National President and CEO

Alma Morales Riojas
President & CEO, MANA, A National Latina Organization

For the past seven years Alma Morales Riojas has led the oldest national Latina membership organization in the United States? MANA, A National Latina Organization. MANA is a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington D.C., with chapters across the country. Its mission is to empower Latinas through leadership development, community service and advocacy. Ms. Riojas, as President and CEO, spearheaded the MANA vision of working to improve the quality of life of all Hispanics.

Before she became President and CEO of MANA, Ms. Riojas served as National Executive Director of Federally Employed Women, Inc; Executive Director of the National Alliance of Veteran and Family Service Organizations; Associate Director of the National Network of Runaway and Youth Services; and President of ALMA Consulting Services. Ms. Riojas was Expert Consultant with the Washington Headquarters Services, The Pentagon, where she developed the first Affirmative Action and Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Plans for the Offices of the Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff.

She served on President Reagan’s Transition Team and in the White House Personnel Office specializing in Hispanic and women’s recruitment and placement. She had personnel responsibilities for the Offices of the Secretaries of Agriculture and Defense. A Texas native, Ms. Riojas began her career as a grade school teacher and later as Regional Manager with USAA Insurance Company in San Antonio.

She is Chair of the Board of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR); Vice-Chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda; and Vice-Chair of the SER National Board of Directors. She also serves on the National Council of Women’s Organizations’ steering committee; the Diversity Council for Bennett College; the AARP and Pfizer Hispanic Advisory Council; and the National Consumers League Board of Directors. She is the first Latina to serve as a Director for the Board of the National Women’s History Museum. As National Chairwoman of the American GI Forum she served as a Board member of the Hispanic Education Foundation, National SER, Jobs for Progress, and the National Veterans Outreach Program.

Ms. Riojas has served on numerous boards, commissions, national committees and task forces, including the Commission on the Status of Women in Texas and Virginia; the Senate Advisory Task Force; the Secretary of Labor’s Committee on 21st Century Demographics of the President’s Council on 21st Century Workforce; National Hispanic Women’s Council; Women in Community Service. She was an advisor to Lifetime Network, PBS network, and HBO, and to Harvard University’s Women’s Policy Journal.

She has received numerous professional and civic awards, including the Tomás Rivera Leadership Award from the National Hispanic University and Force on Hispanic Affairs; the President’s Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives; and the 2003 Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) Hero’s Award.

Ms. Riojas, a National Science Foundation Scholar, attended San Antonio College, Our Lady of the Lake University and the University of Texas in Austin. She completed “Women in Power: Leadership in a New World” Executive Leadership Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School and “Serving on Corporate Boards of Directors” Program at Harvard University School of Business.

Ms Riojas is the mother of Cynthia Esparza Crockett and Roland Gabriel Esparza, and grandmother of Nicolas and Zachary Crockett.