Lumina Foundation Vital Supporter Return to 15 Who Helped Excelencia Reach 15 Main Page Excelencia honors and awards its Heart to the Lumina Foundation. Beginning with past president Martha Lamkin to Tina Gridiron, Danette Howard, Jamie Merisotis and their colleagues, the Lumina Foundation has played an important role and made an incredible investment in support of improving Latino student success in America and in Excelencia in Education. Lumina was one of the first national foundations that supported our work in 2005 to bring attention to Latino student success and its impact on the nation. Recognizing alignment with Excelencia’s mission, Lumina developed a relationship with the founders and hosted visits to their offices for in-depth discussions about strategies. Lumina invested in Excelencia’s emerging portfolio and the convergence with their focus on college completion. Later they engaged Excelencia when they made a multiyear investment in 13 communities through their Lumina Latino Student Success. Over the years and through leadership changes at the foundation, Lumina remains an influential supporter of higher education that addresses the need for all students to be well served for our country to thrive. Excelencia is grateful for our long partnership and for Lumina’s support through grants, public leadership and active strategic collaborations that help us serve our mission to accelerate Latino student success in higher education.
