The board of directors for the Latino Academy of Workforce Development, Inc. announced Tuesday afternoon that Baltazar De Anda Santana will be stepping down from his longtime role as executive director on March 2.
“We are grateful to Baltazar for his 12 years of combined service to the Latino Academy,” Latino Academy Board President Shiva Bidar said in a statement. “When he first joined the organization, it was an initiative of a parent organization and operated with a limited budget and as such, had a limited ability to impact the community. Under Baltazar’s leadership, it is now a standalone organization, running numerous training programs, serving an ever-growing number of students and with a multimillion-dollar annual budget.”
De Anda Santana is co-founder and executive director of the Latino Academy of Workforce Development, an organization whose mission is to strengthen diverse communities by providing linguistically and culturally competent adult education programming that advances opportunities to ensure that individuals and families thrive socially, economically, and civically.
The board has appointed Bob Rodriguez to assume the responsibilities as administrator until a thorough search for an executive director is completed.
“Rodriguez has extensive operational knowledge of the organization and will work with the Board and senior staff; Margarita Avila, director of workforce development and Julio Garcia, director of education, until the search for a new executive director is completed,” Bidar said in a statement. “We once again thank Baltazar for his inspirational and impactful leadership at the Latino Academy of Workforce Development, Inc. and will be announcing a reception shortly to properly honor him for his many contributions not only to our organization, but to the greater Madison community.”
