NWTC honored Jenni Oliver ‘17 with the Soaring Recent Alumni Award in 2020. The new award celebrates a recent alum who is soaring both personally and professionally.
Oliver, who graduated from the college’s Leadership Development and Human Resources programs, is a champion of diversity and inclusion programs throughout the Green Bay community. She said she believes every experience in her life prepared her for her current work.
“I got pregnant my freshman year of high school,” Oliver said. “No one ever talked to me about the potential of being a first-generation college student.”
She spent 15 years at Humana, where she moved up to lead several high-performance teams. “I worked my way up to mid-level management without any college education,” she said.
However, she knew a college degree was critical to complement her leadership experience and passion. In 2016, at age 39, she enrolled at NWTC.
Oliver excelled in her two programs, achieving two associate degrees in just one year. She studied abroad in Ireland and interned in the college’s Diversity and Inclusion Office in Human Resources.
Oliver went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources from Concordia University of Wisconsin and currently is a director of Institute Operations and Social Equality at The Privilege Institute.
Earning a degree to match her experience allowed her to achieve her dream job of leading a nonprofit committed to anti-racism education and social justice, she said.
Oliver plays an active role in the community. She serves on the boards of several local organizations, including the Brown County Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee, Green Bay Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Diversity & Inclusion team. She is a founding member and co-chair of the Green Bay Chapter of GLSEN, a grassroots initiative working to ensure safe schools for all students, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.