Rogelio L. Muñoz Jr. grew up poor in Texas, a personal history he says transformed being underprivileged and disadvantaged into a burning desire to do good and do better. “In the United States, the disparities are great, but you are given an equal opportunity to rise above these challenges and obstacles.”
Muñoz has certainly risen above them. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management in San Antonio, Texas and received a master’s in public policy from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Along the way, he worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Central Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Farm Credit Administration, and U.S. Representative Ruben Hinojosa.
In 2006, Muñoz was named executive director of the Chicano Latino Affairs Council, which serves as a bridge between the state government and the Hispanic community. He also devotes time to the alumni board of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, from which he received the 20th annual student success story award.
Muñoz hopes to make a major impact on workforce development, K-12 education, affordable health care, and access to higher education in the Hispanic community.
“My desire is to work on the educational disparity that lingers [for] minority students,” he says. “I think that education is the only way Latinos will be afforded the same opportunities as everyone else.”
