Economic Mobility, College Access, and Career Readiness

Adam Klein is the Associate Vice President for Economic Development at Duke University. In this role, Klein leads and develops programs to positively impact economic opportunity across the Duke and Durham communities. His areas of focus include housing, workforce development, and economic mobility.

Prior to Duke, Adam led the American Tobacco Campus, an award-winning mixed-use historic renovation project totaling 1.3 million square feet. The Campus is home to global brands such as Clorox, RedHat, and GSK, startup companies, a high school, and 13 restaurants and retailers. Klein also led the American Underground, a home-grown tech hub based in Durham that serves over 250 startup companies. Under Klein’s leadership, American Underground was designated one of eight sites in the country to be part of Google for Entrepreneur’s Tech Hub network. This success garnered major national media coverage, including The Economist, Time Magazine, Fast Company, U.S. News & World Report, The Atlantic Monthly, and TechCrunch, and prompted a visit by the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. 

Originally from Brecksville, Ohio, he received his undergraduate degree from Denison University, where he was a two-time Academic All-American in golf, and holds a Master of Regional Planning with a specialization in economic development from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He and his wife, Manda, live in Durham with their three daughters.

Syretta Hill is the senior director of economic mobility. In this new role, Hill helps Duke leverage its role as Durham’s largest employer and purchaser of goods and services, to deepen its positive impact on Durham and the region.

Prior to joining Duke University, Syretta was the executive director of StepUp Durham since 2015, where she was instrumental in providing employment training, placement, and retention services and significantly impacted the lives of many individuals facing employment challenges, including those with criminal backgrounds. Hill’s dedication to community listening and racial equity has been a cornerstone of her work at StepUp Durham.

Before her tenure at StepUp Durham, Hill spent eight years as a community organizer and neighborhood relations director for Habitat for Humanity of Wake County. Her parents’ careers in the criminal justice system shaped her background in community organizing and her passion for social justice.

Hill holds an M.A. in Education from Temple University and a B.A. in Communication from the University of South Florida.

Tivona is the Staff Assistant for Economic Development.  In this role, she contributes to the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the team by providing administrative, operational, and logistical support. Her support to the team includes, but is not limited to, coordinating schedules and serving as the designated liaison between the team, internal staff, students, and community partners. 

Prior to joining the Economic Development team, Tivona worked in a temporary capacity as the Staff Specialist for the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership. Her professional background spans several fields, all rooted in a strong commitment to supporting others. She has served as a program services coordinator in the mental health field, where she developed individualized vocational training plans for clients; a compliance coordinator in the transportation industry, ensuring adherence to laws and safety standards; and an early childhood educator, helping create a reliable and caring space for infants, toddlers, and their families while supporting early development and offering parents confidence in their child’s care.

Tivona holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Political Science from North Carolina Central University and is certified in Front End Engineering (Website Development).