Johnnie Watson III is the new treasurer for Howard University in Washington, D.C. Watson comes to the HBCU with two decades of experience in treasury management, capital markets, investments, and financial strategy. Most recently, he was associate vice president and deputy treasurer at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Before that role, he was treasurer for the City of Atlanta.
Watson is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he majored in engineering science and mechanics. He holds an MBA in finance and economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Wesley Fountain has been promoted to vice chancellor for external affairs and university advancement at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. He has served in the role on an interim basis since May. Fountain first came to the university in 2010 and has since held a series of leadership positions focused on community relations, external affairs, government affairs, military partnerships, and public policy.
An alumnus of two HBCUs, Fountain received his bachelor’s degree from Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina and his master’s degree from Fayetteville State University.
Felicia Ellzy-Smith is the new chief of staff at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She first joined the college in January 2025 as chief diversity and compliance officer. Earlier in her career, she was director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland.
Ellzy-Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a master of education degree from Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania.
Jordan M. Davis has been appointed assistant dean of admissions for the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Davis most recently worked in admissions at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, where he helped increase student enrollment, revamp the campus visit process, and strengthen the role of faculty as partners in enrollment and recruitment.
Davis holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and history from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a master’s degree in cultural anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
