Curriculum Vitae
Event Schedule (PDF)
Gerardo Ochoa (He, Him, Él) is a senior higher education executive with an equity and student-centered leadership approach. He currently serves as Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success at Linfield University in McMinnville and Portland, OR where he has served in multiple capacities since 2004. Mr. Ochoa holds a formal appointment to the Board of Trustees as an officer of the board and has served in various university- wide councils, committees, and taskforces, including the University Cabinet, Academic Council, University Renaming Taskforce, President’s Diversity Advisory Committee (chair), and the University Strategic Planning and Budget Council. He has led strategic efforts to increase community partnerships with communities of color and recently garnered the university the Bravo Award for community partnerships. He also designed and launched a comprehensive program for first generation students and won the Beacon Award for Excellence in Student Achievement and Success from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
In addition to being a university administrator, Mr. Ochoa is a co-author and independent consultant of Path to Scholarships®, a college readiness curriculum. Since 2006, he has worked with thousands of students from urban and rural high schools, community colleges, private colleges, and state universities on college access and affordability. He consults with organizations and higher education institutions on implementing teaching strategies that draw on talents and address the needs of first generation students, the inclusion of Latinx students, and best practices to engage and serve undocumented students. He believes in the power of personal stories to build empathy, create opportunities, and influence change. As a public speaker, his story of perseverance has reached corporate audiences, chambers of commerce, city, state, and federal governments, foundations, school districts, private and public colleges, and his TEDx Talk has reached viewers worldwide.
Mr. Ochoa carries out his commitment to service and equity in multiple capacities. He is co-founder and President of Mente, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization addressing the gender inequities in education for Latinx males in pursuit of a higher education. He is an active board member of the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. He has previously served as a member of the Beaverton School District’s Budget Advisory Committee, scholarship chair of the César Chávez Leadership Conference, and Scholarship Toolkit contributor with the National Scholarship Providers Association.
Mr. Ochoa holds an Education Master from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and minor in History from the University of Oregon. He is an American Leadership Forum Fellow and alumni of the Senior Leadership Academy sponsored by the Council of Independent Colleges and the American Academic Leadership Institute. He is a contributing author for Latinx/a/os in Higher Education and a guest education writer for the Somos Timbers Magazine. Gerardo is a proud father, brother, son, husband, and abuelo. He lives with his wife and are both raising a toddler along with their five-pound yorkie named Mambo.