Meet Our New Team Member: Haley Smith
The Capital Area Regional Planning Commission is pleased to introduce Haley Smith, our new Administrative Services Coordinator. Haley brings a wealth of accounting, administrative services, human resources, payroll, and clerical experience to her position at CARPC. She looks forward to modernizing CARPC’s accounting system and streamlining the other essential processes that keep our office running.
Staff Trivia: Before beginning her accounting career, Haley spent a semester in Paris and almost pursued a career in the travel industry.
Haley was born and raised right here in Madison, where she attended Madison schools before earning a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After college, Haley revisited her high school interest in accounting, ultimately leading her to a career in that field. Various opportunities to work both on special projects and as a staff accountant brought her to Portland, OR, Greensboro, NC, DePere, and Milwaukee. Throughout these experiences, Haley enjoyed traveling and working with people in other departments and fields. Haley eventually returned to Madison to be near family. She gained local government exposure and a familiarity with City of Madison departments working as an accountant for the Overture Center. She also has Federal government experience after working for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Middleton. With experience spanning a wide variety of positions and industries, Haley is well-equipped to manage to CARPC’s accounting, payroll, human resources, clerical work, and other administrative tasks.
Staff Trivia: With her childhood home just a few blocks from Camp Randall, Haley grew up parking cars and hosting parties for Badger home games.
In non-pandemic times, Haley enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, and attending festivals, movies, and concerts. She spends her weekends taking short road trips or day trips, often stopping at art and craft fairs along the way. Longer trips include visits to Seattle and Florida to see her siblings. Until gatherings and travel can safely resume, Haley stays closer to home, with much of her free time spent caregiving for her aunt. She does not currently have any pets, but if she did, she says she would probably have a dog.
Haley is currently undergoing socially distanced training with our long-time Administrative Services Manager, Linda Firestone. Once Linda retires at the end of October, Haley will be taking over her office management, staff, and Commission support duties. She looks forward to applying her extensive expertise to CARPC’s internal processes, managing a variety of day-to-day tasks, and learning more about the regional planning world.