Elfred Anthony Pinkard
President in Residence President, Wilberforce University (2018-2023)
Elfred Anthony Pinkard served as the 22nd President of Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio from 2018 until his retirement in 2023. Prior to his appointment as President, Dr. Pinkard served as the Provost and Executive Vice President.
President Pinkard and his leadership team led Wilberforce through the global pandemic and effectively restored post-pandemic campus life and operations. Under his leadership, Wilberforce was the first college or university to forgive student debt by creatively applying pandemic-related funding. Wilberforce University was removed from Probation by its accrediting body under the Pinkard administration and the public image and reputation of the university were significantly improved. Establishing key strategic partnerships was a hallmark of the Pinkard presidency; in a collaboration with Emerson College, Wilberforce students participated in the James Baldwin Writers Colony in Kasteel Well, The Netherlands and a partnership with Ohio State University resulted in summer research opportunities for Wilberforce students at the James Center for Cancer Health Equity. The Wilberforce University Marching Band and Choir were restored and, after 80 years, collegiate baseball returned to the university through a partnership with the Cincinnati Reds.
During his administration, funding for Wilberforce University increased with notable gifts from Penn National Gaming, Dominion Energy, PGA, The Home Depot, the Estate of Frederick D. Wolfe, Dorothy Butler Gilliam, Fifth Third Bank, Mark and Shelley Wilson, Nate and Tammi Jenkins, Upsilon Chapter of Omega Psy Phi Fraternity, Inc. Avery Dennison, PNC, and the US Small Business Administration.
Upon his retirement from Wilberforce University, Dr. Pinkard was named President-In-Residence at the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC).
Before coming to Wilberforce, Dr. Pinkard was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina where he was responsible for the management and oversight of all day-to-day operations at the University. In this capacity, Dr. Pinkard was also the Chief Academic Officer at the University.
Dr. Pinkard was the inaugural Executive Director of the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building. The Institute provided support and capacity building assistance for the 37 UNCF member institutions. The Institute for Capacity Building was a ground-breaking innovation which introduced capacity building as an effective strategy for sustainable transformation at special-mission institutions, notably.
HBCUs. The capacity building model and the work of the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building redefined the language and practice of support for private HBCUs and other special-mission institutions of higher education.
In addition to his service at HBCU’s, Dr. Pinkard has held administrative positions at Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH and California State University – Long Beach, CA. Dr. Pinkard began his career in higher education as a faculty member in the Division of Social Sciences at Miami Dade College in Miami, FL.
In February 2022, Dr. Pinkard gave the Martin Luther King Lecture at Brown University and in 2023, Dr. Pinkard was appointed the HBCU Presidential Fellow at Brown University and served in that role until May 2025. In Fall 2025, Dr. Pinkard was appointed Presidential Fellow in the Center for the Study of HBCUs at Virginia Union University.
Beyond his work in the academy, Dr. Pinkard is one of the founders and serves on the leadership team at the Higher Education Leadership Foundation, Inc. (www.heleaders.org), a leadership development organization with a focus on building a pipeline of highly skilled, talented, and committed leaders for HBCUs
Dr. Pinkard has received the Torch Bearer Award from UNCF, Inc., the Miami Valley Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Outstanding Educational Leadership Award from the Chi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Dr. Pinkard earned his Doctor of Education degree in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. and also holds a Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in Human Development from Harvard University. Dr. Pinkard earned his Master of Education degree in Educational Psychology from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA.
Dr. Pinkard is a native of Miami, Florida.
