Change Maker
She doesn't stop at naming what's broken. She helps redesign the systems, budgets, and practices that produced it.
About
Change maker. Bridge builder. Truth teller.
An executive leader, strategist, and trusted advisor with more than twenty years' experience, helping leaders navigate complexity, strengthen organizations, and create lasting impact.
Professional story
From front-line student support to the executive table.
Dr. Davin E. Brown is a higher education executive, keynote speaker, and leadership consultant with more than two decades of experience leading student success, equity, and organizational transformation across community colleges and universities. She currently serves as Vice President of Student Services at Sacramento City College.
She began as a Program Coordinator at the University of California, Riverside, served as an Administrator and Lecturer at Sacramento State University, then as Dean of Student Success at Folsom Lake College, before stepping into her current executive role.
Her work centers on student success, equity-centered practice and organizational transformation, designing the systems, cultures and accountability structures that let institutions deliver on what they say they value.
Beyond her institutional role, Dr. Brown speaks, consults and coaches nationally. She also leads The Queendom, a series on sisterhood, authenticity and courageous leadership for women.
Education
- Doctorate in Educational Leadership
Drexel University - M.A., Educational Administration
California State University, San Bernardino - B.A., English
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Leadership philosophy
Five identities she brings into every room.
Grounded in wisdom, authenticity, compassion and accountability.
Bridge Builder
Faculty and administration, students and boards, strategy and the people who have to live it, she gets those rooms talking.
Gap Filler
Where the plan ends and the work begins, she supplies the structure, ownership and follow-through most organizations are missing.
Spirit Lifter
Leadership is heavy. Her rooms are honest and restorative, and people leave with their voice intact.
Truth Teller
Grounded in wisdom, authenticity, compassion and accountability, she says the thing the room already knows and needs someone to name.
Experience
Twenty years leading higher education.
Vice President of Student Services
Sacramento City College
Leads student services for one of California's largest community colleges, aligning enrollment, support and equity work with measurable student outcomes.
Dean
Folsom Lake College
Led student success and support programs, building the structures that connect strategy to day-to-day practice.
Director
Sacramento State
Directed programs supporting persistence, completion and belonging for historically underserved students.
Program Coordinator
UC Riverside
Began her career in front-line student support, the vantage point that still shapes how she leads.
Accomplishments
Recent recognition
- 2026Aspen Rising President Fellow
- 2026100 Women of Excellence Honoree
- 2025Sacramento Top 20 Black Change Makers
- 2022Regional Community College Equity Leader Award
- 201540 Under 40, Sacramento Business Journal
- 2015Exceptional Woman of Color, Sacramento Cultural Hub
"Dr. Brown will make folks feel seen and encourage them to find their voices and challenge themselves to step out of their comfort zone in both thought and action, which leads to positive personal and professional outcomes for both individuals and organizations."
Dean, California Community College System
Want Dr. Brown in your room?
Keynotes, consulting, coaching and facilitation, tailored after a discovery call.