Alejandra Castillo

Chief Executive Officer of YWCA USA

Alejandra Y. Castillo is the Chief Executive Officer of YWCA USA. Castillo leads YWCA USA’s efforts towards enhancing the equal protection and opportunity, health, and safety for women of color in America.

Prior to joining YWCA USA, Castillo was the first Hispanic-American woman to serve as the National Director of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and served as the Executive Director of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA).

At MBDA, she launched the Inclusive Innovation Initiative (I3) which supported STEM education, development, entrepreneurship, and forged important strategic stakeholder relations and key public-private partnerships in the technology and innovation sector. At HNBA, she advocated for civil rights protections for undeserved communities and for diversity in the legal profession. Castillo was also instrumental in working with the White House and nonprofit organizations in support of the nomination and confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Castillo received her B.A. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, her M.P.P. from the University of Texas at Austin, and her J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law.