Amy Whitehead

Amy Whitehead has served as Chief of Staff at the University of Central Arkansas since 2019. In this role, Amy oversees the Office of the President, University Police, Media Relations, Human Resources and Risk Management, and Special Events. This role allows Amy to serve as a liaison to many external groups, including community and economic development entities and leaders within Arkansas.

Prior to the Chief of Staff role, Amy served as Assistant Vice President for Community and Workforce Development in the Division of Outreach and Community Engagement. She is a graduate of both the Community Development Institute and UCA’s Master of Science in Community and Economic Development (MSCED) program, where she then went on to serve as an adjunct faculty member. In this role, Amy worked with leaders and communities across Arkansas and the mid-south to help them address quality of life issues, engage citizens, and grow their local economic base.

Amy is a certified Professional Community and Economic Developer (PCED), designated by the Community Development Council. She is also a graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute. Amy has held several statewide leadership roles, including serving as board member of the Arkansas Community Development Society as well as a board member of the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension’s Breakthrough Solutions Advisory Council. She has received two gubernatorial appointments to the Arkansas Geographic Information Systems Board. On the national level, Amy has served as Vice Chair of the Community Development Council, and in 2016 she was appointed to a three year term on the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Community Development Advisory Council.

Amy is graduate of the University of Central Arkansas (2006 and 2008), and has resided in Conway for over 22 years. She is married to Derek Whitehead and has two sons, Luke and Jack.