President
Barack Obama has nominated Raul Yzaguirre, the most quoted Latino
leader in the nation during the last 40 years, to be the United States
Ambassador to the Dominican Republic.  He is currently a Presidential
Professor of Practice and Executive Director of the Center for
Community Development and Civil Rights at Arizona State University.
 
At
14 years of age Yzaguirre became one of the youngest activists in the
nation when he joined the American GI Forum to fight for social justice
and educational opportunities for Hispanic veterans.  He served four
years in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps.  Yzaguirre served as a
Senior Policy Analyst and special advisor to the Director of the U.S.
Office for Economic Opportunity from 1966-1969.  From 1969-1973 he
founded two management consulting organizations: Interstate Research
Associates and InterAmerica Research Associates.  Yzaguirre earned
national and international recognition as President and CEO of the
National Council of La Raza from 1974-2005.
 
Yzaguirre served as
Chair of the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence for
Hispanic Americans under former President Bill Clinton.  He holds a
B.S. from George Washington University, was an Institute of Politics
Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and
studied at La Universidad de Las Americas in Puebla, Mexico.