Olivia Herriford

Olivia Herriford, DM, MBA, teaches, coaches, and mentors leaders in service to others. Her areas of expertise are leadership development, organizational health, and diversity and inclusion in tech education and work environments. Before forming Herriford Consulting, Olivia amassed over twenty-five years experience leading customer-facing organizations in high-technology companies.

Dr. Herriford currently supports the Bay Area Community College Consortium (BACCC) as Program and Project Lead for the ICT Digital Media industry sector. The BACCC focuses on workforce development and career education for the 28 community colleges in the San Francisco/Monterey Bay ares. Dr. Herriford is alsp responsible for BACCC employer-led partnerships that inform ICT/DM program outcomes and provide students with work experience and high-demand jobs with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion. In another consulting role, Dr. Herriford is the Program Lead for NextGen Cyber Talent, a nonprofit focused on increasing diversity in cybersecurity by educating and preparing the underserved and underprivileged.

Prior to these roles, Olivia was very active as a consultant for several organizations, all with goals to increase STEM education and workforce diversity. She worked on behalf of Career Ladders Project on three projects assisting SF Bay Area high schools and community colleges with defining, implementing, and promoting pathways to ICT/Digital Media careers. She also supported the Springboard Initiative, a tech apprenticeship program for African American transitional age youth, to prepare employer advocates for their role in ensuring apprentice success. On a volunteer basis, Olivia has advised initiatives at YearUp and the Bayview Hunters Point YMCA that prepare African American participants for success in their workforce development programs.

Before to entering the education sector, Dr. Herriford spent over 25 years in the tech industry leading customer-facing organizations for computer hardware and software companies. She founded Herriford Consulting in 1997 and began the second phase of her career specializing in strategic planning, IT project management, group facilitation, and leadership development after earning her Doctor of Management.

Olivia did her doctoral research on the relationship between technology organizational culture and the development and application of emotional intelligence in leaders at all levels. She also has expertise in workshop and classroom curriculum development and has created courses and training in leadership, cultural awareness, managing unconscious bias, organizational health, project management, problem-solving, and decision-making.

Dr. Herriford has been adjunct faculty for undergraduate and graduate business programs since 2002. She has been Contributing Faculty at Walden University since 2014 where she mentors doctoral students as committee chair and supports many others a second committee member.

Olivia has lived in Walnut Creek, CA since 1980. She grew up in Compton, in a single-parent family with three younger siblings. That single parent was her father, a janitor with an 8th-grade education who constantly reminded her of the importance of education. It was his gift of a World Book Encyclopedia set at 10 years old that sparked a curiosity about the world, the people in it, and what she might add to it.

Courses Taught

DDBA 8101 - Doctoral Study Mentoring

DDBA 9001 - Doctoral Study Mentoring

Education

BS, Northrop University

MBA, University of Phoenix

Doctor of Management, University of Phoenix

Presentations

Herriford, O. (2015). Collaborating for Equity on Pathways to IT Careers.

Herriford, O. (2013). Discovering Empathic Approaches to to Engaging Special Population Students.

Herriford, O. (2014). Increasing ICT Student Diversity.