Deborah Santiago

Deborah A. Santiago is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Excelencia in Education. For more than 20 years, she has led efforts from the community to national and federal levels to improve educational opportunities and success for all students. She co-founded Excelencia in Education to inform policy and practice, compel action, and collaborate with those ready to increase student success. Deborah developed the Seal of Excelencia certification framework for institutions that go beyond enrolling, to intentionally serving Latino students. She has been cited in numerous publications for her work, including The Economist, the New York Times, the Washington Post, AP, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Deborah serves on the Advisory Board of TheDream.US. and the technical panel for the Carnegie Classification led by the American Council on Education.