Phyllis Barajas

President, Barajas & Associates

Phyllis Barajas is president of Barajas & Associates, a consulting firm that provides consulting on organizational and human resources development, strategic planning, and diversity, working across sectors to build organizational capacity.

From 1994 to 1999, Ms. Barajas served as a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education at the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Office of Bilingual Education. During this time, she traveled extensively, representing the department within the United States, as well as serving as lead reviewer of the Department of Defense educational system in Japan and Korea. Previously, she was assistant dean for human resources at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where she revamped the human resources and diversity agenda. After leaving Washington, she worked in Boston for Houghton Mifflin Publishing as its national director for human resources.

In 2005, Ms. Barajas founded Conexión, a nonprofit organization engaged in an emergent process of defining and nurturing visionary Latino leadership. Conexión strives to combine the best of what is known about mainstream leadership with the Latin sensibilities that enhance and enrich the organization’s work environments, its communities, and our country. At the core of the leadership program is the belief that the individual leadership traits and experiences of the participants and their mentors can strengthen all involved so that they can connect more effectively with the new demographic reality and its potential impact on the sustainability of the U.S. economy and quality of life.

In 2009, Boston Business Journal and Boston’s El Planeta recognized Ms. Barajas as one of the “20 on the Move,” an award given to Latino leaders making a difference in Greater Boston. That same year, the Boston chapter of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs singled out Conexión for special recognition for its focus on Latino leadership.

Ms. Barajas’s involvement with the Latino community began in Omaha, Nebraska where she was born and raised the daughter of Mexican immigrants who worked in the area’s meatpacking district. After coming to Boston and working with numerous community agencies in the early 1990s, she served as president of the board of La Alianza Hispana, providing leadership during a difficult time. From that time on, she has continued her involvement with the Latino community at all levels. She has become a connector in Boston and nationally to help its members gain access to and guidance in navigating mainstream society. She also takes every opportunity to, as her immigrant father would say, help “educate the people” (mainstream America) about the value in the growing Hispanic demographic.

Ms. Barajas is a founding member and current board member of Boston’s Latino Professional Network. She also serves on the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Board of Overseers. She is an evaluator for the Ford Foundation Innovations in Government awards program and serves as team leader of its education and workforce development group.

She holds a B.A. in education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a Master’s of education with a specialization in human resources education from Boston University.