Dr. A. Zachary Faison, Jr.

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Faison’s career exploits include distinguished professional experiences as a higher education executive administrator, educator, and attorney. He was most recently the General Counsel & Vice President of External Affairs at Tuskegee University where he served as the university’s chief legal officer and provided principal oversight for its legislative and governmental relations functions. Prior to that, he served as Vice President for Enrollment Management & Student Affairs at Virginia Union University (VUU) in Richmond, VA where he helped lead the university in achieving increases in overall student enrollment and retention having founded the VUU College for African-American Men (VCAAM). He also previously served as Special Assistant to the President for Legal & Legislative Affairs, Community Affairs, and Economic Development at Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, MS where he later became University Chief of Staff before being named Vice President of Institutional Advancement (interim) & Executive Director of the MVSU Foundation. Faison’s philanthropic work at MVSU yielded nearly $25 million dollars in funding to the university towards new capital projects, infrastructural improvements, and campus renovations. He previously held directorships at EWC as Director of External Relations and Leadership Gifts and at Albany State University (ASU) in Albany, Georgia as the Director of Alumni Affairs.  As a scholar-educator, Faison has held professorial appointments at both the undergraduate and graduate level(s) in various academic disciplines including Political Science, Criminal Justice, and Business Administration. Faison is also a former state prosecutor having served as an Assistant District Attorney prosecuting criminal felony drug cases in Georgia.

Faison graduated Magna Cum Laude from Albany State University (ASU) with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English where he was an ASU Presidential/Foundation Scholar, ASU Velma Fudge Grant University Honors Program Graduate, ASU National Merit Scholar Graduate, an inductee of the Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society, and upon graduation was awarded for being the highest-ranking student in the University’s Department of English & Modern Languages.  He attended the University of Georgia School of Law (UGA) where he earned his Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and was a member of the UGA School of Law Executive Moot Court Board & UGA Law Moot Court team. He is a licensed member of the State Bar of Georgia, Georgia Court of Appeals, Georgia Supreme Court, and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

Faison has completed post-doctoral study as a graduate of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education’s Institute for Educational Management (IEM) and was a Millennium Leadership Initiative (MLI) Institute Fellow of the American Association of State Colleges & Universities (AASCU) & Association of Public Land-Grant Universities (APLU). Additionally, he is a graduate of AASCU’s New President’s Academy and is a Gamma Cohort Fellow of the Higher Education Leadership Foundation (HELF). Faison also holds the Certification in Fundraising Management (CFRM) designation from The Fundraising School of Philanthropy at Indiana-University-Purdue-University at Indianapolis (IUPUI).

Faison is active in several professional, civic, and social organizations and has delivered over 35 presentations and lectures at conferences and professional meetings nationwide. He has received recognition for his outstanding community and civic work by the Greenwood Commonwealth; (“Top 40 under 40” Young Professional); Mississippi Business Journal (“Top 40 under 40” nominee); and Albany State University in its inaugural publication of its “Top 50 ASU Alumni under 50.”  Most recently, he was selected as one of the nation’s Top “40 Attorneys under 40” by the National Bar Association.

He is the son of Alderman Faison, Sr. and Dr. Jewel Faison, and brother to Dr. Morgan Zacheya-Jewel Faison. Faison has been blissfully married for eleven years to the former Tyciee L. White, who is also a seasoned higher education administrator, educator, and ordained minister.