Dianna Henderson

Vice President

Dianna Henderson is the Vice President, Systemwide Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for the University of California’s 10-campus system, including multiple academic medical centers. In this role, she is responsible for Systemwide Human Resources and programs. This includes Strategic Planning, Employee/Labor Relations, Talent Management, Health & Welfare benefit policies and programs, Senior Management Recruitment, Compensation, Performance Management and ensuring compliance with the University’s Staff Human Resources policies. She has oversight for the University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP). In addition, she oversees multiple programs that impact work and life for 265,000 people in diverse roles across the UC system.

A seasoned HR executive with deep expertise, a reputation for stakeholder engagement, collaboration and steady leadership, and more than 15 years of UC experience, Ms. Henderson is well known throughout the UC HR community as a thoughtful leader and a collaborative partner committed to supporting the UC mission and our valued employees. In 2025, she led the effort to streamline processes and expand UC’s Catastrophic Leave Donation Program to allow employees across the system to donate leave to colleagues affected by the Eaton or Palisades Fires.

Prior to her current role, Ms. Henderson served as the Deputy Chief HR Officer and Chief of Staff to the Vice President of HR and as Interim Chief HR Officer for UC Office of the President. Earlier in her UC HR career, she worked on the systemwide labor negotiation team, working on the first collective bargaining agreement with the UAW unit representing postdoctoral scholars. She later led systemwide HR policy development and managed the Finance and Administrative team embedded in systemwide HR, and she previously served as the Acting VP of HR when the Vice President was unavailable, providing consistent executive leadership. Before joining the University of California, she worked for over 12 years in HR at a UC-affiliated clinical research center, supporting principal investigators and postdoctoral scholars in Emeryville, California.

Ms. Henderson holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Xavier University and her MBA from Holy Names University. She is a proud longtime resident of Oakland, California.