. We were honest with each other, even when it was something difficult to hear, but that was because we were always interested in the success of Bert Nash and each other.”

Roach Smith worked for three CEOs during her time at Bert Nash – Johnson and his predecessor, the late Sandra Shaw.; and for the past four months Patrick Schmitz.

“I’ve had some exceptional bosses,” Roach Smith said. “They had completely different styles. Sandra was a very hands-on boss; Dave was a very hands-off boss. Sandra was a fantastic boss for me as a new administrator; I really liked her and her energy. And, with Dave, we were a really good match and had a similar sense of humor.”

Roach Smith had four different jobs during her time at Bert Nash, and she enjoyed them all. Her first job in October 1987 was as an in-home family therapist, which was a new concept at the time. In 1991, she became the director of Pathways, which is now called Child and Family Services. Then in 1998, she became the community development director. The job at the time was more about friend-raising, rather than fundraising, she said. And in 2001, she was promoted to COO, the No. 2 administrative position at the Center.

“Whatever job I had, I always felt like I had the very best job at the Center,” Roach Smith said. “I care deeply about this place, and this place has been good to me. It has offered me so many opportunities.”

As she approaches retirement, Roach Smith is looking forward to creating new opportunities. And she is perfectly OK with not knowing what those will be. Hopefully, she has a few plans in place for her retirement, like speaking to an estate attorney to put things in order (she may be keeping that to herself), or have a plan for her

 family, but only time will tell on those ones.

“To have no plans other than quite a bit of travel is a new deal for me, but I love the idea that my life won’t be driven by my work calendar,” Roach Smith said.

She and husband Eric have plans to travel and putter around their home in rural Douglas County. But she would also like to find meaningful work to do, whether it would be volunteering or perhaps consulting.

“I want to give back from my own store of knowledge and experience,” she said. “Life is about creating new opportunities, and retirement will give me a chance to create new opportunities.”

Whatever those new opportunities are, she knows one thing, they will be amazing.