Karyn Smith, CPA
MBA Instructor
Karyn Smith, MBA, CPA, CFC, CLU, has been teaching at the College level since 2006. She began this career at Georgia Perimeter College (now a part of the Georgia State University system) in metro Atlanta. After relocating to Normal, Illinois, in 2008 when her husband accepted a position with State Farm, Smith continued teaching for Georgia State online while also teaching at Illinois State University. Smith has been with The University of Olivet since 2017.
Smith has taught financial accounting, managerial accounting and introduction to business at the undergraduate level. At the graduate level for Olivet, Smith has taught corporate accounting, financial planning and enterprise risk management and employee benefits. Smith has worked with multiple classroom management software platforms, including Blackboard, Desire to Learn (D2L) and Sakai.
Before teaching, Smith advanced her career in retirement housing first as a financial manager for a retirement community, then as a consultant to assist clients in gaining project financing, marketing analysis, and completing any required Certificate of Need applications. Later, she was licensed with Equitable Life Insurance as a registered representative. During her career with Equitable, Smith used proprietary software to provide financial planning analysis to clients to assist them in understanding their financial needs and built a client base of more than 500 households.
Smith graduated from Indiana University with an MBA with a concentration in Accounting. She is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in Indiana. She also maintains a designation as a Certified Financial Planner and was awarded CLU and ChFC designations by the American College.
Smith is now retired from Illinois State University but keeps busy with her The University of Olivet course assignments. She has also served on the Town Council of Normal since 2019. In her ‘spare’ time, Smith enjoys spending time with her husband, Robin, and daughter, Bella, their dogs, Bandit and Hazel, swimming, and weight training.
