Jen Silva
Fund Development Director
Jen Silva leads JPEF’s Department of Fund Development through fundraising and grant related initiatives with local, state and federal partners. Through the cultivation of individual, foundation and corporate business development, she develops philanthropic support for strategic programs that align with the needs of public education and business sectors. She works to steward relationships to build JPEF’s visibility, direct impact and resources through external investments on behalf of students and teachers.
She has 20 years of experience in education policy, including higher education. Prior to joining JPEF, she served as Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Government Relations at Edward Waters College under the leadership of Former Jacksonville Sheriff and President, Dr. Nathaniel Glover and served as Director of Community Engagement and Government Relations for Florida State College at Jacksonville and Associate Director of Alumni Relations and Development for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University.
Jen served in Congress for 11 years as Senior Policy Advisor and Finance Director in the Office of Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano in the United States House of Representatives where her policy portfolio included education, mental health, natural resources and minority issues.
She has also served on the Mayor's Hispanic American Advisory Board since 2015 and as Chair for 2019 recently being honored by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as the 2019 Business Advocate for her work across the Hispanic community in Jacksonville. She is bilingual in Spanish with a proud Colombian heritage and credits her career to the education opportunities provided to her by her parents who came to the United States in the 1960s to reach the American dream and succeeded.
Jen is the 2006 Co-Founder of Ladies America and Ladies International (Washington, D.C.), a non-profit created with the motto, “Women Helping Women” to empower professional women and men working to advance one another through mentorship and leadership training programs.
She has an M.A. in Education Administration and Policy from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and a B.A. in Psychology from James Madison University, Harrisonburg, V.A. On her spare time, she trains at CrossFit Jacksonville Beach, loves to travel and spend time with her family.
jennifer@jaxpef.org cell: (904) 575-0447