Josefina Baltodano is the Founder of the Executive Leadership Academy (ELA) at UC Berkeley. ELA is designed to prepare college and university administrators from all backgrounds to advance into executive roles such as dean, vice president, provost, president, or chancellor. Since being established in 2011, the Executive Leadership Academy has graduated 623 participants. In addition to the annual summer program, the ELA has provided international training for numerous countries including India, Cambodia, and Ukraine.
Previously, she served as President of Marian University until...
Assistant Vice Chancellor, Office of Organizational Transformation, UC San Diego – La Jolla, California
AVC Biestman joined the Vice Chancellor’s for Organizational Transformation in August of 2023. She has more than 30 years of experience in higher education in a variety of administrative and academic leadership positions at UC Berkeley and Stanford.
At Stanford, she served as Associate Dean and Director of the Native American Cultural Center and taught at the Law School, in Native American Studies in the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, and the Stanford Design School. She held similar academic and student affairs leadership roles at her alma mater, UC Berkeley...
Professor Emerita, Comparative Women's Studies, Spelman College - Atlanta, Georgia; Former Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Spelman College; Founding Executive Leadership Academy Alumni
Johnnella E. Butler, Professor Emerita, Comparative Women’s Studies, Spelman College, served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Spelman from 2005-2014, and taught from 2016 until retirement in 2020. Prior to Spelman, Dr. Butler held appointments at the University of Washington, Seattle as Professor of American Ethnic Studies with appointments in English and Women’s Studies, and Associate Dean and Associate Vice Provost of the Graduate School. At the UW she prepared 25 Ph.D. students in African American and American Ethnic literary studies.
President Emerita, Antioch University – Seattle, Washington; Former President, Diné College – Tsaile, Arizona
Chosen as president of Antioch University Seattle, Dr. Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet became the first Native American woman to ascend to the presidency of an accredited university outside the tribal colleges. Prior to her presidency in Seattle from 2007 to 2013, Dr. Manuelito-Kerkvliet served as the first woman president of Diné College, a tribal college with 8 campuses located on the Navajo reservation situated in Arizona and New Mexico.
Dr. Manuelito-Kerkvliet is the great, great granddaughter of Navajo Chief Manuelito. She is born into the Towering House and...
Distinguished Faculty, California State University, Fullerton – Fullerton, California; Former Chancellor, Coast Community College District – Costa Mesa, California
Dr. Ding-Jo H. Currie’s career includes 40-plus years in the California Community College system with eight additional years in the California State University system. Ding-Jo retired in 2011 from Coast Community College District where she served as Chancellor. She also served as President of Coastline Community College prior to her Chancellor role. Currently, Ding-Jo is serving as Distinguished Faculty at CSU Fullerton and devotes herself in full-time leadership development work.
Having served in many key national leadership roles such as, Board Chair of...
Former Vice-Chancellor, Shiv Nadar University - Delhi-NCR, India
Professor Rupamanjari Ghosh has B.Sc.(Physics honors) and M.Sc.(Physics) degrees from the University of Calcutta, India, and a very well-recognized Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, NY, USA, where she worked as a Rush Rhees Fellow, chosen for “outstanding scholarly ability and the promise of exceptional contributions to scholarship and teaching.”
Dr. Ghosh is a former Professor of Physics, and Dean, School of Physical Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has occupied many other important academic and administrative positions, and serves as an...
President and Professor Emeritus, California State University, Sacramento – Sacramento, California; President Emeritus, California State University, San Marcos –San Marcos, California
A leader in American higher education, in 2012, the Mexican government recognized Alex Gonzalez with the Ohtli Award, its highest honor for leaders of Mexican descent. It recognized his efforts to pave the way for and improve the well-being of new generations of Mexicans in California.
He was appointed by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Student Aid Commission and served six years as a commissioner for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the accrediting agency for higher education institutions in California and Hawaii. He also was appointed by...
President Emerita, Mills College – Oakland, California; Senior Vice President for Strategic Advancement, University Now – San Francisco, California
Janet L. Holmgren is a consultant to higher education and nonprofit organizations. Her current and recent consulting work includes the Lower Cost Models for Independent Colleges Consortium, Bay Path University, the Women’s College Coalition, the East Bay Community Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Davis Education Foundation, the Peralta Community Colleges, Cooper University, UniversityNow, and the University of Advanced Technology. She speaks annually at the Education Leadership Academy of the University of California, Berkeley and is an adjunct faculty...
President, California State University, Fresno - Fresno, California
Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval is the ninth president of Fresno State and a proud son of the Central Valley, having emigrated from Mexico at age 10 and grown up working on his family’s small farm in Fowler. A longtime faculty member and academic leader, he has served Fresno State for more than two decades.
Since becoming president in 2021, Dr. Jiménez-Sandoval has guided the University to achieve Carnegie R2 doctoral research status, reaffirm its Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, and earn the Carnegie Leadership for Public Purpose designation — distinctions that reflect Fresno...
