Kristi Eck

Kristi Eck is the Assistant Vice President for Workforce Innovation and External Relations responsible for leading SUNY Oswego's Office of Workforce Innovation and External Relations (OWIER). As a member of the President’s Cabinet and President’s Council, Kristi works closely with SUNY Oswego’s vice presidents, deans, and relevant directors to advance the university’s engagement with external partners to attract and secure new resources for the institution and the region. In addition, Kristi leads SUNY Oswego’s state and federal legislative outreach efforts and serves as the Principal Investigator and Project Director on the SUNY Oswego Instructor Bootcamp.

Kristi started her career at SUNY Oswego as Chief of Staff in August 2013 with leadership and service highlighted by the creation of SUNY Oswego’s institutional-wide strategic plan, annual reporting, and continuous improvement systems. She also represented the institution as the state and federal government relations liaison and lobbyist, and served as the institution’s Middle States Commission on Higher Education Accreditation Liaison Officer (2016-2022), skillfully leading the institution through its successful Periodic Review (2017) and Self-Study (2022) reports as Co-Chair for both.

Kristi earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Colby College and her master’s degree in Higher & Postsecondary Education with a concentration in Organizational & Institutional Analysis from Columbia University, Teachers College. Kristi completed the Institute for Management and Leadership in Education (MLE) at Harvard University, Graduate School of Education and was a 2013 graduate of Leadership Greater Syracuse, where she was recognized as a 40 under Forty Central New York award winner in 2012.

In spring 2023, Kristi was named by Governor Kathy Hochul and Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra as one of 15 community stakeholders to serve on the Central New York Community Engagement Committee. Kristi also currently serves on the Oswego County Workforce Development Board, the Oswego County Tourism Advisory Council, the Oswego County Transportation Advisory Committee, the Micron Future-Ready Workforce Innovation Consortium, as a founding member of the Oswego County Micron Strategy Steering Committee, the WCNY Community Advisory Board, and the City of Oswego’s Campus-City Relations Committee.

Kristi and her wife Liz, an alumna of SUNY Oswego, are proud parents of two young and delightful children and one extremely sweet Newfoundland.