The Office of the President (OTP) division staff is comprised of the OTP core staff as well as Communication & Public Relations, Community & Government Relations , Institutional Research , and Regional Educational Partnerships.
Office of the President Staff
Kaia Tollefson
Kaia Tollefson, Ph.D. serves as the Chief of Staff to the President. Within this role, Kaia:
- researches key policy/program matters and directs projects for use by the President,
- coordinates campus-wide leadership initiatives including PACIE, IEAP, Faculty Fellow, and CI Connect.
- oversees the Office of the President.
Toni DeBoni
Toni DeBoni, J.D. serves in a dual report role as Associate Vice President for Organizational Effectiveness & Special Assistant to the President. Within this role, Toni:
- Represents the President in supporting their priorities and assist with designing, implementing, and assessing initiatives led through the Office of the President.
- Provides strategic focus and advisement to strengthen internal and external communication
- Collaborates with colleagues across campus in the development of comprehensive business plans for newly proposed programs.
Andrea Coppinger
Andrea Coppinger, M.A. serves as Presidential Aide. Within this role, Andrea:
- oversees the President's schedule and provides confidential and administrative support to the President,
- staffs the President’s Cabinet, Vice Presidents’ Tactical, Extended Cabinet and President’s Advisory Council on Inclusive Excellence meetings, and
- assists with special projects, reviews presidential event requests and performs research as needed.
Mary McDonnell
Mary McDonnell serves as Support Analyst to the Chief of Staff. Within this role, Mary:
- provides administrative support to the Chief of Staff and the Office of the President,
- supports the President’s Planning and Policy Council, IEAP/IEATs, CI Connect, GFF Scholarship program and the President’s Scholars program, and
- assists with the Signature Authority process, committee appointments and document management.
Fope Adesina
Fope Adesina serves as the Budget Analyst. Within this role, Fope:
- Prepares budget reports and monitors the OTP departmental budgets
- Facilitates OTP financial and HR documents
- Estimates future financial needs
- Aids with financial transactions and purchase requests for OTP departments and centrally managed University initiatives
Alex Padilla
Alex Padilla, M.A. serves as Operations and Communications Specialist. In this role, Alex:
- Oversees hiring and workflow of student assistants
- Supports daily operations in the OTP suite and spaces
- Assists with preparing messaging on behalf of the President
- Supports the onboarding and offboarding of employees
Andrew Lorenzana
Andrew Lorenzana, M.A. serves as the Community Relations and Strategic Projects Specialist. Within this role, Andrew:
- Supports Community & Government Relations events, projects, and outreach
- Plans and facilitates OTP events
- Supports projects and initiatives directed by the Special Assistant to the President on behalf of the OTP
Community & Government Relations
Celina Zacarias
Celina L. Zacarias serves as the Executive Director of Community & Government Relations. Within this role, Celina:
- is responsible for advancing CSUCI’s positive presence and goodwill at all levels throughout the culturally diverse service region, the state, the nation and internationally.
- plans, directs and implements a comprehensive proactive program of community and government relations for the campus.
- is responsible for establishing and maintaining strong relationships with local elected officials, Sacramento state legislators and U.S. Congressional representatives to communicate positions on issues and obtain support for resources on behalf of the campus.
Regional Educational Partnerships
Jenn Perry
Jenn Perry, Ph.D. serves as the Executive Director of Regional Educational Partnerships. Within this role, Jenn facilitates the creation and maintenance of educational partnership agreements between CSUCI and community partners throughout the Central Coast. Acknowledging the many offices on campus that engage in partnership work, Jenn focuses primarily on educational partnerships that:
- provide cross-disciplinary opportunities for experiential learning,
- promote workforce development and career pipelines,
- foster collaboration rooted in shared values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,
- are place-based, addressing regional needs and priorities.
Jenn’s work entails collaborating with different community partners as well as coordinating efforts across divisions and different offices at CSUCI. Current examples include promoting partnerships relating to environmental conservation, such as with the Santa Barbara Zoo.
Email Jenn | 805-437-3694