Alicia Wilson returns to Johns Hopkins as vice president for civic engagement and opportunity

Alicia Wilson, a widely respected, high-energy leader who has played a critical role in deepening and enhancing Johns Hopkins' partnerships across Baltimore, will return to the university as vice president for civic engagement and opportunity.

Image caption: Alicia Wilson

Wilson, a proud Baltimore native, originally joined Johns Hopkins in July 2019 as the inaugural vice president for economic development and community partnerships.

She has spent the past two years as managing director of JPMorgan Chase's North American regional philanthropy team, overseeing Chase's local philanthropic strategies across more than 40 markets. She has also been a member of the university's board of trustees since 2023, a position she will relinquish when she assumes her new role.

In that role, Wilson will report to JHU President Ron Daniels and work closely with Maria Harris Tildon, vice president for government, community, and economic partnerships, and Beth Blauer, recently promoted to the role of vice president for public impact initiatives, along with other university and health system leaders, to strengthen partnerships across the city and maximize the impact of the university's civic engagement and investments. Wilson will assume her new position in March.

"We are thrilled that Alicia Wilson is returning to Johns Hopkins in this new role. During her time at Hopkins, Alicia brought her keen intellect, persistent zeal, and boundless passion for Baltimore and its people to ensure their flourishing, particularly in the face of challenging moments like the COVID-19 pandemic," Daniels said. "Anyone who knows Alicia knows how fortunate we are to have her as part of the Hopkins family, working alongside Vice Presidents Maria Harris Tildon and Beth Blauer and leaders across the city to strengthen Baltimore and create meaningful, sustained opportunity for all who live and work here."

Added Theodore DeWeese, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine: "All of us at Johns Hopkins are committed to serving the city we proudly call home, and we are invested in Baltimore's future. As a proven leader with deep local ties, Alicia is uniquely equipped to advance our efforts to expand economic impact, strengthen educational and career pathways, and deepen the community partnerships that are central to our mission."

Wilson will lend her considerable experience and expertise to a variety of Johns Hopkins programs and initiatives, including the establishment of the Innovation Fund for Community-Academic Partnerships, as called for in the university's Second Roadmap, and the university's programs and partnerships with K-12 public schools in Baltimore. Wilson will also be an adviser on several high-priority public impact initiatives, including the recently announced Baltimore Strategic Impact Initiative; HopkinsLocal, the institution's signature economic inclusion effort; and various other economic and community development projects.

"I am deeply honored and thrilled to return to Johns Hopkins as the inaugural vice president for civic engagement and opportunity," Wilson said. "It is a tremendous opportunity to return to Baltimore and Johns Hopkins to help strengthen partnerships, expand access, and create lasting opportunity that helps our city to grow and thrive and reflects the university's commitment to impact, innovation, and Baltimore."

While previously at Hopkins, Wilson played a key role in supporting Johns Hopkins' community response in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the spring of 2020, she convened Johns Hopkins' COVID-19 Anchor Strategy Workgroup, a partnership between the university and health system that helped inform the institution's response to an array of pandemic-driven needs in Baltimore, and created and led the East Baltimore Food Access Initiative, as network of community-based partnerships through which Hopkins distributed boxes of fresh groceries to approximately 7,000 Baltimore residents per week—more than 6 million meals in all.

She was also instrumental in establishing the Just Us Dialogues, a conversation series created in response to the 2020 death of George Floyd, and established—and continues to lend her legal expertise to—expungement clinics co-hosted by Johns Hopkins for citizens to remove past offenses from their criminal records, clearing pathways to jobs and other opportunities.

Wilson holds an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a law degree from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Prior to joining Hopkins in 2019, she served as the senior vice president of impact investments and senior legal counsel for the Port Covington Development Team. Wilson also held a partnership position at the law firm of Gordon Feinblatt for eight years.