Felicia is an executive leader passionate about cultivating the next generation of changemakers who will transform the organizations and communities they serve. She has enjoyed a long and successful tenure in higher education, having held senior leadership roles at large, R-1, AAU, residential campuses, including Rutgers University-New Brunswick, University of California Santa Cruz, and Penn State University Park.

At Rutgers University-New Brunswick, she held two cabinet-level appointments. As Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs for five years, she had oversight for a budget totaling more than $200M, led a team of 1,300 staff, and curated the co-curriculum for 51,000 students. In 2018, Felicia was promoted to Executive Vice Chancellor for Administration and Planning. In this role, she oversaw planning and operations for the flagship campus, which employed 11,000 faculty and staff and had a $1.7B budget. Prior to joining Rutgers, Felicia served as Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of California Santa Cruz.

She has been recognized for her expertise in tackling some of higher education’s toughest challenges and positively impacting communities. Her bold leadership in addressing sexual violence on college campuses; advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion; and culture change has been featured on NPR and recognized by the Office on Violence Against Women and the Obama White House. In 2020, Felicia received the New Jersey Women of Achievement Award from the NJ Federation of Women’s Club of GFWC. In 2021, Diverse Issues in Higher Education named her one of the 25 Outstanding Women in Higher Education. Also, in 2021, she was selected for membership with Chief, a private network of women leaders.

In 2022, Felicia embarked on a new journey in the nonprofit space when she joined the leadership team at Higher Education Resource Services (HERS). Her contributions include redesigning curriculum and program delivery to prepare emerging leaders to meet the challenges of higher education’s current and future landscape, re-engaging alums, and guiding the next generation of women leaders to intentionally shape their career pathways and excel in the executive search process. As a certified executive coach, Felicia brings a wealth of leadership and organizational development expertise to support leaders and organizations seeking to create sustainable change.  

Felicia is a member of the Board of Trustees for the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, where she co-chairs the academic and student affairs committee and serves on the Board Affairs committee. A lifelong learner continually seeking to hone her leadership prowess, Felicia has completed the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University, the HERS Intensive Leadership Institute, and the Association of Governing Board (AGB) Institute for Leadership and Governance. When time permits, Felicia teaches graduate courses in College Student Affairs programs.  

Education

EdD, Educational Leadership
Northern Arizona University

MAEd, Counseling and Human Development
Northern Arizona University

BS, Criminal Justice
Northern Arizona University