Julia I. Lopez, President and CEO

A widely respected leader with broad and deep experience in philanthropy and government, Julia I. Lopez began serving as the President and CEO of College Access Foundation of California in November 2008.

Before joining College Access Foundation, Julia served as Senior Vice President of the Rockefeller Foundation. In that leadership role, she provided oversight, management and evaluation of the foundation's strategic program grantmaking, which awarded an average of $150 million per year. In her earlier work for Rockefeller, she served as the Director of the foundation’s Working Communities program, addressing urban poverty and education in the United States.

Julia has also lent her talents to the California Legislature, the New Mexico Department of Criminal Justice and the Department of Social Services for the City and County of San Francisco where, as General Manager, she oversaw programs serving the city’s most disadvantaged residents.

She is a graduate of Newton College of the Sacred Heart (now Boston College) and holds a Masters degree in Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Julia is a Commissioner for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities.  She is also on the Board of Directors of REDF (formerly the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund) and is a member of the Statewide Leadership Council of the Public Policy Institute of California.

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