Ferlanda Fox Nixon, Esq., IOM, CAE, President & CEO
Ferlanda Fox Nixon serves as the senior officer of the Newark Regional Business Partnership. She is responsible for all administrative and management functions while executing NRBP’s mission to strengthen the Greater Newark business community through connections, resources, and advocacy.
Before joining the NRBP, Ms. Nixon served as the chief of policy and external affairs for the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey. In that capacity, she led the organization’s policy, government, and public affairs agenda, supporting the success of the chamber and achieving multi-stakeholder goals for improved economic status for members of New Jersey’s Black community.
Ms. Nixon also is an entrepreneur. She is the founder and chief executive officer of FerlandaTM. Through an array of customized services, Ms. Nixon provides total leadership consultancy to businesses, organizations, and individuals in the areas of diversity and inclusion; leadership and professional development; communication, presentation and meeting facilitation skills; event planning; marketing; new business development; and general business strategy and administration. Ms. Nixon’s services include providing one-on-one coaching, designing and facilitating workshops, and delivering motivational speeches.
Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Ms. Nixon practiced corporate law for 18 years – five years at Whitman & Ransom, a midsize Manhattan law firm, and 13 years at CIT Group Inc. (CIT), a leading commercial and consumer finance company. At CIT, Ms. Nixon held the positions of vice president, managing chief counsel, and assistant secretary. In that capacity, she managed the legal function for five operating business units and supervised a staff of eight professionals consisting of five senior attorneys, two paralegals, and one administrative assistant. She structured sophisticated transactions and advised senior management on issues affecting corporations and financial institutions. For nearly 10 years, Ms. Nixon ranked as the highest African-American woman officer at CIT.
Ms. Nixon served as an adjunct professor at the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University–Newark. She taught one course on ethics and another on leadership.
A graduate of S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Ms. Nixon received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. At Georgetown, she served as an editor of The Tax Lawyer -- the official publication of the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation.