Alejandra Ceja is Vice President of the Office of Social Impact and Inclusion for Panasonic North America and Executive Director of the Panasonic Foundation. In this capacity, Ceja leads corporate social responsibility, diversity, equity and inclusion and philanthropy focused on advancing educational equity.

Ceja is the former executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. She was appointed by the White House in 2013 to serve President Barack Obama and the U.S. Secretary of Education to increase the educational attainment and life outcomes of Hispanics across the nation. In this role, Ceja helped cultivate 150 Commitments to Action totaling $335 million to build on and accelerate federal, state, and local investments in high quality education for Hispanic students. Prior to this role, Ceja was the chief of staff to the Under Secretary of Education at the U.S. Department of Education.

Her previous professional experience includes serving as the senior budget and appropriations advisor for the House Congressional Committee on Education and Labor and as a program examiner for the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). She earned her master’s degree in public administration at Baruch College, City University of New York, and her bachelor’s degree in political science at Mount St. Mary’s University in California. She is a graduate of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and a recipient of their Distinguished Alumnus Award.