Union Announces National Commencement Speaker

NATIONAL HISPANIC LEADER JUANA BORDAS TO DELIVER KEYNOTE
AT UNION INSTITUTE & UNIVERSITY’S NATIONAL COMMENCEMENT

Bordas is a founder of Mi Casa Women's Center - recognized as a national model for women's empowerment

CINCINNATI – Union Institute & University (UI&U), a private, non-profit university headquartered in Walnut Hills, is honored to announce that Juana Bordas, a nationally-recognized leader in the Hispanic community, will deliver the keynote address at UI&U’s national commencement ceremony to be held October 17 in Cincinnati.

Bordas is the president of the Denver-based organization Mestiza Leadership International and served as vice president of the board of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. She was also a former faculty member for the Center for Creative Leadership, where she taught in the Leadership Development Program (LDP) - the most highly utilized executive program in the world.

“Juana emulates Union’s mission and vision as a leader in the Hispanic community. She is a creative and passionate leader who continues to play a pivotal role in the lives of Hispanics in this country. It is my hope that each of our graduates will apply that same passion and creativity to make change in their own communities,” said UI&U President Dr. Roger H. Sublett.

A founder of Mi Casa Women's Center, Bordas also served as its executive director. Today, Mi Casa is recognized as a national model for women's empowerment. In addition, she is founding president/CEO of the National Hispana Leadership Institute, the only program in America that prepares Latinas for national leadership. In 2000, she founded The Circle of Latina Leadership to train "the next generation of Latina Leaders."

Bordas was initiated into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame and honored as a Wise Woman by the National Center for Women's Policy Studies. Recently, she served as advisor to Harvard's Hispanic Journal on Public Policy and the Kellogg National Fellows Program. A former Peace Corps volunteer, she received the Franklin Williams Award from the U.S. Peace Corps for her lifelong commitment to advancing communities of color and the Leadership Legacy Award from Spellman College's Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement. In addition, she has assisted a number of Fortune 500 companies in achieving greater diversity. This includes Coors Brewing Company, Chevron, Dial Corporation, and Texas Instruments. Bordas has also assisted government agencies, airports, and nonprofits enhance their leadership capacity and groom the potential of their growing diversity.

Her first book, Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age has received compelling endorsements from experts in the leadership field and from Latino, Black, and American Indian leaders and won the 2008 International Latino Book Award for best business/leadership book. Juana has three grown daughters and four grandsons.