Dr. Kimberly Holmes serves as the Statewide Director of the University of California 4-H Youth Development Program. In this role, she establishes statewide priorities, leads strategic initiatives to expand youth participation, secures resources to support program operations, and cultivates partnerships with stakeholders at the local, state, and national levels. She works closely with the California 4-H Foundation Board and with leaders across UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. Under her leadership, the 4-H team—comprised of more than 100 academic and staff personnel —engages over 75,000 youth and 7,500 adult volunteers annually across 58 counties with an annual budget of over $6 million.
Before joining the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Holmes served as Assistant Extension Director for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System at Alabama A&M University (AAMU). She oversaw more than 30 staff and a broad portfolio of informal educational programs delivered through nine Urban Centers serving over 41 counties. Extension program areas included 4-H Youth Development with a focus on STEM; Urban Agriculture; Forestry, Wildlife and Natural Resources; Animal Science; Community Resource Development and Entrepreneurship; Family and Child Development; Consumer Science and Personal Financial Management; and Human Nutrition, Diet and Health—collectively reaching more than 400,000 individuals annually.
Over the past two decades, Dr. Sinclair Holmes has held numerous additional academic and administrative leadership positions at four other higher education institutions: University of Texas at Dallas, Kentucky State University, Savannah State University, and Albany State University. Her previous roles include Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at two universities; Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness; Associate Provost; Associate Professor of Public Administration; Acting Director of Sponsored Programs; Associate Dean and then Interim Dean of a College of Agriculture, Food Science and Sustainable Systems. She began her career as a Product Systems Engineer with Delphi Delco Electronics Systems, then a subsidiary of General Motors.
Dr. Sinclair Holmes has contributed her expertise through service on several national and regional boards and committees, including the national 4-H Program Leaders Working Group (PLWG), the Southern Rural Development Center Board of Directors, the Kentucky Governor’s Executive Task Force on Biomass and Biofuels, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ Budget and Legislative Subcommittee of ECOP, and the USDA/1890 Task Force Executive Team, among others.
She has completed extensive leadership development training. Recently, she graduated from the Coro Leadership Academy through UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. In 2023, she completed the national HBCU Executive Leadership Institute at Clark Atlanta University, also earning a microcredential in University Board Governance. Her additional executive training includes the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ Millennium Leadership Institute and Becoming a Provost Academy, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government’s Leading in a Changing World Executive Program, and the University System of Georgia’s Executive Leadership Institute.
Dr. Holmes holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Tuskegee University, a master of science with an engineering concentration from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in public affairs (public policymaking and administration) from the University of Texas at Dallas.