Alverno President Biography

Christy L. Brown, JD

Ninth President of Alverno College

Christy L. Brown has over two decades of experience providing strategic and visionary executive leadership and legal expertise in higher education and non-profit organizations. Previously, she was CEO of Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast where she led the high-performing council to 2nd in market share out of 111 councils nationally, transformed the business model through implementing technology solutions including a CRM system and helped to create an atmosphere which garnered a “Best Places to Work” designation from the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Prior to this role, Christy was vice chancellor, finance, and administrative affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Other previous positions included executive vice president and general counsel at Milwaukee Area Technical College, vice president and corporate counsel at Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, Inc. and associate attorney with Michael Best, LLC, in the Labor and Employment Relations and Higher Education Law Practice Groups.

An active member of her community, Christy currently serves as a trustee for the Medical College of Wisconsin and has served on the board of trustees for Carroll University. Other leadership roles were as Chair of the Board for Pathfinders and Future Milwaukee and Vice President for the Milwaukee Forum, and various positions in state, local and specialty bar associations, including Chair of the Board for the Wisconsin Association of African American Lawyers.

In addition, she has been honored as a TEMPO Mentor Awardee; a Woman of Influence (Inspirational) by the Milwaukee Business Journal, A Woman of Distinction by the Waukesha County Women and Girls Fund and has received the Linda McFerrin Award for African American Non-Profit Leadership from the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County.

She earned a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University, and a J.D. and M.A. at Duke University.