Ireri Valenzuela supports the development of emerging middle leaders by creatively blending her passion for organizational change, team coaching, qualitative research, adult education, and program design. To create brave spaces where all voices are heard, Ireri guides efforts to establish equity-centered institutions where minoritized communities can succeed and thrive. Highlights of her experience include systems change, evidence-based decision-making, leadership, and team development, building trust and credibility with people across different roles and socioeconomic statuses. Further, she is an expert in creating and tailoring curriculum, training, and written materials for diverse audiences, designing, implementing, evaluating, and managing complex programs and projects. Ireri’s commitment to diversity, equity, and social justice is central to who she is and is the lens through which she approaches her work.  

For the past 17 years, Ireri has supported equity-centered structural reform efforts in higher education. In 2014, Ireri joined the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges as a Senior Researcher to evaluate a 5-year, $30 million statewide initiative, the Education Planning Initiative, funded by the California Legislature. In this role, she also engages in qualitative research to elevate the voices and needs of diverse student populations in community colleges inequitably served by these institutions. In 2017, in addition to her position as senior researcher, Ireri became the Lead Coaching Coordinator for the Leading from the Middle Academy (LFM), a change-focused leadership development program. LFM develops and equips middle leaders from California Community Colleges with skills and strategies to “lead from the middle” to advance efforts to close equity gaps in student success and completion. Most recently, Ireri has moved into the director role for the Leading from the Middle program. 

Ireri is bilingual in Spanish/English. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a master’s degree in Adult Education from San Francisco State University. Ireri is also a certified team performance coach from Team Coaching International. Ireri grew up in Mexico City and San Francisco, California.