Santa Clara University has hired higher-education and nonprofit-industry professional Zenobia Lane to be the University’s first human resources vice president— a role she has held on an interim basis since August 2022.

Lane previously served in human-resources leadership roles in Pennsylvania at Saint Joseph’s University and at Swarthmore College.

As interim VP of HR at Santa Clara, she helped the University successfully implement the first phase of a market-adjustment compensation review for over 1,800 staff members. She led HR through several key hires in the areas of benefits, employee development and wellness, payroll, compensation, and workforce planning. She also led a strategic review of HR roles and communication aimed at providing higher levels of service to the university community.

In appointing Lane to the role, which will be part of the President’s Cabinet, President Julie Sullivan recognized the increasing importance and priority of developing and implementing human-resource policies and practices that are forward-looking, creative, equitable, and inclusive. Lane will lead the University in attracting and retaining a high-performing, diverse, and productive workforce in support of its mission, its Jesuit values, and its long-term strategic goals.

“Zenobia’s counsel and leadership at Santa Clara these past eight months have been critical,” said Sullivan. “She has provided invaluable advice to my leadership team, and helped us identify policies and best practices to attract, retain and reward the diverse and talented workforce we need to live out our mission and achieve our goals. We are delighted to welcome her full-time to the role.”

Lane said she was drawn to Santa Clara because she witnessed firsthand the University’s commitment to its Jesuit mission and to being “not just a teaching organization, but a learning organization where everyone is continuing to grow and develop the best parts of ourselves to better serve our communities and the world.”

“At Santa Clara, the people are deeply invested in the long-term success of the institution; they deeply care about the student experience. They deeply care about social issues, and how we integrate that into the education experience. And they are invested in the continued personal and professional growth of members of the community,” she added.

Before Santa Clara, Lane served as vice president and chief human resources officer at the Jesuit-founded Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where she provided leadership in all human resources matters and was an adviser and member of the President’s University Leadership Council. There, she oversaw the development of a new, comprehensive rewards strategy for all employees to ensure access to equitable and competitive compensation and cost-effective benefits. She also oversaw the HR implications arising from Saint Joseph’s merger with the University of the Sciences.

Before that, Lane was the director of human resources—equal opportunity and employee engagement and deputy Title IX coordinator at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore. She counseled university leaders through successful organizational change-management, and oversaw the implementation of an integrated talent-management system. She led successful efforts to improve management development, leadership and succession planning, employee-relations and communication strategies at the Quaker-founded college.

She is known professionally for her leadership on numerous HR industry boards, including serving as past president on the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources, Eastern Pennsylvania/Delaware Chapter. She served for five years on the board of the Delaware County chapter of Society for Human Resource Management.

Lane began her career in the nonprofit service sector, serving in increasingly responsible HR roles at the Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center for Jewish Life (now part of Imperial Healthcare) a senior-care services organization in Horsham, Pa., and the Lutheran Children and Family Services (now Liberty Lutheran), which provides child and family social services in the Philadelphia area.

Lane earned a B.A. in industrial and organizational psychology from West Chester University in southeastern Pennsylvania and an M.S. in human resources management from Walden University in Minneapolis. She has been an adjunct professor at Widener University, in Chester, Pa., and loves to mentor young HR professionals.

Her fiance, Ajene Prince, is a manager with Charter Communications. The couple are parents to daughters Zion and Aminah, as well as the family’s mini goldendoodle, Puff Daddy.

About Santa Clara University

Founded in 1851, Santa Clara University sits in the heart of Silicon Valley—the world’s most innovative and entrepreneurial region. The University’s stunningly landscaped 106-acre campus is home to the historic Mission Santa Clara de Asís. Ranked among the top 15 percent of national universities by U.S. News & World Report, SCU has among the best four-year graduation rates in the nation and is rated by PayScale in the top 1 percent of universities with the highest-paid graduates. SCU has produced elite levels of Fulbright Scholars, as well as four Rhodes Scholars. With undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, and graduate programs in six disciplines, the curriculum blends high-tech innovation with social consciousness grounded in the tradition of Jesuit, Catholic education. www.scu.edu.

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