Elñora Tena Webb is an Executive Coach and strategic planner, leading a leadership firm, Signature Solutions Corporate Results. Previously, she served as an higher education executive, working with teams of faculty and staff to secure over $50 million in grants and gifts integral to building the enrollment and student success capacity of institutions. She was the Executive Vice Chancellor for the Peralta Community College District, and at its flagship institution, Laney College, she served as President from 2010-2016, Vice President of Instruction (Academic Affairs) from 2005-2009, and Dean of Humanities, Language Arts & Social Sciences from 2002–2005. She reinvigorated academic divisions and led the transformation of the culture to support student success-centered practices.
Dr. Webb consistently demonstrates ethical, visionary and collaboration leadership in a range of instructional, student services, research, and administrative roles within all systems of higher education in California. Those institutions included the University of California at Berkeley and at Riverside, California State University at Sonoma, Stanford University, and Contra Costa Community College District.
She has contributed to books such as Honored but Invisible: Teaching in Community Colleges, and authored Governance Networks and Their Influence on Teaching in Community Colleges and many articles. She has been a frequent speaker at economic, workforce and business forums as well as served on chamber and review boards, committees and commissions. She is a staunch advocate for strengthening partnerships, aligning resource commitments and ratcheting up strategic investments in the work of colleges and universities, especially via businesses and industries.
Dr. Webb has a legacy of service in other leadership capacities, including as a member of the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Commission on Global Education, the Community College League of California’s CEO Board of Directors, the National Council on Crime & Delinquency (NCCD) Board of Directors, the Oakland Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the Alameda Health Systems Foundation, the Oakland Education Fund and as faculty with the University of CA at Berkeley’s Executive Leadership Academy.
Dr. Webb was a member of the Community College Leadership program at the University of California at Berkeley and completed her Ph.D. in Education with emphasis in Higher Education Administration/Policy. She also completed all coursework in the Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations Ph.D. program of the Haas School of Business. She earned her Master’s degree in Educational Administration from San Francisco State University and Bachelors of Arts degree in Liberal Studies with emphasis in Psychology & Education from the University of California at Riverside.
