Maria Echaveste

Maria Echaveste is the president and CEO of the The Opportunity Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing social and economic mobility and advancing racial equity. She has built a distinguished career as a consultant, lecturer, community leader, corporate attorney, and senior White House official. Echaveste served in multiple roles in President Clinton’s administration, including assistant to the president and deputy White House chief of staff, director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, and wage and hour administrator at the U.S. Department of Labor. She now serves on the board of directors for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, Cadiz Inc. (a publicly held natural resources company), Mi Familia Vota, and SMASH (formerly the Level Playing Field Institute), which works to improve STEM education for students of color. Echaveste earned her JD from the University of California, Berkeley.

updated 2025