WILLISTON, VT. – September 9, 2019 – Cozen O’Connor and Margolis Healy announced that Christi Hurt has joined both firms as vice president for strategic initiatives. In this newly created position, Hurt will lead strategic initiatives for both Margolis Healy and Cozen O’Connor’s Institutional Response Group. Hurt will also interface with clients to identify client needs and ensure coordination of project deliverables. Hurt brings extensive experience in student affairs administration and management, with the nuanced overlay of Title IX and campus safety experience and knowledge. Her portfolio will include consulting and auditing core student affairs areas, including Greek life, student support, campus safety, including issues surrounding protests and demonstrations, and sexual misconduct.
Hurt joins Cozen O’Connor and Margolis Healy after serving as the interim vice chancellor, student affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before that, she was the assistant vice chancellor and chief of staff for five years, where she led efforts to foster student success, support campus safety and promote equity and access for all students.
Prior to her work in student affairs, Hurt served as director of the Carolina Women’s Center, where she increased the University’s capacity to serve students, faculty and staff who have experienced interpersonal violence and abuse. Additionally, she served on an interim basis as the university’s first full-time Title IX coordinator and chaired the campus-wide Sexual Assault Task Force to revise the university’s policy on prohibited discrimination and harassment, including racial discrimination and sexual misconduct, adopted in 2014. During the 15-month task force, Hurt’s skilled facilitation helped to unite diverse constituents and drive effective multi-disciplinary collaboration. Prior to her work at UNC, Hurt worked in state, local, and national nonprofit organizations to build prevention strategies and improve responses for victims of sexual violence.
“We first worked with Christi as an associate (project-based consultant). I was immediately impressed with her insight, understanding of the critical issues in campus safety, and her ability to communicate effectively with higher education administrators and students,” said Steven J. Healy, CEO and co-founder of Margolis Healy. “I know Christi will add significant value to our work to provide solutions for safer campuses.”
”We worked closely with Christi in her many roles at UNC Chapel Hill and have long been impressed with her unique combination of IQ and EQ. We are excited at the opportunity to integrate Christi’s unique lens into our consulting work for colleges and universities,” said Gina Maisto Smith, chair of the Institutional Response Group at Cozen O’Connor.
“I am very excited to start working with the Margolis Healy and Cozen O’Connor teams. Their deep expertise in campus safety, Title IX, and student affairs issues is phenomenal and I am eager to bring my experiences and knowledge to their efforts.
Christi graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1993 with a bachelor’s in history and in 1998 with a master’s in public administration. She is slated to complete her doctorate in public health in 2021.
About Cozen O’Connor
Established in 1970, Cozen O’Connor has more than 825 attorneys who help clients manage risk and make better business decisions. The firm counsels clients on their most sophisticated legal matters in all areas of the law, including litigation, corporate, and regulatory law. Representing a broad array of leading global corporations and middle market companies, Cozen O’Connor services its clients’ needs through 32 offices across two continents. The Institutional Response Group is a nationally-based practice that delivers holistic responses to institutions confronting sexual and gender-based harassment, child abuse, and other forms of discrimination, harassment and misconduct.
About Margolis Healy
Margolis Healy and Associates, an affiliate of Cozen O’Connor, is a professional services firm specializing in safety, security, emergency preparedness, and regulatory compliance for all types of communities and workplaces. A market leader with deep roots in security for higher education and K-12, Margolis Healy and Associates now serves a broad client base, including corporate, health care, government, nonprofit, and utilities clients as well as those in the education arena.