Dr. Ashish Vaidya
President & CEO, Growing Inland Achievement
Ashish Vaidya serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Growing Inland Achievement (GIA). Previously he served as a Senior Research Advisor to the National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH) responsible for evaluating strategic plans of public university systems to assess alignment with state educational and economic goals within the Systems Center for State Policy. He also served as a Senior Fellow for the American Association for State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) where he led the project on Recommitting to Stewardship of Place. The project has resulted in an updated framework for stewardship of place, a practice-oriented guide, and a policy brief, which makes the argument for federal and state policies and funding strategies that will support AASCU institutions in enacting their stewardship mission.
Ashish served as Northern Kentucky University’s president from July 2018 to December 2022. Prior to that he served a two-year term as interim president of St. Cloud State University (SCSU) in Minnesota. He was the university’s provost before taking on the interim presidency. Before SCSU, Vaidya served at two different campuses in the California State University system, where his last appointed role was special advisor to the president for regional economic development at Cal State Los Angeles. From 2010-2014, he served as Cal State L.A.’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. Prior to his tenure there, he was dean of faculty at Cal State Channel Islands, where he helped to build a new institution from the ground up.
Vaidya has published numerous books and articles, including serving as an editor of “Operationalizing Stewards of Place: Implementing Regional Engagement and Economic Development Strategies,” a 2015 publication of AASCU. In 2023 he co-authored a policy brief for AASCU, Funding Stewardship of Place: Public Policies to Advance the Regional Stewardship Mission. His extensive community work includes service on the boards of the AASCU, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce, Tri County Economic Development Corporation, Northern Kentucky Regional Alliance and United Way of Greater Cincinnati. He also served on the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Cincinnati Branch Board of Directors from 2021 to 2023. Vaidya currently serves on the CSU’s Strategic Enrollment Management Advisory Council, the President’s Advisory Board at Riverside Community College and the Inclusive Planning Council for Thrive Inland SoCal a Regional Investment Initiative, in partnership with California Jobs First, with the Inland Empire Labor Institute and Inland Economic Growth and Opportunity.
Dr. Vaidya holds a PhD and M.A. in Economics from the University of California, Davis. He also holds an M.A. in Economics from the University of Mumbai, India and a B.A. in Economics, Political Science, and Statistics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India.
Ashish Vaidya serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Growing Inland Achievement (GIA). Previously he served as a Senior Research Advisor to the National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH) responsible for evaluating strategic plans of public university systems to assess alignment with state educational and economic goals within the Systems Center for State Policy. He also served as a Senior Fellow for the American Association for State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) where he led the project on Recommitting to Stewardship of Place. The project has resulted in an updated framework for stewardship of place, a practice-oriented guide, and a policy brief, which makes the argument for federal and state policies and funding strategies that will support AASCU institutions in enacting their stewardship mission.
Ashish served as Northern Kentucky University’s president from July 2018 to December 2022. Prior to that he served a two-year term as interim president of St. Cloud State University (SCSU) in Minnesota. He was the university’s provost before taking on the interim presidency. Before SCSU, Vaidya served at two different campuses in the California State University system, where his last appointed role was special advisor to the president for regional economic development at Cal State Los Angeles. From 2010-2014, he served as Cal State L.A.’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. Prior to his tenure there, he was dean of faculty at Cal State Channel Islands, where he helped to build a new institution from the ground up.
Vaidya has published numerous books and articles, including serving as an editor of “Operationalizing Stewards of Place: Implementing Regional Engagement and Economic Development Strategies,” a 2015 publication of AASCU. In 2023 he co-authored a policy brief for AASCU, Funding Stewardship of Place: Public Policies to Advance the Regional Stewardship Mission. His extensive community work includes service on the boards of the AASCU, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce, Tri County Economic Development Corporation, Northern Kentucky Regional Alliance and United Way of Greater Cincinnati. He also served on the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Cincinnati Branch Board of Directors from 2021 to 2023. Vaidya currently serves on the CSU’s Strategic Enrollment Management Advisory Council, the President’s Advisory Board at Riverside Community College and the Inclusive Planning Council for Thrive Inland SoCal a Regional Investment Initiative, in partnership with California Jobs First, with the Inland Empire Labor Institute and Inland Economic Growth and Opportunity.
Dr. Vaidya holds a PhD and M.A. in Economics from the University of California, Davis. He also holds an M.A. in Economics from the University of Mumbai, India and a B.A. in Economics, Political Science, and Statistics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India.