As founding President/CEO of the National Hispana Leadership Institute, the only program in America that prepares Latinas for national leadership, she forged partnerships with Harvard’s JFK School of Government and CCL to provide training for Hispanic women. An active community member, Juana was one of 50 leaders chosen by the Colorado Legislature to design the state’s future plan and was selected by Colorado Business Magazine as one of 100 influential people in the state. In 1977 she was a founder of Denver’s Mi Casa Women’s Center and served as executive director until 1986. Today, Mi Casa is recognized as a national model for women’s empowerment.

Juana holds an MSW from the University of Wisconsin. She has twenty-two years’ experience managing nonprofit corporations and building partnerships with the private sector to support innovative programs. Her publications include: “Follow the Leader – Women’s Ways of Mentoring” (NHLI); “Passion and Power: Finding Personal Purpose” – essay in “Reflections on Leadership” (John Wiley & Sons). Juana is a contributing author to “Learning Leadership: A Curriculum for a New Generation” published by the University of Maryland and “Leadership in the 21st Century” in “Rethinking Leadership” published by Sage Publications. “Latino Leadership: Building a Diverse and Humane Society” was published by the Journal for Leadership Studies. Her paper, “African American Leaders: Guardians of Public Values,” was included in the inaugural issue of the International Journal on Servant Leadership.