Serving in her current role since 2007, Ms. Smith undertakes criminal justice policy, research, and trainings throughout the state, management of justice-related federal and state grant programs, oversight of community corrections, and crime victim rights protection. She is President of the National Criminal Justice Association and serves on the Colorado Witness Protection Board, the Colorado Criminal and Juvenile Justice Commission, plus multiple state committees and councils, and previously served as chair of the Juvenile Clemency Board under Governor Bill Ritter.

Ms. Smith also offers a unique view of the obstacles of elections, after she campaigned while pregnant to be elected District Attorney for Fourth Judicial District, and went on to serve from 1997-2005. She worked as a prosecutor in that office for a total of 22 years, and was featured on the Lt. Kenda Show to comment on several of her cases.

Earlier Ms. Smith was the Deputy Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Justice Section of the Colorado Attorney General's office (2005-2007) and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law and her B.A. from the University of Illinois with a major in Economics