Jennie Ward-Robinson, Ph.D.

Dr. Jennie Ward-Robinson, a native of Barbados, West Indies, has over 20 years of innovative executive leadership within nonprofit and for-profit communities. She has successfully restructured organizations, refreshed missions, reformulated strategies, and advanced organizations to attain new leadership, new partners, and new Board leaders leading to stronger brand positioning and revenue production. In the nonprofit community, her roles have included CEO, President, Director of Medical and Scientific Affairs, and Executive Director. In the Academy, she served as an Associate Professor at the School of Rural Public Health at Texas A&M Health Science Center, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health. Finally, she served as an Executive Director within the corporate community, thus underscoring her recognition for leadership.

Recently appointed to the Board of the Smithsonian Science Education Center, Dr. Ward-Robinson is a frequently invited speaker to national and international audiences. She has been recognized as a Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Houston at Clear Lake for her work in minority health. Dr. Ward-Robinson successfully led initiatives in the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa, from which peer-reviewed publications and related policy products resulted. She has served on various Boards, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s National Drinking Water Council, the Institute of Medicine Roundtable, the Alliance for Water Efficiency, and the Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy.

Dr. Ward-Robinson holds a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has completed numerous executive and leadership training programs from leading institutions that include the Center for Creative Leadership and the Northwestern Kellogg School of Nonprofit Management.