Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.

Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder

Roberto J. Rodriguez

Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Policy and Planning, 2021-2025, U.S. Department of Education

Roberto J. Rodriguez is a nationally recognized leader who is driven by the power and potential of education to improve opportunity and change lives. His public policy leadership and cross-sector collaboration with government, philanthropy, educators and families has been consequential in transforming educational systems to improve outcomes for students and families. Over the course of his career—from the White House to the nonprofit sector—Rodriguez has advanced policies to accelerate learning and close achievement gaps, strengthen the educator workforce, redesign high schools, expand college access, advance innovation, and promote effective uses of technology in learning.  

As Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Policy and Planning, Rodriguez led the Department’s policy and budget during a critical period of post-pandemic recovery.  In President Barack Obama’s White House, Rodriguez served as Deputy Assistant for Domestic Policy, where he shaped the Administration’s cradle-to-career education agenda and was as a key architect of major bipartisan initiatives, expanding early childhood education, investing in the Pell Grant and America’s community colleges, and securing passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Earlier, as Chief Counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy on the U.S. Senate HELP Committee, Rodriguez led legislative efforts to broaden educational access and expand civil rights protections for children and families, securing the passage of the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, the Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act of 2004, and the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. 

Rodriguez also served as President and CEO of Teach Plus, a national nonprofit organization that elevates the leadership and voices of exceptional teachers in schools and in policymaking.  He is currently a Doris Duke Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.  Rodriguez holds degrees from Harvard University and the University of Michigan.