Lucia Ortega Villasana
Executive Director

 

University of California Berkeley
366 Le Conte Hall, Room 341
Berkeley, CA 94720
Phone: 510.326.0239
lovillasana@berkeley.edu

 

Lucia Ortega Villasana was appointed as the Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics in May 2009.  Since her appointment, she has worked with BCCP’s Founder and Director, George Smoot,  and members of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s leadership team in the operational and fundraising plan for the BCCP.  Her most recent activities have included the development of BCCP’s brand and message, coordination with key BCCP leadership (LBNL and UCB) on its mission, goals and activities and coordination with Dr. Rollie Otto, on the development of BCCP’s educational, outreach and corporate engagement programs (BCCP GTA), positioning BCCP as a global center of science and education that draws the interest of investors and partners at the national and international level.


Developing international strategies with Professor Smoot and his center of research, Paris Center of Cosmological Physics, University Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris VI),  in Paris, France, together, they have successfully coordinated BCCP’s first international partnership and corporate award though the Symantec Corporation.  Mrs. Villasana has over 16 years of experience in developing and managing public and private sector partnerships with Fortune 100 corporate foundations, national and local private community foundations and federal agencies. As a senior, executive-level director,  she has extensive experience in a wide variety of industries and environments including governmental agencies, national non-profits and tier one institutions of higher education. Between 1995 and 2000, under the leadership of Dr. Ray Orbach, she served as the Director of UC Riverside’s “UECC Center for Public Service,” a nationally recognized, public service center of higher education that integrated faculty, graduate students and undergraduates in public service and service-learning opportunities throughout the City of Riverside, California. As the first Director of Resource Development for Student Affairs at UC Riverside, Ms. Villasana gained extensive experience in developing and promoting undergraduate programs for early preparation, retention and persistence benefiting vulnerable populations of undergraduate students.  In 2006, Ms. Villasana was appointed as the National Director of Corporation and Foundation Relations for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the largest Hispanic non-profit scholarship agency in the United States where she managed over $12M in donor portfolios and developed HSF’s  private, community foundation strategy plan. Additional successes involved her expertise in the formal application preparation and submission to the National Ad Council, where her contributions granted HSF a $20 Million dollar public service campaign award.  Thereafter she participated in the development of HSF’s Ad Council’s national campaign brand and message. Ms. Villasana’s awards include UC Riverside Woman of the Year 2005, City of Riverside – Latina of the Year 2005, UC Riverside – Staff Employee of the Year 2004.  Lucia is dedicated to philanthropy, public service, higher education, frontier science and diversity in science.  At the present time, she is a volunteer at the The Mexican Museum of San Francisco and The Chicana/Latina Foundation.  In her private time, she enjoys travel, Latina literature and novels, learning about Physics, learning French and spending time with her husband and family.