Janet Murguía

Janet Murguia is a prominent civil rights leader for the Mexican and Hispanic communities of the United States. She grew up in Kansas City, Kansas but now lives in Washington, DC and works as a renowned advocate for the Latino community.

NCLR President and CEO

On January 1, 2005, Murguía replaced Raul Yzaguirre as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S. As President and CEO, Murguía often testifies before Congress about issues affecting the Latino community.

Under Murguía’s direction, NCLR brought back the NCLR ALMA Awards after many years’ hiatus. NCLR created the ALMA Awards in 1995 as part of its strategy to promote fair and accurate portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry. Eva Longoria of ABC’s Desperate Housewives has been the show’s host for the last two years. Longoria and Murguía also serve as the show’s executive producers.

Murguía also placed more emphasis on strengthening the relationship with NCLR’s network of nearly 300 community-based organizations (CBOs). The CBOs are essential to NCLR’s work because they provide crucial services to the community and bring attention to the needs of the community members they serve.

Past positions held

Janet Murguía has emerged as a key leader in the Latino community. In 2001, Murguía joined the University of Kansas (KU) as Executive Vice Chancellor for University Relations. Murguía managed KU’s strategic planning and marketing efforts on four campuses.

Before joining KU, she served as deputy campaign manager and director of constituency outreach for the Gore/Lieberman presidential campaign where she was the primary liaison between former Vice President Gore and national constituency groups. She also served as a spokesperson for the campaign, working with radio, print, and TV media outlets.

Murguía also served seven years as legislative counsel to former Kansas Congressman Jim Slattery before working at the White House from 1994 to 2000. She eventually served as deputy assistant to President Clinton, providing strategic and legislative advice to the president. She also served as deputy director of legislative affairs where she was in charge of the legislative staff and acted as a senior White House liaison to Congress.

Acknowledgements and Honors

Murguía has been named to the following:

• In 2007
• "Poder" magazine’s “The Poderosos 100”
• "Latino Leaders" magazine’s “101 Top Leaders of the Hispanic Community”
• "Hispanic" magazine’s “Powerful Latinos 2007”
• In 2006
• "Washingtonian" magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Women in Washington”
• "The NonProfit Times’" “Power and Influence Top 50” leaders
• "People En Español"’s “100 Most Influential Hispanics 2006”
• In 2005
• Finalist for "Hispanic Business" magazine’s “Woman of the Year Award”
• In 2004
• "Hispanic" magazine’s list of "100 Top Latinas"
• "Hispanic Business" magazine’s "100 Most Influential Hispanics"

External links

* [http://www.nclr.org/section/leadership_janet_murguia_bio Biography] from the NCLR