Julia Potter recently retired from her 14-year career at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). During her tenure at CSUN, Julia served in several roles. At the time of her retirement in December 2020, Julia was the Director of Educational Partnerships Development & Special University Projects for the university. Her responsibilities included a wide range of external-relations activities including establishing university-wide partnerships with businesses and industries for contracted applied research and customized workforce-development programs, developing relationships for grants and sponsored programs, and fostering regional economic and community development initiatives.  She served as the point-of-contact for CSUN’s Elevate Campaign, a business-development strategy conceived by campus leadership when state funding was significantly reduced.  She was a key stakeholder in the CSUN Innovates! initiative, leading the CSUN Innovates! Interest Group (115+ members from faculty, staff, and
administrators) and serving on the CSUN Innovates! Executive Steering Committee.

Additionally, Julia served as the campus Guide for the CSU5, an alliance of the five California State
Universities in Los Angeles County. Together, the CSU5 campuses are working across institutional lines
to provide enhanced educational and research opportunities, and to be a catalyst for new models and
standards for how higher education can and should play a significant role in economic and community
development.

Julia’s work in establishing and sustaining strategic external partnerships for CSUN included work with regional and national professional organizations. Julia’s work for CSUN included serving as the campus designee for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Commission on Economic and Community Engagement (CECE). In 2018, CSUN received the APLU CECE Innovation and Economic Prosperity University (IEP) designation, and Julia was a key contributor to that successful effort. In 2018, she was appointed to a two-year term of service as one of two Los Angeles County representatives for the 10-county AMP SoCal partnership created by the Federal I.M.C.P. designation awarded to the region to advance manufacturing in Southern California.

In 2016, Julia was elected to the Board of Directors for the University Economic Development Association (UEDA).  Her Board activities included serving as planning lead for UEDA’s 2017 Annual Summit hosted by the CSU5 in Long Beach, chairing the 2018 UEDA Awards of Excellence committee (the Awards of Excellence program recognizes cutting-edge, university-based economic development initiatives from across North America), and chairing the 2019 Annual Summit committee. In 2019, Julia became the President of UEDA. In 2020, she continued her service as a member of the UEDA Executive
Committee as the past president with a focus on organizational development. She remains an active
member of UEDA.

Julia launched Potter Enterprises, a consultancy firm, in January 2021. Her work now includes working
with CSUN to build and strengthen external engagement for the ReLAY (Reconnecting Los Angeles
Youth) Institute, an institute chartered at CSUN to work with the public, private, and non-profit sectors
to improve the lives of Opportunity Youth in Los Angeles County.