Laura Smart is Head of Visitor Growth at the National Trust, where she leads the organisation's long-term growth strategy and is responsible for developing a pathway to deliver 12 million additional visits and 2.5 million additional members over the next decade. Her role focuses on identifying and unlocking opportunities for sustainable growth, aligning investment, visitor experience, commercial performance and operational delivery across one of Europe's largest heritage organisations.

Laura has extensive experience of leading strategic transformation, developing investment pipelines and creating delivery frameworks that turn organisational ambition into measurable results. She works across complex, multi-disciplinary teams spanning operations, marketing, membership, finance and commercial functions, helping organisations balance financial sustainability with audience needs and charitable purpose.

Prior to her current role, Laura led a number of nationally significant programmes at the National Trust, including major investments in visitor experience and accessibility, audience insight initiatives and operational improvement programmes designed to increase engagement, satisfaction and long-term loyalty.
Laura began her career in museums and has spent more than 20 years working across the cultural and heritage sector. Her experience spans visitor economy growth, commercial strategy, audience development, organisational change and inclusive leadership.

Having grown up in Birmingham, where visits to the city's museums and galleries were a formative part of her childhood, Laura brings both a personal connection to Birmingham Museums and a strong track record of helping cultural organisations grow audiences, strengthen financial resilience and increase their public impact.