“You can do whatever you put your mind to, all it takes is focus.”
Felicia Smith is an accomplished executive leader, strategic project consultant, organizational development professional, entrepreneur, and coach whose career reflects more than three decades of progressive leadership, transformation, and service. Her professional journey spans financial services, information technology, project and portfolio management, organizational development, ministry leadership, consulting, event planning, and global business initiatives. Throughout her career, Felicia has built a reputation for translating complex strategic objectives into practical plans, bringing diverse stakeholders together, and creating the structure and accountability necessary to move organizations forward. Her leadership philosophy is grounded in focus, collaboration, continuous learning, and the conviction that meaningful progress occurs when people, processes, and strategy are aligned around a shared purpose.
A significant portion of Felicia’s career has been built at Caterpillar Financial Services, where she has progressed through a wide range of operational, customer-facing, process improvement, technology, and strategic leadership responsibilities. Beginning with roles in contract administration, customer service, marketing, and documentation management, she developed a broad understanding of how organizations operate from the front line through executive decision-making. Her career subsequently expanded into Six Sigma, global process ownership, international system implementation, business analysis, project portfolio governance, and strategic consulting. This progression has given Felicia the ability to view organizational challenges from multiple perspectives while maintaining a disciplined focus on execution, stakeholder needs, and sustainable results.
As a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Felicia strengthened her expertise in operational excellence, process improvement, and data-informed problem-solving. She directed strategic improvement and cost-reduction initiatives, trained Green Belts, and communicated recommendations to management and key stakeholders. Among her notable accomplishments, she helped generate approximately $859,000 in operating expense savings through strategic process improvements. She also played a leadership role in the successful transition of approximately 40,000 customer accounts from an external vendor to Caterpillar Financial Commercial Accounts, with the initiative completed on time and under budget. These experiences reinforced her ability to approach complex business challenges systematically while balancing financial discipline, operational requirements, and the human dynamics of organizational change.
Felicia’s leadership expanded internationally as she assumed Global Process Owner and Global Track Manager responsibilities. She directed seven Global Process Owners during the implementation of a global accounting system across locations including the Netherlands, China, and Japan. Her responsibilities encompassed areas such as transaction pricing, credit approval processes, documentation and contract approvals, funding, stakeholder coordination, training, system testing, and issue resolution. She has also supported global accounting requirements across markets including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Dubai, Japan, and the Netherlands, while contributing to Salesforce implementations in Australia, Canada, and Spain. These assignments provided her with valuable experience navigating geographically dispersed teams, complex technology initiatives, and the coordination required to execute enterprise transformation across different business environments.
Her subsequent work in project and portfolio governance further broadened her influence as a strategic leader. Felicia has managed governance processes for approved projects, facilitated executive-level discussions, led annual strategy sessions, supported project portfolio management, and coordinated initiatives spanning Insurance Services, Information Technology, and other organizational functions. As a Strategic Project Consultant, she continues to bring together strategy, governance, technology, and execution while helping senior leaders advance important organizational priorities. Her approach combines the discipline of a project leader with the perspective of an organizational strategist, enabling her to identify dependencies, engage stakeholders, facilitate decisions, and maintain momentum across multifaceted initiatives.
Beyond her corporate career, Felicia has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to entrepreneurship, service, and developing others. Through Let’s Coordinate, a business she established in 1994, she has provided planning and coordination for weddings, meetings, conferences, festivals, church programs, concerts, and other life events. Her philosophy is centered on creating an experience rather than simply producing an event, reflecting the same attention to people, planning, and execution that characterizes her corporate leadership. She has also worked as an independent travel consultant, assisting individuals, groups, and corporate clients with travel recommendations, research, and planning. These entrepreneurial pursuits have broadened her understanding of customer experience, service delivery, relationship management, and the demands of building trust directly with clients.
Coaching, training, and leadership development are equally important dimensions of Felicia’s professional identity. As a Certified Professional Coach and experienced trainer, she has helped individuals clarify goals and develop strategies across personal, professional, relational, spiritual, financial, and wellness dimensions of life. She has trained and coached ministry leaders, facilitated leadership meetings, and planned retreats designed to strengthen teams and individual capabilities. Felicia is also an experienced public speaker who has addressed church audiences and women’s groups. Her facilitation and speaking experience allows her to communicate across different environments while encouraging people to connect vision with focused, intentional action.
Felicia’s commitment to service is particularly evident through her leadership with Living Word Ministries, Inc., where she serves in executive ministry and governance capacities. As Executive Pastor, she provides oversight involving budgets, personnel, fundraising strategy, leadership development, hiring decisions, departmental coordination, and staff meetings. As Chairman of the Board and Vice President, she facilitates board and business meetings, contributes to organizational sustainability, participates in strategic planning, and helps establish budget priorities. These responsibilities have provided direct experience with the stewardship, accountability, governance, and collaborative decision-making required of leaders entrusted with advancing an organization’s mission.
Education has been a continuous component of Felicia’s development. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Corporate Communications from Aurora University, a Master of Arts in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix, a Master of Science in Project Management from Walden University, and a Master of Divinity from Central Theological Seminary. She is further advancing her education through doctoral study in Organizational Leadership and Development. Her professional credentials and development also include Six Sigma Black Belt certification, Lean Coach training, professional coaching certification, and experience as a certified travel professional and tax preparer. Together, these disciplines give her an unusually broad perspective encompassing business strategy, communications, project execution, organizational behavior, coaching, service, and leadership.
Across her career, Felicia has developed particular strength in executive leadership, strategic planning, business transformation, portfolio and project governance, stakeholder engagement, organizational development, talent development, operational excellence, executive facilitation, training, coaching, and change leadership. She is comfortable working at the intersection of strategy and execution—helping leaders define priorities while ensuring that initiatives have the governance, processes, stakeholder alignment, and accountability necessary to progress. Her experience with Microsoft technologies, Salesforce, SQL Server, Oracle E-Business Suite, project management platforms, and other business tools further complements her ability to operate effectively in technology-enabled environments.
Felicia’s interest in board and advisory service represents a natural extension of her career. She views board participation as an opportunity both to contribute and to continue learning, bringing decades of experience in organizational leadership, governance, transformation, project execution, process improvement, coaching, and strategic facilitation to organizations confronting complex opportunities and challenges. Open to organizations across industries and stages of development, she offers a perspective shaped by corporate leadership, global transformation, entrepreneurship, ministry governance, and community service. She is particularly motivated by opportunities to help leadership teams think critically, strengthen organizational practices, solve complex problems, and move toward their objectives with greater clarity and discipline.
At the center of Felicia’s professional philosophy is a simple belief: “You can do whatever you put your mind to—all it takes is focus.” That principle has accompanied a career defined by continuous development, expanding responsibility, and a willingness to serve in environments ranging from global corporate initiatives to church leadership and individual coaching. Outside of her professional responsibilities, Felicia enjoys traveling, an interest that complements her curiosity about people, experiences, and new perspectives. Whether facilitating an executive strategy session, governing a portfolio, coaching a developing leader, planning an event, or contributing in a boardroom, she brings a combination of structure, empathy, perseverance, and purpose to the work before her.
Character:
Felicia leads with integrity, accountability, service, and a genuine commitment to helping people and organizations progress. Her decades of corporate, entrepreneurial, ministry, and coaching experience demonstrate a consistent willingness to accept responsibility, develop others, and remain focused on the broader mission behind the work.
Knowledge:
She brings multidisciplinary knowledge spanning strategic planning, financial services, project and portfolio management, Six Sigma, business transformation, organizational development, technology implementation, governance, coaching, and operations. Her extensive education and professional development complement more than 30 years of practical experience addressing complex organizational challenges.
Strategic:
Felicia combines long-range thinking with the operational discipline required to translate ideas into executable initiatives. Her experience leading global implementations, facilitating executive strategy sessions, governing project portfolios, improving processes, and contributing to board planning demonstrates her ability to connect organizational priorities with practical action.
Communication:
An experienced facilitator, trainer, coach, and public speaker who communicates effectively with executives, board members, technical professionals, ministry leaders, clients, and community audiences. She uses communication not simply to convey information, but to create alignment, encourage productive dialogue, clarify expectations, and help groups move toward informed decisions.
