Joretta Nelson, Ph.D.

Joretta Nelson spent more than 20 years working in music education, teaching music theory, and conducting choirs and orchestras. She honed an ability to identify and cultivate the talent of others, and to blend those talents to create a performance more powerful and beautiful than they could ever achieve alone.  

She brings a similar approach to higher education leadership and strategy. In Joretta’s work with Credo clients, she empowers institutions and their staffs to merge their strengths, co-creating solutions to deliver student success results beyond their wildest imaginations.    

Advocating for Student Success and Higher Education Innovation 

As Credo’s vice chairman, Joretta leverages her visibility in the higher education industry to evangelize the ultimate goal of colleges and universities: student learning. She inspires presidents, board members, and other leaders to think big and bold about the challenges higher education institutions face in delivering on their promises of student success.  

Joretta’s background as both a faculty member and administrator—alongside her experiences with Credo partners—informed the development of Credo’s signature Moving the Needle (MTN) project—an innovative five-year, revenue-share partnership designed to transform campus culture and build the infrastructure, collaboration, and buy-in needed to sustain high levels of student success and retention. With the expansion of MTN to more campuses across the country, Joretta championed the creation of the MTN Talent Development Program, a professional development opportunity for faculty & staff that builds leadership through the lens of student success. Moving the Needle is well on its way toward our goal of reaching a million students and the more than 100,000 leaders who serve them. 

A Passion for Music, Travel, and Family

When she’s not conducting the strategic symphonies of Credo partners, Joretta maintains a deep connection with her first love, music. She also travels the world to spend time with her children and grandchildren who live in Brazil, Montenegro, and her home state of North Carolina. And when she’s truly at rest, she’s enjoying the sunshine and beach of Wilmington, N.C., where she lives with the love of her life.