Nilakshi Parndigamage serves as Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives and Chief of Staff to the Provost.
Nilakshi’s work focuses on evaluating complex opportunities and challenges, shaping university policy, and helping ensure Yale’s resources advance its mission and long-term priorities.
As Chief of Staff, Nilakshi provides leadership within the Provost’s Office and works with university leaders to address a range of institutional issues, including financial planning, risk assessment, institutional governance, and crisis management.
As Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives, she works with deans, faculty leaders, development professionals, and legal affairs colleagues to help advance Yale’s academic priorities and ensure that philanthropic support strengthens the university’s teaching, research, and educational mission.
Prior to joining the Provost’s Office, Nilakshi served as Dean of Ezra Stiles College at Yale. She also taught in Yale’s Department of Political Science, where she offered a course on wrongful convictions and criminal justice reform. Throughout her career at Yale, she has fostered collaborations and worked closely with students, faculty, and administrators.
Before joining Yale, Nilakshi worked with international legal and human rights organizations, including the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Center for Transitional Justice, and the Institute for International Law and Human Rights. She also practiced complex commercial litigation at a global law firm while maintaining an active pro bono practice.
Nilakshi received her JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and her BA from Yale College. She is a Fellow of Ezra Stiles College.