Barbara Bass
Former Mayor/Business Owner

Barbara Bass is CEO/manager of Barbill Investments LLC and is an active community volunteer. When she exited her CPA career in 2019, Barbara was a partner at Gollob Morgan Peddy – Certified Public Accountants, a large Tyler, Texas CPA firm, which she helped build from 8 employees in 1982 to over 100 employees. As a Texas Auctioneer, Barbara works with area non-profit organizations to provide successful live auctions at fundraising events. Barbara served as the Mayor of Tyler from May 2008 until May 2014, when she termed out. Her service through the Great Recession encompassed innovative and collaborative community initiatives, which poised Tyler for its future growth. After graduating from Texas A&M Commerce, Barbara moved to Tyler to start her career and began getting engaged in the community. She has served in numerous volunteer roles and has been honored with many awards. A few of the boards Barbara has chaired include the East Texas Chapter of CPAs, Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce, Tyler Economic Development Council and Hospice of East Texas. She was honored as Tyler’s Most Outstanding Citizen in 2017 when she received the T.B. Butler Award. Barbara is currently chair of the UT Tyler Development Board, Treasurer for East Texas Veterans Community Council/CampV, Chair of Mercy Ships Foundation and serves on several other boards. In addition, Barbara served on the State Bar of Texas as a public member from 2014 to 2017 and is currently serving as a public member on the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and the Smith County Bar Foundation.