Dinorah Olmos is the founding president and CEO of the Latino Education Advancement Fund (LEAF), and recipient of the 2019 Open Society Institute Community Fellowship- Baltimore. If you want more information, please visit the following link here. 

Olmos has more than 35 years of professional experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors.  This experience includes working at international, national, state and local levels with education, and community leaders across the United States. Olmos has a passionate interest in research to advance equity and social justice, and in advocacy that supports educational access for Latino students.

She was born and raised in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, and moved to California in 1982. Olmos worked at different academic programs such as the Elementary Partnership Program, Migrant Scholars Program, College Readiness, and Pre-Collegiate Academic Program.  She excelled coordinating educational conferences, such as the College Making it Happen conference that brought together representatives from five universities.

From 1990 to 1993, Olmos was recruited for a local TV morning show “Arriba Valle Central,” for KFTV Channel 21, UNIVISION where she was also producing and hosting educational segment “La Escuela, sus Hijos y Usted” which targeted Latino parents and children. 

In 1991, as a single parent with two children and working full-time, she returned to school to obtain her bachelor’s degree.

In 1995, she founded the Latino American Club of the Central Valley, a non-profit organization and acted as its president for three years.  In 1996, She was selected as a participant in the “Women as Leaders” academic seminar in Washington, DC, where women leaders from around the nation gathered to be honored.

She graduated from California State University, Fresno with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication/Journalism, with an emphasis in Public Relations in 1997.  Years later; she received her Master’s of Arts Degree in Leadership and Organizational Development with an emphasis in Cross-Cultural Communication from Fresno Pacific University. Furthermore, Olmos earned a post-graduate certificate on Leadership for Schools, Families and Community Collaboration at Johns Hopkins University with the purpose to provide support, knowledge, trust, and information to Latino parents on the educational system in the United States. 

For 14 years, Olmos worked as Assistant Director for National and International Recruitment at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY). She identified and recruited gifted and talented students around the world. In 2007, acting as the site director, Olmos was instrumental in the opening of two new international sites at the Universidad de las Americas and at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico. Also in 2007, Olmos began a student recruitment effort in Puerto Rico and Colombia, establishing relationships with College Board Latin America and working with public and private schools to identify bright students there.

Olmos has served on various boards and committees including the Parent Community Advisory Board (PCAB) for Baltimore City School System, Vice-President of the Johns Hopkins Latino Alliance and member of the Johns Hopkins University Diversity Leadership Council. 

Olmos is married to Javier von Westphalen-Peña, a marketing expert who is the President and CEO of Emergent Element, a Strategy and Marketing Consultancy.  She has two children, Lizette (age 45) and Gregory (age 37).