Regent Maria Anguiano

Maria Anguiano is Chair of the Board of Regents. A first-generation college graduate and longtime advocate for educational opportunity, she has dedicated her career to expanding access to high-quality education and improving outcomes for learners and communities.  

She is a globally recognized executive and board leader whose work spans technology, education, finance, and social impact. She has a proven track record of scaling organizations, leading complex operations, and driving innovation.

Most recently, she served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at College Futures Foundation, where she focused on innovation and the future of higher education. Prior to that, she served as Executive Vice President of Arizona State University’s Learning Enterprise, where she launched ASU’s Learning Enterprise into a global lifelong learning enterprise serving more than 1 million learners in 140+ countries. 

Previously, Ms. Anguiano served as Vice Chancellor of Planning & Budget at UC Riverside where she managed an $800 million budget and oversaw campus-wide strategic planning, financial planning and analysis, institutional research, and capital asset strategies. During her tenure, she led the redesign of the campus budget model, successfully negotiated the campus’ first design-build contract for a major research facility, guided a Physical Master Plan Study, initiated organizational excellence initiatives, and pioneered efforts to improve cost transparency within higher education. 

Earlier in her career, she held senior leadership positions at the University of California Office of the President, where she worked on the systemwide financial and strategic initiatives. She also served as Chief Financial Officer for the ed-tech startup Minerva Project, helping to expand access to an innovative, technology-enabled model of affordable, high-quality education.  In addition, she has held a senior advisory role at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and finance roles at Barclays Capital and Deloitte.Ms. Anguiano serves as Chair of the James Irvine Foundation and is a member of the KIPP Foundation - organizations dedicated to expanding educational opportunity  and economic mobility for people from all backgrounds. 

She holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics-Accounting and Spanish from Claremont McKenna College.

Ms. Anguiano was appointed as a Regent in June 2017 by Governor Brown to a term expiring in 2028.