When Dr. Herman J. Felton Jr., and others created the Higher Education Leadership Foundation (H.E.L.F.) nearly a decade ago, they had no idea that they would become the vanguard in leading and supporting a new generation of leadership within historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
“The idea was simply to create a space for individuals who were sincerely interested in committing their vocation and uplift to HBCUs. That was it,” says Felton, who is president of Wiley College—the private four-year HBCU located in Marshall, Texas. “At the time, I didn’t understand it was about creating a pipeline or strengthening the pipeline, but we just knew that we needed to take a step.”
Over the last 10 years, those early steps have produced impressive results. More than a thousand individuals have participated in the H.E.L.F. cohort model representing more than 65 HBCUs across the nation. 
Dr. Herman J. Felton
While H.E.L.F. bills itself as a program committed to helping to prepare individuals to become leaders at all stages within HBCUs, the number of past cohort participants who have gone on to become HBCU college presidents is equally remarkable.
“This is an HBCU-centric program, and we are unapologetic about it,” says Dr. Elfred Anthony Pinkard, who served as president of Wilberforce University from 2018 until his retirement in 2023. He most recently was an HBCU presidential fellow at Brown University.
“It’s become a movement, and it was in some ways unexpected, but necessary, based on the love and respect for HBCUs. That is at the core,” says Pinkard. “These institutions are worth celebrating and affirming. And to make sure that they’re around for perpetuity, we have to ensure that there is strong and capable leadership.”
On Felton’s own pathway to leadership, he said that he recognized early on that he needed to hone some skills that would enable him to be both a “generalist” and a “specialist” and wanted the same for others.
