Ms. Hopkins serves as NIA’s Vice President of Operations. She is responsible for leading contracts, human resources, IT, facilities, and all other business operations for the Institute. She also serves as an officer and secretary of the corporation.

With over 30 years in the human resources field, Ms. Hopkins previously served as the NIA’s Human Resources Director. In that role, she led all employment, compensation, benefit, safety, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and other human resources-related activities.  Ms. Hopkins also provided administrative oversight in areas outside of the human resources function, such as risk management, facility operations and contracts. She worked closely with the Vice President of Operations, providing backup support in other areas of the Operations department. As a founding member of the senior leadership team at the Institute, she has been a significant contributor to the development of corporate policies and strategic planning in staffing, compensation, and fringe benefits.  

Before joining NIA in 2004, Ms. Hopkins was the Human Resources Director for Schiller International, a U.S. distributor for Liebherr Cranes, where she established the first human resources office for the corporation.  Prior to that, she was the Human Resources Manager with Lockheed Martin, employing over 500 workers in support of its NASA Langley program. Ms. Hopkins began her career in human resources at Flight International Corporation, an aviation services company providing government contracting support to both the Air Force and Navy. Ms. Hopkins was hired into this position upon the award of a $100M+ contract with the Air Force which required not only establishing the human resources office, but quickly ramping up to over 500 employees across the U.S. and abroad. This position began her career as a human resources generalist with a specialty in establishing and growing a human resources presence in other organizations.

Ms. Hopkins holds a Master’s degree in Human Resource Development from George Washington University and a Bachelor’s degree from Christopher Newport University in Business Administration, with a double major in Marketing and Management and an emphasis in Information Systems. She is a member of the Society of Human Resources and the Peninsula Personnel Association. In her spare time, Ms. Hopkins has been developing her photography skills and especially enjoys photographing people, nature, and musical groups.