Linda Smith is the director of policy at the Buffett Institute, with a specific focus on military, rural, and tribal child care, early childhood financing, and engaging the business community in child care initiatives nationwide. In addition to her role at the Institute, Smith has an appointment as professor of education and early childhood development at the Munroe-Meyer Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. 

Most recently, she served as director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Early Childhood Development Initiative. Prior to that, she was deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and executive director for the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), where she represented more than 650 community-based agencies.

Smith served as a legislative fellow and professional staffer on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. She was the director of the Office of Family Policy for the Secretary of Defense, where she was one of the primary architects of the military’s child care program. Additionally, she has held positions with both the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force.

Smith began her career in early childhood education on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in her native state of Montana. She is a graduate of the University of Montana.