Su Jin Jez

As Executive Director, Su Jin leads California Competes’s work to develop nonpartisan and financially pragmatic recommendations for improved higher education and workforce policies and practices across California.

Prior to joining California Competes, she served as a professor of public policy and administration at California State University, Sacramento. She also served as the Director of the statewide CSU Student Success Network, Academic Advisor for the California Executive Fellows Program, and Associate Director of the Sacramento State Doctorate in Educational Leadership.

Su Jin is an accomplished researcher whose work appears in a variety of publications including Teachers College Record, Education Policy Analysis Archives, Research in Higher Education, Community College Review, and Michigan Journal of Race & Law. Through her applied research, she has provided guidance to the Regents of the University of California, the California Community College Chancellor’s Office and Board of Governors, the California State University system, and California’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education. She presents across the country and internationally on key issues in higher education and systems change, including economic and workforce development, college readiness and success, student college choice and decision making, and institutional effectiveness.

She holds a PhD in education administration and policy analysis and an MA in economics from Stanford University. She received a BA in statistics and a minor in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley.

1. How has your personal journey influenced your approach to leadership?

My personal journey is a lot like those California Competes serves today. Access to higher education changed my life, and I want all Californians to have that economic mobility.

2. What do you consider to be the greatest challenge as a leader of color?

The knowledge and relationships needed to advance the work in circles of power (like funders, policy)

3. What inspires and/or motivates you in your leadership journey?

Those that we serve. Seeing the impact of the work.

4. What is one piece of advice you have for aspiring leaders of color?

Find a mentor and a sponsor. Prioritize relationship building.