Raul Yzaguirre

Arizona State University

Raul Yzaguirre is presidential professor of practice in community development and civil rights at Arizona State University.  From 1974 to 2004, Mr. Yzaguirre was president of the National Council of La Raza, the nation’s leading Hispanic advocacy organization and the largest constituency-based national Latino organization.

In 1964, Mr. Yzaguirre founded the National Organization for Mexican American Services (NOMAS).  A proposal Mr. Yzaguirre wrote for NOMAS led to the creation of what is now the National Council of La Raza.  In 1969, he founded Interstate Research Associates, the first Mexican American research association, which he built into a multimillion-dollar nonprofit consulting firm.  Mr. Yzaguirre helped establish several key national groups that have brought together a host of organizations in the Hispanic community, including the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), the New American Alliance (NAA), and the Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility (HACR).

Mr. Yzaguirre has also been successful in bringing together diverse leaders in other communities through his work in the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the National Neighborhood Coalition, the Committee for Concerns of Blacks and Hispanics, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, and the Independent Sector.