Heather Parlier joins Dogwood Health Trust from UNC Asheville where she served as Vice Chancellor for Human Resources, Institutional Equity and General Counsel since October 2019. Before joining UNC Asheville, she served as the Vice Provost for Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action at Columbia University in the City of New York. As Vice Provost, Parlier was responsible for the management of the University’s policies on discrimination, harassment, and sexual assault and misconduct and served as Columbia’s compliance officer for nondiscrimination and affirmative action laws and disability access. Parlier was also responsible for creating and implementing training and awareness for campus diversity and inclusion as well as working with all schools and departments within the university to create more inclusive and welcoming academic and work environments.

Prior to Columbia, Parlier served UNC Asheville from 2013 to 2016 as General Counsel and as Chief of Staff to the Chancellor.  In these positions, she was the chief legal officer for the institution, oversaw the work of the Office of the Chancellor and was the lead staff member on the campus’s strategic planning process.

Before her tenure at UNC Asheville, she was Associate General Counsel for the City University of New York system, where her practice included transactional matters; employment and labor law; compliance; and environmental and health and safety compliance.

Parlier began her career in higher education at UNC Chapel Hill in the Office of University Advancement. She worked in the Office of Planned Giving and, later, as the Director of the Morehead Alumni Campaign for the Morehead Foundation (now the Morehead-Cain Foundation). 

Parlier received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her JD from the City University of New York School of Law.