Staff Directory

Olga Velazquez

Title:
Director, Human Resources
Email:

Olga Velazquez is an executive Human Resources leader and Strategic Advisor with over 16 years of experience driving organization development, talent strategy, and operational excellence across higher education and corporate environments.

Since joining UC Riverside in October 2023 as the Director of Human Resources, Olga has led people operations for both Student Affairs and Intercollegiate Athletics. In this capacity, she oversees human capital strategy for over 300 professional staff and serves as a trusted strategic advisor to the Student Affairs CFAO/Chief of Staff and Athletics Director.

Throughout her career, Olga has spearheaded large-scale HR transformations for premier brands, including HD Supply (a Home Depot subsidiary), Amazon, Louis Vuitton, and Esri. Her expertise spans the entire employee lifecycle— (remove dash and add a comma) from guiding complex M&A talent integrations and managing labor relations to building data-driven succession plans and diversity-focused talent pipelines. Known for her ability to seamlessly align people strategy with organizational goals, she has successfully scaled operations to support thousands of employees while significantly boosting workplace engagement and retention.

Olga holds a Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Organization Development & Change from Penn State University and a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Phoenix. She is a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and brings deep technical expertise in managing complex enterprise HR technology ecosystems.