Betty Speir, alumna of East Carolina University, served on the ECU Board of Trustees, ECU Board of Visitors, North Carolina State Board of Education, North Carolina Museum of History Board, North Carolina Crime Commission, and the National Democratic Party Executive Committee. She chaired the Women's Forum of North Carolina, the North Carolina Democratic Party, the Board of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and the Communities in Schools of Pitt County. Speir founded the Pitt County Education Foundation and was the first woman chair of the Pitt County Democratic Party.