Connect on Social Media
About
First Name:
Last Name:
Title and Organization:
Bio:
Maribel Duran is the Managing Director and Chief of Staff for the Aspen Institute’s Leadership Division. In this role, Maribel oversees the administrative, management, and financial functions for a Division with approximately 60 employees and a $25M budget; leads its people and culture efforts; and ensures operational and individual alignment and execution to strategic priorities. The Division is comprised of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, the Youth Leadership Programs, Executive Leadership Seminars, Weave: the Social Fabric Project, the Office of Curriculum and Moderators and the Office of Operations and Strategic Initiatives.
Maribel first joined the Institute in 2017 as Assistant Director for Strategy and Operations with the Education & Society Program leading its strategy, operations, and finance functions. From 2018-2019, Maribel served as the co-chair of the Institute’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council and serves as a Richard Salinas Foundation Scholarship Committee Member.
Previously, Maribel served eight years under the Obama Administration at the U.S. Department of Education. In 2009, she joined former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan as Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary. Later, she served as Chief of Staff for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, informing the Administration’s P-20 policy and programmatic efforts on behalf of the nation’s Latino students and families, including helping to secure over 150 private-and-public sector commitments with a collective investment of over $335 million to build on and accelerate federal, state, and local investments in high-quality education for the nation’s Hispanic community, and launching the Federal Interagency Working Group to strengthen and align federal policy efforts with local initiatives. Maribel also served as Chief of Staff for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, member of the White House Council on Women and Girls Federal Taskforce and the Education Department’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group.
Maribel began her career at the Chicago Public Schools helping to advance the school district’s mission of providing a high-quality education to the city’s children. She holds a bachelor of English Language and Literature magna cum laude and an honorary doctorate in education from Southern New Hampshire University. Maribel is the first Latina board trustee at Southern New Hampshire University and a board member for the Institute on Educational Leadership. She is a Center for American Progress U.S.-Mexico Leaders Initiative Member, has been awarded the University of Denver and the Aspen Institute’s International Career Advancement Program Fellowship, honored as a “40 under 40” leader by the Leadership Center for Excellence, and has been featured in national conferences, including a Ted Talk, for her continued commitment to diversity, gender and education equity, and social justice.
