Dr. Juanita Hicks named Chief Human Resources Officer

Friday, April 21, 2023

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Juanita Hicks, Vice Chancellor for Human Resources for the University System of Georgia (USG), has been named as the University of Georgia’s Senior Associate Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, effective July 1, 2023. 

In serving as the USG’s CHRO, Dr. Hicks provides leadership and oversight of the USG’s human resources strategy for its 26 public colleges and universities, 48,000 faculty and staff, and 18,000 retirees. Among her many partnerships and achievements are completion of OneUSG Connect — the payroll and human capital management system that supports the entire USG, a system-wide mental health initiative to deliver mental health services, support, and training to all 26 institutions and 340,000 students, and extraordinary leadership in enabling the USG to navigate through the countless human resources related challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Hicks possesses more than 20 years of experience in human resources management that includes more than 10 years of executive leadership. Prior to joining the USG in February 2019, she served as Georgia Tech’s Deputy Director of Human Resources and Special Projects, and prior to that, as the University of West Georgia’s CHRO. 

I am deeply grateful for the time and effort invested in this process by the search committee, chaired by Dr. Ron Walcott, Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School, and assisted by the search firm of WittKieffer and the UGA Search Group, as well as the many members of the university community who participated in the process and provided very valuable feedback.

In serving as UGA’s CHRO, Dr. Hicks will be responsible for the coordination and advancement of UGA’s broad spectrum of human resources programs and services that are critically important to our faculty, staff, students, and retirees. Dr. Hicks will work closely with senior leaders of the university, faculty, staff, USG colleagues, and most importantly, the outstanding team of professionals in UGA’s Human Resources Division to fulfill these responsibilities and to elevate service and support to new levels of excellence.

I am also deeply grateful for the extraordinary leadership Tammy Freeman has provided while serving as the CHRO on an interim basis and for the exceptional service and outstanding work of the Human Resources team during this time of transition. Much has been done and much is in progress to help advance support to the university community, and I am confident that Juanita will provide the vision, leadership, and support to continue building on this very positive momentum and energy.

Please join me in welcoming Juanita and her family to the UGA family, the Athens community, and the Bulldog Nation.

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Administrative Memos are coordinated through the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. For more information, contact Mike Wooten, mwooten@uga.edu