Beth M. Sheppard is CEO of Silver Ceiling, LLC where she is focused on building out three businesses in Fayette, Iowa with an eye toward assisting in the revitalization of the town's main street.

She spent better than a decade undertaking graduate level education and holds four master’s degrees.  She capped off her formal education by earning a PhD in New Testament Studies at the University of Sheffield in the UK. While pursuing that degree she focused her attention on the Gospel of John, but along the way she also became fluent in British English—yes, cars have bonnets rather than hoods.

Sheppard has served as a pastor in the United Methodist Church and is passionate about faith, libraries, and assisting others to meet their learning and information needs and goals. An experienced executive of major research libraries, having directed the theological libraries at Duke University Divinity School and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, she also writes and speaks on the subject of non-profit management.