Alisha joined Student Veterans of America (SVA) in January 2023 as the Director of Academic Advising for the National Academic Advisement Center (NAAC). Prior to joining SVA, Alisha worked in higher education for twelve years at Thomas Edison State University (TESU) in various roles within the Office of Military and Veteran Education/Enrollment and Outreach. Alisha worked closely with military-affiliated students during her tenure at TESU helping to guide them along their educational pathways.  In her most recent role, Alisha was the University’s Military and Veteran Education Liaison and aided in developing partnerships and programs to best support military and Veteran students and maximizing their learning experiences toward degree completion.

Alisha has extensive experience serving on the boards of non-profit organizations that support and serve military-affiliated students. She has held various positions with the Council of College and Military Educators (CCME) for more than ten years. In addition, Alisha served as the member representative from TESU with the National Association of Institutions for Military Education Services (NAIMES) and held the roles of Secretary for three years, Vice President for two years and President for two years on the NAIMES Board of Directors. She is the current Immediate Past President of NAIMES and helped lead several initiatives for the organization during her tenure to include advocating for MHA equity for online learners using the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and partnering with researchers to study student Veteran enrollment behavior to provide data-driven recommendations to policymakers.

Alisha holds a Bachelor of Science in marine biology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and a Master of Science in management from TESU. As a young girl, she had dreams of a career in marine science and research and worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) studying deep-sea corals in Hawaii, and as a marine endangered species observer with Research, Environmental & Management Support (REMSA, Inc.). Alisha is the spouse of a Veteran that served nine years in the U.S. Air Force. As many military spouses experience, her career desires had to take the backburner as she and her husband PCS’d across the country. One PCS took them to New Jersey where she began working with TESU at the military installation education office.  Although her background is in science, her temporary employment with TESU led to a prosperous career where she has found a passion serving the military and Veteran community through supporting their educational and career goals.