Building Inclusive Teams and Mitigating Structural Bias

Gerardo Ochoa, Ed.M., Director of Community Relations and Special Assistant to the President, Linfield University

Gerardo Ochoa (He, Him, Él) is Director of Community Relations and Special Assistant to the President at Linfield University in McMinnville and Portland, OR. He has served Linfield in multiple capacities since 2004. Mr. Ochoa holds formal appointments to the President’s Diversity Advisory Committee (chair) and the College’s strategic planning and budget councils.

In addition to being a college 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 diverse students from urban and rural high schools, community colleges, private colleges, and state universities on college access and affordability. He consults with higher education institutions on the inclusion of Latinx students, best practices to engage and serve undocumented students, and teaching strategies that draw on talents and address the needs of first generation students. He believes in the power of personal stories to build empathy, create opportunities, and influence change. As keynote speaker, his story of perseverance has reached audiences convened by organizations such as the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the Northwest Public Employees Diversity Conference, the Ford Family Foundation, Portland State University, and most recently a TEDx Talk.

Mr. Ochoa carries out his life purpose of service as a board member of the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. He has been an active 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. He is co-founder of Mente, a Latino male higher education conference and emerging mentoring program.

Mr. Ochoa holds an Education Master from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and minor in Latin American History from the University of Oregon. He is an American Leadership Forum Fellow and an 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 family in a four generation home, and their five-pound yorkie named Mambo.