Juan Salgado

Juan Salgado is City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor. His career has focused on improving education and economic opportunities for residents in low-income communities. As Chancellor, he oversees Chicago's community college system, serving more than 70,000 students across seven colleges. Under his leadership, City Colleges has worked to remove barriers to college access, strengthen program quality, and enhance student supports to create pathways to upward mobility. Previously, he served as CEO of Instituto del Progreso Latino, where he worked to empower residents of Chicago’s Southwest Side through education, citizenship, and skill-building programs that led to sustainable employment and economic stability. He is also a member of the board of the Obama Foundation. Salgado was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2015. Juan Salgado received an A.A. (1989) from Moraine Valley Community College, a B.A. (1991) from Illinois Wesleyan University, and an M.U.P. (1993) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was programs director of The Resurrection Project, a community development organization in Chicago, prior to becoming CEO of the Instituto del Progreso Latino in 2001. Through the Instituto del Progreso Latino, which he has led since 2001, Salgado works with members of the low-income, Latino immigrant communities on Chicago’s southwest side. Most adults in these communities work in menial jobs and face formidable barriers to upward mobility; few have high school diplomas, and many lack the English-language skills needed for a GED or vocational training program.