Michele Siqueiros

Since its founding in 2004, Michele Siqueiros has been the driving force behind the Campaign for College Opportunity, a California based nonprofit policy advocacy and research organization committed to ensuring more students can go to college and succeed. The daughter of a seamstress who then became the first in her family to go to college, Michele understands the transformative power of education and has dedicated her life to opening the doors of college opportunity. Michele has made it possible for thousands of students to go to college and graduate because of the policy and budget reforms she has successfully championed, her unrelenting commitment to ensuring policies are implemented with fidelity, and her vigilance for keeping a close watch on the performance of the state’s colleges and universities. In her 17 years at the Campaign for College Opportunity (President since 2008), she has built a strong, independent, and influential organization by raising over $29 million dollars, assembling a team of experts and leaders in the field, championing major budget appropriations, securing historic higher education legislation, and establishing a broad and influential network of over 12,000 coalition supporters. Under her direction the Campaign has released critical higher education research including prominent reports on college access and success rates, the lack of diversity amongst college leaders and faculty, the powerful return on investment for spending by the state in our colleges and universities, and the need for major improvements to close racial/ethnic gaps, fix transfer and reform remedial education at our colleges. Every day she is motivated by the many students who are working hard to reach their college dreams.

Michele has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Studies with Honors in Chicano/a Studies from Pitzer College and a Master of Arts in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She serves on the Boards of the California Endowment, the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, Community Coalition, and Pitzer College.