Deborah Santiago Email and Phone Number

An innovator, thought leader and educational visionary, for over 20 years Deborah Santiago has initiated and led successful local, national and federal program, policy and research efforts to support rising aspirations, improve enrollment opportunities, and achieve increased rates of higher education completion for all students, and especially Latino students.As CEO and co-founder (in 2004) of Excelencia in Education, she leads an organization that has become a trusted source of data and research on higher education policy and evidence-based practices in general and specifically on Latino student success. Excelencia focuses on analysis of research and practices to inform policy and implementation; incentivize action; and collaborate with institutions committed to supporting Latino college student success.Her work has been cited in The Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, AP, and Chronicle of Higher Education, and many other publications concerned with higher education policy and practice. Previously, she was Vice President for data and policy analysis for the LA County Alliance for Student Achievement, a policy analyst at the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service on legislative issues in higher education, and informed programmatic and budgetary efforts in the Office of Postsecondary Education at the US Dept of Education.She served as the Deputy Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, working with federal agencies and communities across the nation to improve awareness and education opportunities for Latinos and as advisor to the ASPIRA Association.She currently serves on the Advisory Board of TheDream.US and Higher Achievement.Her many honors include the prestigious Pahara Fellowship from the Aspen Institute.