Linda Oubré

Oubré grew up in Los Angeles and was a first-generation college student whose grandparents did not finish elementary school, but were labor and civil rights activists.[1] She graduated from Hollywood High School,[2] and earned a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1980.[3] After college she worked for a commercial bank[4] before earning an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1984, and an Ed.D. in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania.[5][6]

After Oubré graduated from Harvard Business School she worked in the admissions department.[3] She was a founder of BriteSmile,[7] and worked with the company from 1998 until 2002,[6] including serving as president of the company when it went public on NASDAQ.[8][9]

She has worked in multiple companies including Tri Com Ventures, Times Mirror Company, Syncom Capital, and the Walt Disney Company.[6] In 2003, Oubré was an executive in residence at the University of California, Davis,[6] and she returned in 2011 to work in corporate relations, business development, and was the chief diversity officer for the Graduate School of Management.[10]

In 2012, Oubré moved to San Francisco State University where she was the Dean of the College of Business.[10][11] In 2018, Oubré was named president of Whittier College.[12] She is the first African-American[13] and the third female to serve as president of the college.[14]

In 2019 she was named to the board of directors for the College Futures Foundation.[8]

On May 12, 2023, Oubré announced her resignation as president of Whittier College, effective June 30, 2023.[15][16][17][18]

Oubré was named a "Forever influential woman in business" by the San Francisco Business Times[19] in 2014, and received the Trailblazer Award from the San Francisco chapter of the Council of 100 Black Women in 2015.[20]