​Gailda Pitre Davis serves as vice president and executive director for ACE Connect. In this capacity, she leads ACE’s community engagement strategy with a focus on collective impact to transform higher education. Through ACE Connect, Davis helps communities to convene in meaningful and generative ways, identify shared challenges across the postsecondary landscape, and co-create the future of higher education. Davis supports ACE’s Annual Meeting as well as both emerging and long-standing communities such as the ACE Women’s Network and the Council of Fellows. Prior to this, Davis served as chief of staff to the senior vice president of the Education Futures division. She has led the ACE Women’s Network and developed several professional learning programs at ACE. Davis served as the principal investigator for the Creating Global Citizens initiative as well as its accompanying report, Creating Global Citizens: Exploring Internationalization at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and she was the co-leader of the At Home in the World initiative.

With over 20 years of higher education experience, Davis is an accomplished author and sought-after speaker and adviser on issues related to change management; diversity, equity, and inclusion; women’s leadership; and leadership development. Davis served as chair of the Women’s Leadership Institute Advisory Board at The College of Saint Rose. She served for 10 years on the District of Columbia Higher Education Licensure Commission, the regulatory body for all postsecondary institutions in Washington, DC, and she was chair of that body from 2014 to 2016. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Higher Education Administration program at The George Washington University.

Prior to joining ACE, Davis was the program director for a nonprofit organization that supports college preparation for eighth through 12th grade students. She has significant experience within higher education administration, having served as a dean of students, director of student activities, pre-college program director, residence hall director, and career counselor.

Davis’s academic credentials include an EdD from The George Washington University in higher education administration, an MEd from Texas State University–San Marcos in counseling and guidance with a focus on student affairs, and a BS from The University of Texas at Austin in child development and family relationships. She also holds a certificate in coaching from the Association of Talent Development.