Professional Affiliation

President and Chief Executive Officer, California Community Foundation; Co-Chair, Latino Leadership Task Force

Expert Bio

Antonia Hernández is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the California Community Foundation (CCF), as well as a Pacific Council on International Policy Board Member and Latino Leadership Task Force Co-Chair. Since assuming the leadership role at CCF in 2004, Hernández has expanded the community foundation’s activities beyond grant-making to encompass civic engagement and public policy initiatives in such areas as early education and immigrant integration. Hernández joined CCF as president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), a national nonprofit litigation and advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the civil rights of Latinos through the legal system, community education, research, and policy initiatives.

Hernández began her professional career as a staff attorney with the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, and subsequently worked as counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary before joining MALDEF in 1981 as regional counsel in Washington, D.C. She currently serves on several commissions, advisory boards and committees at the national, regional and local levels, including the Commission on Presidential Debates, Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, JFK Library Foundation Profile in Courage Award Committee, Think Long Committee for California and UCLA School of Law Board of Advisors.

Hernández is a member of the State Bar of California, District of Columbia Bar, American Bar Association and Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles, and a fellow of the American Law Institute. She has a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA, a law degree from the UCLA School of Law, and numerous honorary degrees and awards.