Kanika Tomalin to join Eckerd College as COO, VP of strategy

Kanika Tomalin, St. Petersburg’s Deputy Mayor and City Administrator under Mayor Rick Kriseman, will join Eckerd College as vice president for strategy and chief operating officer.

Kriseman, whose tenure as mayor is term-limited, will leave office Jan. 6. Tomalin will transition to her new role at that time.

“Working to build an inclusive City of Opportunity is a call to service that will long transcend my time as a government official,” Tomalin said in a prepared statement. “This transition into higher education leadership at Eckerd, a college that is committed to the equitable provision of a world-class liberal arts education for all scholars who seek it, is a wonderful pathway by which to answer.

“Education is a transformational tool that serves to open doors, change lives and shift trajectories. It is opportunity defined.”

Prior to 2014, when she joined the new Kriseman administration, the St. Petersburg native was the regional vice president of external affairs for the Bayfront Health Network, and director of strategy for Health Management Associates’ 23-hospital Florida Group.

“Dr. Tomalin has a proven track record as a strategic thinker, an efficient implementor, a consensus-builder, a fiscal innovator and an enthusiastic advocate for St. Petersburg,” said Eckerd College President Damián J. Fernández. “She will be a critical partner as we seek to implement the initiatives in our new strategic plan, in particular those that will strengthen the College’s connections with St. Petersburg for both the city’s and the college’s benefit.”

Tomalin will oversee operations and strategic advancement, including infrastructure planning, large capital projects, environmental sustainability and resilience projects, while engaging external support of the college’s key priorities, including the development of the St. Petersburg Center for Engaged Citizenship and Social Impact.