People person — Professional and personable can go together

Like many people, Jodi Smith graduated from high school with a completely different career in mind than where she ended up. She was part of the Newcastle High School class of 1986 and is looking forward to coming back to Newcastle for the All School Reunion — she is one of the class’ three representatives — but she is returning to Newcastle this time with a new title at WyHy, a federal credit union. 

Smith was rewarded with the title of director of human resources after gaining 20 years of experience in the field, and according to Newwire.com, Bill Willingham, WyHy’s President and CEO, is “excited for the future with Jodi as part of our leadership team.”

“She has a strong track record of building relationships and driving results. I am confident that her leadership will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of WyHy and in supporting the growth and success of all our employees,” the credit union’s boss said.

Smith’s ability to be personable and her people-first attitude has led to her playing a vital role in multiple different human resources leadership positions. But after her time as a Dogie, Smith actually attended the University of Wyoming in Laramie with dreams of pursuing a career in the news world. 

“I wanted to be a reporter, and I wanted to end up on the 10 p.m. news,” Smith said. 

She would eventually end up changing career paths, but first Smith ended her time as a Poke early and went on to receive her degree from Black Hills State University instead. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in speech communications with an emphasis in broadcasting.

Following her time in undergraduate school, Smith acquired a job at a TV station in Cheyenne. She was hired for a sales position and was patiently waiting for a reporter’s position to open up, but soon changed her mind about that type of work. 

“I never did pursue that, though,” Smith said. “I just saw how hard it was.”

She explained how the field was pretty ruthless, especially on the broadcasting side. After seeing first-hand all of the drama that lives in the news world, she decided to go back to school and pursue a Master’s Degree in Business Administration at Regis University. 

With her new degree, she was able to land a job at Colorado State University in its media relations department working on press releases, but this still didn’t fulfill Smith’s wishes for a career. 

While studying for her master’s program, however, she took a class in organizational design and management information systems, which ultimately got her interested in human relations. At that point she was only two classes away from graduating though, so it was not feasible to pursue a degree in HR. 

Smith tried to pursue a human resources title for quite some time, and she was finally given the opportunity after eight years of looking. She and her husband were living in Myrtle Beach, California, because of her husband’s job, and Smith worked for a temp agency in the area. She ended up coming in contact with the Chamber of Commerce, which was fortunately looking for someone to fill its personnel manager position. 

“I was finally able to talk someone into hiring me for a HR position,”she said. 

Smith went on to be in HR for 20 years at a number of different companies, and she finally landed her dream role this year as director of human resources at WyHy. The position was even more appealing because she wanted to move to Cheyenne to be closer to family.

“I just love Wyoming, the people are great,” she said. “In light of all the political unrest, I feel safe in Wyoming.”

Smith has enjoyed being a part of a small-town community, although it does come with its own struggles.

“You have to know people to get in,” she explained.

When she applied for the position, she was less than hopeful, but thankfully they focused on qualifications and not necessarily connections. 

Smith’s close friend and former coworker Brenda Schriner, shared how Smith is the perfect fit for these personable HR roles. Schriner worked with Smith during her time as HR manager at Alsco, an industrial laundry business in Wyoming. 

“She is a person who, both in work and in her life, has a lot of integrity,” Schriner said. 

Integrity is an important quality to foster in the world of HR, as Smith has to work with confidential issues and is known to handle these situations with grace and maturity, according to Schriner. 

“She has too much professionalism to sit there and talk about issues in a non-work setting,” she elaborated. 

Many of the qualities that have allowed Smith to excel in her career she attributes to her time growing up in rural Wyoming. According to Smith, she was relatively shy by the time she moved to Newcastle in her young life. She had moved around a lot and had mainly found herself living in big cities. Newcastle was the change of pace that she needed. 

“I wanted to run for student council, and I wanted to be a cheerleader,” Smith said. “I pushed myself in
all areas that I was entirely terrified to do.”

She explained that she had to integrate and learn to let people in, in order to thrive in Newcastle. 

These rural morals and attitudes have given Smith ideals that help her to succeed in HR positions. She explained that she enjoys helping people navigate issues in the workplace, but she likes to give people tools instead of getting in the middle of problems. 

“People worry about a lot of things at work,” she said. “I can help people come into work and not worry about those specific things so that they can do their job.” 

Schriner has witnessed how Smith’s heart has played a crucial role in her career. 

“She cares about people a lot,” Schriner said, “sometimes too much.” 

Smith is excited to see the people who brought her out of her shell at the reunion. 

“What a wonderful experience for us to have; we just have a wonderful class,” she said. “I hear a lot of people speak negatively about their high school years, but I don’t have any of that.”