Anne M. Kress is the sixth president of Northern Virginia Community College, a role she began in January 2020. She has more than 25 years of experience in higher education, having served as a tenured faculty member in English, department chair, associate vice president, provost, and president at community colleges in Florida, New York, and now, Virginia. Kress focuses on the role NOVA plays in assuring meaningful and equitable access to educational and economic opportunity; connecting students to transformational, high quality programs; building innovative industry and community partnerships; and increasing philanthropic support of student success.

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Kress serves on the board of the American Association of Community Colleges and on work groups affiliated with the American Council of Education, Association of Community College Trustees, and Opportunity America. Kress is a board member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council and the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce; she is an immediate past director/trustee of the New York Power Authority and Canal Corporation, SUNY Research Foundation, Upstate New York Regional Advisory Board of the New York Federal Reserve, and was co-chair of New York Governor Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council.

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Kress earned two bachelor’s degrees, in Finance and English; a master’s degree in English; and a doctorate in Higher Education Administration, all from the University of Florida. She has been honored by her alma mater, as well as by Phi Theta Kappa, the New York State Senate, Rochester YWCA, American Association of University Women, the Rochester Women’s Council, the Rochester Business Journal, and the Rochester Technology and Manufacturing Association, among others.