Paola Santana serves as executive director of the Glendale College Foundation where she builds public awareness of the college and works with a dedicated 35-member board of directors and other stakeholders to raise funds to support student scholarships, college programs and facilities, and other critical needs.

Previously, she served as a strategy officer and grant maker at Lumina Foundation where she supported state efforts to increase postsecondary attainment across the nation. Santana also spent nearly a decade leading UNITE-LA’s college access and success portfolio, where she was responsible for the implementation of direct service college access programming, the development of the organization’s higher education policy advocacy agenda, and providing strategic support to the local Talent Hub cross-sector partnership. Santana began her career working for the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education where she advised board members on complex policy issues. She is a proud graduate of the Riordan Leadership Institute, the Pahara NextGen Network, the California Education Policy Fellowship Program, the Indiana Latino Institute Leadership Circle, and The Equity Lab’s Nexus Fellowship. A first-generation and community college transfer student, Santana earned her associate degree at Glendale Community College, baccalaureate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, and went on to complete her Master’s in Higher Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.