Current Position:
Adriana Rodriguez serves as Excelencia in Education’s Chief Operating Officer & Vice President for Institutional Programs. As the COO she works closely with the CEO, focusing on optimizing processes, managing resources, and ensuring efficient execution of business strategies. In her role as Vice President, she sets the strategic direction of the Institutional Practices portfolio. This involves supporting a dedicated team in the execution of programming for Examples of Excelencia and the Growing What Works (GWW) Database.

Past Experiences:
Adriana has 20 years of experience in non-profit education sector. During her 17 years of service at the Maya Angelou Schools in Washington, D.C., she worked in the areas of data infrastructure, office operations, continuous improvement practices, and school accountability policy. These focus areas had a secondary education lens, but she also worked on post-secondary pathways for six of those years by designing and managing college access and success services for the schools’ seniors and alumni. She was a tireless advocate among school leaders and city officials to ensure the inclusion of alternative youth populations in policy decisions.

Why are you bringing your talent to Excelencia?
My career has focused on equitable access to education and employment opportunities for older youth and young adults, especially those most marginalized by educational systems. Excelencia provides an opportunity to bring a Latino lens to my work and to address issues at a national level and with higher education partners committed to student-thriving environments.

How would you describe working at Excelencia?
I show up every day for Excelencia because of its mission and clear pathway to achieve it. I enjoy being part of a diverse and talented staff that works hard to achieve our goals. I appreciate the collaboration with all of our wonderful programs and institutions to transform higher education to more intentionally serve Latino and all post-traditional students.