Dr. Borrego is a respected national educator and leader. She draws on her diverse life experiences as a first-generation college graduate, educational leader, and organizational innovator. She brings empathy, emotional intelligence, and unique insight to her work as a speaker, consultant, mentor, and advisor that allows her to connect authentically with a broad range of audiences and move conversations forward. 

After leaving her home as an emancipated minor, Dr. Borrego experienced first-hand the transformative impact acts of kindness can have on an individual’s life and future. While grit and resilience have shaped her journey, she also knows that her success as a learner, educator, and leader was made possible by the compassion of others. Their unexpected day-to-day acts of kindness provided the toeholds that helped Dr. Borrego surmount obstacles and build a meaningful life.

Dr. Borrego has developed her leadership experience serving in multiple administrative roles through her career, including as the Chancellor of University of Michigan-Flint, the Vice President of Enrollment Management, Planning & Student Affairs at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and the Vice President for Student Affairs at California State University, Monterey Bay. In those roles, Dr. Borrego worked intentionally to build diverse teams and programs to broaden opportunities for historically unincluded individuals.

In her consultative work with campuses across the nation, the James Irvine Foundation, University of Southern California, Arizona State University, and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), Dr. Borrego has worked alongside students, administrators, educators, staff, and the constituents they serve to embrace and enact transformative new ideas, practices, strategies, and policies.

Over the course of her career as a transformative leader, scholar-practitioner, and consultant for organizations and institutions, Dr. Borrego has gained extensive experience working with leadership at every level and speaking before a wide range of audiences. She has remained focused on championing communities of compassion and building organizational cultures of belonging.