Nicole Roberts
Nicole Roberts is a purpose-driven executive leader specializing in trauma-informed leadership, equity-centered organizational strategy, and nonprofit workforce development. Her journey in the nonprofit sector began over 20 years ago after her daughter was born prematurely at 26 weeks, an experience that led her family to become involved with Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. That life-changing moment shaped her commitment to service and inspired her to pursue a bachelor’s degree in social science and psychology, laying the foundation for a career dedicated to helping individuals and communities overcome barriers and access opportunity. She later earned a master’s degree in organizational leadership with a focus on higher education from Lewis University.
Nicole spent the early portion of her career in higher education, where she dedicated eight years to student success and advanced into the role of Director of Admissions. During that time, she found deep fulfillment in connecting with people, understanding their goals, and helping them navigate barriers to achieve educational and personal success. She later transitioned into workforce and nonprofit systems, bringing her expertise to organizations such as Goodwill Industries as a Training and Development Coordinator. In 2021, she was recruited into a children’s behavioral health nonprofit, where she quickly advanced from Compliance Manager to Director of Operations, and ultimately was selected by the board as Executive Director at Jasper Mountain. In that role, she led major organizational transformation, including eliminating a $2.5 million deficit within a year and securing a state partnership that generated over $1 million in new revenue.
For the past five years, Nicole has served in the behavioral health nonprofit sector, currently holding a leadership role as Director of Human Resources and Communications at Continuum Behavioral Health & Recovery Services. In this role, she focuses on coaching leaders through complex personnel challenges, strengthening organizational culture, and embedding trauma-informed practices into daily operations. She is widely recognized for her work in trauma-informed leadership and is building a growing platform through speaking engagements and thought leadership in the field. Nicole is also the author of her first published guide, Six Principles of Trauma-Informed Leadership, part of an ongoing series designed to help organizations reduce turnover, stabilize systems, and build psychologically safe workplaces. Her work is grounded in a belief that strong leadership begins with connection, and that sustainable impact comes from trust, accountability, and human-centered systems.
• Risking Connection® Associate Trainer
• Career Mastery
• Leadership Training
• Applications of Generative AI in Learning and Development Outlining training with generative AI
• The University of Arizona Global Campus - BA, Social Science; Psychology
• Lewis University - Master's degree, Organizational Management Higher Education
• The 10 Most Empowering Women Leaders in Business, 2023
• Top 50 Women Leaders in Oregon 2022
• Alpha Beta Kappa Honor Society
• Miss Lane County Scholarship Program
• Public Speaker & Miracle Family Advisor -
Children's Miracle Network Hospitals
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say some of the major challenges with nonprofits are funding, which obviously becomes a little less guaranteed in the nonprofit space. Especially right now, funding is being cut here and there, and people just don't know what's happening. So looking at funding and trying to figure out how you're going to survive the next year is a real challenge. At my particular location, we're huge on grant writing, and we're also very heavily invested in community. We do community events pretty much on a weekly basis, and just about every single weekend there's some event happening. We are out there with staff in front of the community, talking about what we do and who we are. That community engagement piece really helps address the funding challenges we face.