Candelario Cervantez

National Senior Managing Director, Teach For America

Candelario Cervantez is a business executive who is committed to opening educational opportunities to historically underrepresented and underserved minority populations and a champion for educational equity. Candelario is also a strong advocate of the promotion and advancement of diverse leaders in all industries.
Currently, he is the National Senior Managing Director, Latinx Alliances on the National Public Partnerships and Government Affairs Team at Teach For America. Teach For America’s mission is to enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation’s most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence. He is currently the President Emeritus of Prospanica, formally the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, Dallas-Fort Worth board. The board focuses on the advancement of Latinxs to executive level positions across all industries. He is also currently serving on the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Houston Advisory Council which focuses on empowering Latinx families with the knowledge and resources to successfully complete a higher education, while providing scholarships and support services to as many exceptional Hispanic American students as possible. Finally, he is the CEO of Art By Cervantez. The company focuses on utilizing art to connect with others on a deep level and to evoke passion, reflection and gratitude for the gifts of nature and faith.

Candelario is an operations and strategic planning executive with over 15 years of expertise in the areas of business development, procurement, project management, fundraising, sales and non- profit management. He has served on a number of boards related to healthcare, K-12 initiatives, and higher education. He was one of the youngest members of the International Affairs Advisory Council of the Texas Medical Center. He also served on Rice University’s K-12 committee to help bring Rice University educational resources to underserved communities.

Candelario holds an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas. He lives with his wife Andrea K. Pihlaskari, Ph.D. in Houston.

Panel Information

Wednesday, February 17

2:05 PM EST

Education in the Time of COVID-19

COVID 19 has had a debilitating impact on our students’ education, further widening the achievement gaps between students of color and their counterparts. In this session, we will discuss the action we need from the Biden administration and our Congressional leaders to immediately address these gaps.