Lisa R. Ramirez

Director, USDA, Office of the Secretary, Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement

Dr. Lisa R. Ramírez currently serves as the Director of the Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement (OPPE) at the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC. Dr. Ramírez recently served as the Chief Innovation Officer for Lubbock ISD. She relocated to Lubbock in 2019 from Washington, DC where she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Programs in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education. In this role, she oversaw a broad range of management, policy, and program functions.

Dr. Ramírez also served as the Director of the Office of Migrant Education and the Director for the Office of School Support and Rural Programs in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE). Dr. Ramírez joined the U.S. Department of Education in 2006, when she was appointed Group Leader for the discretionary grants team, which plans and coordinates the High School Equivalency Program (HEP), College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), and the then active Migrant Education Even Start (MEES) program. After only one and a half years in her new role, she was promoted to Director of the Office of Migrant Education, where she led the planning and coordination of all aspects of the various programs, including grant and contract administration, policy, evaluation, and special initiatives. In 2015, she added the Office of School Support and Rural Programs to her portfolio. Even with dwindling resources, Dr. Ramírez has continued to inspire the staff in such a way that they have developed their own leadership skills and have become motivated to produce consistently higher and more effective results. In 2011, she authored , Dulcified: Sweetened by the Education of Life , for which she received the International Latino Book Award. Dr. Ramírez continues to serve as speaker, consultant, and executive coach. Her primary focus in her private business is to promote leadership and empowering individuals through the convergence of values, cultural responsiveness, education, resiliency, spirituality and service to others. She will also be featured in the upcoming short film, “Told They Can’t “. The film is Narrated by, Xolo Maridueña (star in Cobra Kai, Netflix) . "Told They Can't" is the compelling story of high profile professionals of color from families and backgrounds society doesn't consider ideal. Their parents (if they had family support) didn’t have access to an education, most worked for low pay and had little or no hope for advancement in life.

The daughter of migrant workers and a former migrant worker herself, Dr. Ramírez left the fields to serve in the United States Army Reserves. She financed portions of her college education through the GI Bill and began her career as an educator in 1992, first as a middle and high school teacher in English and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in Texas, then serving as Assistant Principal and Principal. In 2004, Dr. Ramírez took on the challenge of opening the Lubbock Independent School District’s first charter campus, the Ramírez Charter School. Dr. Lisa R. Ramírez brings a unique combination of personal and professional experiences to help improve the academic success of students across the country. A dynamic, change agent at heart, Dr. Ramírez has had a powerful impact on the various staffs and offices where she has worked.

Dr. Ramírez received her B.A., M.Ed., and Ed.D. degrees from Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, Texas. A life-long learner, she is an alumna of the Executive Leadership program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the National Hispana Leadership Institute. She is also a Pahara-Aspen Institute Fellow. Dr. Ramírez enjoys hiking, reading, traveling, and world cinema.