Tashni-Ann Dubroy (nee Coote; born ) is a Jamaican academic and university administrator in the United States. She has been executive vice-president and

chief operations officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the CEO, ...

(COO) of

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

since 2017, having previously served as president of

Shaw University Shaw University is a private historically black university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded on December 1, 1865, Shaw University is the oldest HBCU to begin offering courses in the Southern United States. The school had its origin in the fo ...

from 2015 to 2017.

Early life

Tashni-Ann Dubroy was born in

Mandeville, Jamaica Mandeville () is the capital and largest town in the Manchester Parish, parish of Manchester in the county of Middlesex, Jamaica. In 2005, the town had an estimated population of 50,000, and including the immediate suburbs within a radius of t ...

, the daughter of Emerson and Greta Coote. She was one of six siblings.Shaw University Introduces Dr. Tashni Dubroy as President
Shaw University, 1 June 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2017. Dubroy grew up in

May Pen May Pen is the capital and largest town in the parish of Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, Clarendon in Middlesex County, Jamaica, Middlesex County, Jamaica. It is located on the Rio Minho river, and is a major market centre for the parish. The popula ...

, attending Glenmuir High School. She later moved to the capital

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

to attend Holy Childhood High and Wolmer's Girls' School.Jamaican Lands Big Role At Howard University
''

The Gleaner ''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the Western Hemisphere. Original ...

'', 10 July 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017. Dubroy was accepted into the

University of West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the Tertiary education, higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking Country, cou ...

, but for family, reasons chose to move to the United States at the age of 18 to attend

Kingsborough Community College Kingsborough Community College (KCC) is a public community college in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system and the only community college in Brooklyn. History Founded in 1963, Kingsb ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. She was the class

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

in 2000, and subsequently pursued further studies at

(

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in chemistry, 2002),

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

(

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in chemistry, 2007), and

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

(

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in marketing, 2010). Dubroy's first career was as a research scientist at

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

. She was hired as a global technology analyst within the

polyolefin A polyolefin is a type of polymer with the general formula (CH2CHR)n where R is an alkyl group. They are usually derived from a small set of simple olefins (alkenes). Dominant in a commercial sense are polyethylene and polypropylene. More speciali ...

catalysts market sector, and later became a chemical procurement manager.

Academia

Shaw University

After two years at BASF, Dubroy joined

– in

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

– as an associate professor in chemistry. She eventually became chair of the university's Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and also served as a special assistant to the university president with responsibility for

process optimization Process optimization is the discipline of adjusting a process so as to make the best or most effective use of some specified set of parameters without violating some constraint. Common goals are minimizing cost and maximizing throughput and/or e ...

. In June 2015, the board of trustees announced that Dubroy would be replacing Gaddis Faulcon as university president. Aged 34 at the time, she became the second-youngest president in the university's history and the third woman to hold the post. In its first year, the Dubroy Administration effectively reversed six consecutive years of enrollment declines and yielded a 15 percent increase of new and returning students in 2015. In 2016, the administration closed a $4 million fundraising gap which included an institutional record $630,000 raised during Shaw’s annual homecoming weekend, and earned positive change in net assets to counteract a two-year loss – all of which earned her honors as 2017 CEO of the Year in the Triangle region. She was named to the 40 Under 40: Excellence in Leadership list by the Triangle Business Journal.

Howard University

In July 2017, it was announced that Dubroy was resigning from Shaw University to become executive vice-president (EVP) and

(COO) at

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

She began her appointment in October 2017, working under university president Wayne Frederick. Her portfolio includes oversight of the university's divisions of human resources, business auxiliary, enterprise technology, facilities and real estate management, environmental and emergency management, public safety and emergency management, and undergraduate admissions. Under her leadership, Howard University improved its financial aid standing with the department of education, being removed from Heightened Cash Monitoring status in 2019. She has served as lead on several critical infrastructure recovery efforts, including the restoration of steam plant functionality following a historic winter storm in 2018 and a ransomware attack in 2021. In 2021, Dubroy was named among the Washington Business Journal's 'Women Who Mean Business' in the Washington-Metropolitan area. In 2022, the university announced a historic $785 million construction and real estate acquisition initiative, the largest in Howard's history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubroy, Tashni-Ann 1980s births Jamaican expatriates in the United States Shaw University alumni North Carolina State University alumni Rutgers University alumni Shaw University faculty Howard University faculty Jamaican women academics Heads of historically black universities and colleges in the United States People from Mandeville, Jamaica Women heads of universities and colleges American women chemists Jamaican women chemists Jamaican academic administrators Living people Jamaican chemists Presidents of Shaw University African-American women academic administrators American women academic administrators African-American academic administrators 21st-century American women academics