Ms. Karla Payne

Karla Payne is the Associate Director, Military Benefits Advising Team at National University. Prior to that she was the Manager, Veteran Center for National University serving military-affiliated students. She is a US Navy veteran and has worked in Higher Education for over 10 years.  Karla joined National University’s Military Operations Team in 2012 as an Admissions Advisor and worked at several of the bases in San Diego. In 2015 she become the site lead for the MCRD base as an Admissions Counselor. As the Admissions Counselor Karla received the National University’s President’s Player Award in 2017. In 2018 she became the Manager of the Veteran Center for NU.  

Karla completed her Master of Science, Organizational Leadership in 2014 and is currently enrolled in the EdD Organizational Innovation program at National University, expected graduation 2023.

Before joining the NU family Karla worked for a local school district as a one-on-one attendant in moderate to severe Special Education classroom and prior to that she worked for the Virginia Beach Public School district as a Teacher's Assistant in a kindergarten classroom.  She volunteered as a mentor for Compass a US Navy spouse mentoring program in Norfolk, VA for over 7 years and volunteered with the BSA/Troop 895 in Chula Vista, CA as the Advancement Chair for 6 years.

Karla is passionate about giving back to the community and is committed to helping others achieve their academic goals.