(City of Industry, CA) — SHPE has named Suzanna Valdez Wolfe as their next Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Her resume includes over 30 years of experience in the public, non-profit and private sectors, including several roles during the Clinton-Gore administration, and having been appointed as an advisor on more than a dozen NGO boards, she is an expert in leadership and team development, strategic planning, fundraising and philanthropy, coalition building, and process integration.
The vetting process took roughly a year, and to guide this important decision, SHPE’s Board of Directors brought in Wipfli, a top-tier consulting firm, to develop, implement, and manage the CEO selection process from start to finish. As the selection process narrowed the nationwide pool of highly capable applicants, it became clear Suzanna was the right person for SHPE.
“She understands our mission, our legacy, and the direction SHPE is moving in,” says Board Chair Will Davis. “She demonstrated her innate ability to bring people together while fostering a commitment to a common goal. She is exceedingly humble even though she has many noteworthy accomplishments she could tout. And she is, at the end of the day, a strategic thinker and a collaborative problem solver driven by data – traits any engineer or scientist can respect!”
Suzanna succeeds Lifetime member and former Board Chair, Miguel Alemañy, who stepped up as SHPE’s interim CEO in March 2023. “It has been a privilege to serve at the helm of SHPE this past year,” Miguel reflects. “And I couldn’t be more excited for Suzanna to take the reins as the SHPE CEO. She is a nationally respected community-builder who truly values the members and stakeholders that make SHPE’s Familia the envy of organizations everywhere. She brings a wealth of sector knowledge and her vision aligns perfectly with where we want to go.”
Based in Miami, Suzanna comes to SHPE most recently as a founding member of Partners For NonProfits, an advisory firm dedicated to advancing the mission of nonprofit organizations. Prior to that role Ms. Valdez Wolfe served as the first-ever Chief Impact Officer at Taproot Foundation. And before that, she spent nearly 12 years at the Adrienne Arsht Center of the Performing Arts raising over $40 million during her tenure. She also has extensive experience working in the public sector, including the White House.
Ultimately, however, Suzanna is a leader who knows what it means to be a Hispanic woman in a world that may not always understand or appreciate what that represents. About her new role, she says “SHPE embodies so much of what Hispanics have to offer the world, and I can’t wait to continue to share our remarkable potential. It is a privilege to take on this role as the SHPE CEO, and I recognize the trust you must have in me to usher SHPE into our next 50 years of success. I am deeply committed to our mission and look forward to closing the gap between Hispanics and STEM.”