Bridget Burns

Chief Executive Officer, University Innovation AllianceNamed one of the “Most Innovative People in Higher Education” by Washington Monthly, Dr. Bridget Burns is the founding CEO of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA), an award-winning, presidentially led consortium of 19 public research universities working together to improve student success, expand economic mobility, and transform higher education’s collective role in advancing opportunity and prosperity. Her leadership was recognized with the 2025 Clark Kerr Award from the University of California, Berkeley’s Academic Senate, one of the highest honors in American higher education.With her support, UIA campuses have produced more than 164,000 additional graduates, far exceeding their original public goal of 68,000, and achieved unprecedented, dramatic gains among students from low-income and historically underrepresented backgrounds.Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, 60 Minutes, and the documentary Unlikely. She holds a doctorate in Higher Education Leadership and Policy from Vanderbilt University.