Raul Yzaguirre

Presidential Professor and Executive Director, Center for Community Development and Civil Rights, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona

Raul Yzaguirre has served as Presidential Professor of Practice in Community Development and Civil Rights at Arizona State University since January 2005. From 1974 to 2004, he was President of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation's leading Hispanic advocacy organization and the largest constituency-based national Latino group. While at NCLR, Yzaguirre was the first Chair of the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans and Chair of the Smithsonian Institution Task Force on Latino Issues. In 1989-90, he was a Fellow in the Institute of Politics, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Before joining NCLR, Yzaguirre was Vice President for Technical Assistance at the Center for Community Change. He also co-founded and directed Interstate Research Associates, Inc., the first Mexican-American owned consulting firm. Yzaguirre began his professional career in the Migrant Division of the Office of Economic Opportunity, Washington, DC. He helped establish several key national Hispanic groups, including the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, New America Alliance, and Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR). Yzaguirre is Board Chair of Raza Development Fund (the community development lending arm of NCLR) and AARP Services, Inc. He is a board member of United Way of America, Educate, Inc., and other nonprofits. Yzaguirre holds a BS in General Studies from The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and has five honorary degrees.