Contact Information

• eolson1@unca.edu
• 7715
• 446 Sherrill Center

Emma Olson, MPH, MSW joined the NC Center for Health and Wellness in 2016 and now serves as the Interim Executive Director and Associate Director. She shapes and implements strong internal systems and supports staff to ensure the Center moves forward with key strategic directions and successfully achieves deliverables across grants and contracts. She helps oversee effective operations, champions ideas and initiatives, grows partnerships, provides guidance and coaching to staff, leads strategic planning processes, and informs community-based research and evaluation projects. She also leads the Culture of Results Initiative, providing training and technical assistance to partners across the state to understand opportunities, develop strategies, measure impact, improve over time, and effectively communicate results.

Emma has 15 years of experience directing the development, implementation, and evaluation efforts of a wide range of health, education and social service initiatives. She has been responsible for extensive and varied programs focused on health, mental health, economic empowerment, education, and other social determinants. Emma was also a clinical social worker at an outpatient mental health clinic and a family social worker and health specialist at an early childhood center in New York City. Emma deeply values health equity and social justice and brings this to her work.

Education

• MSW & MPH – Clinical Social Work & Global Health Leadership, New York University - 2015
• BA – Rhetoric, University of California, Berkeley - 2007

Leadership Positions

• United Way of Asheville & Buncombe County--Board of Directors and Co-Chair Equity Change Team
• WNC Healthy Impact--Steering Committee Member
• Western North Carolina Pathways for Nonprofit Leadership Program--Alumnae