HETS Bylaws, as amended on 2012, dedicate its Article III to the HETS Board of Directors. On this article establishes that the affairs of the Consortium shall be managed by the Board of Directors. Each member institution may have a representative in the Board of Directors. The Executive Committee, which leads the Board of Directors, is elected by Board representatives from member institutions. The term of service is two years, commencing July 1st and ending on June 30th, or until his or her successor has been elected or designated. Meet current HETS Executive Committee as elected in June 2026:
HETS Chair
Ing. Gladys Nieves
President
EDP University (Puerto Rico)
Eng. Gladys Nieves Vázquez, coursed her undergraduate studies at Syracuse
University and the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus where he was
awarded the degree of Bachelor of Industrial Engineering. Besides her
Engineering degree, she has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from
the Rio Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico. As a young
entrepreneur, she began to apply the acquired knowledge in Total Quality
Management, a key experience grown during her work as an engineer at Johnson
& Johnson’s plant.
In 1997, she assumed the presidency of EDP College at age 27, after the
death of his father, becoming the youngest national president of a university.
In 2009 she announced with her mother Gladys Vazquez conversion of the
university to a nonprofit entity. Among her accomplishments as president, she
had the urge to accredit the institution by Middle States and change it in 2013
from college to university, re-naming the institution to EDP University of
Puerto Rico. For eight years she represented the Institute of Industrial
Engineers in the Disciplinary Tribunal of the College of Engineering.
Today Nieves is the Second Vice-President of the Association of Private
Education of Puerto Rico; Secretary of the HETS Consortium; member of the
Puerto Rico’s Universia Board of Directors, and the Board of Directors
of the Association of Private Education of Puerto Rico.
Vice Chair
Dr. Milton Santiago, Interim President
New York City College of Technology (CUNY)
Dr. Milton Santiago has more than 30 years of experience in senior leadership roles across CUNY and beyond. From August 2023 to July 2025, he served as Interim President of Bronx Community College (BCC), where he championed a student-centered approach to college governance. During his tenure, he supported the creation of top-quality, career-connected educational programs that prepared students for life after college. He also overhauled the college’s technological infrastructure, resulting in greater connectivity and speed.
At CUNY’s Lehman College, Dr. Santiago served as Director of External and Government Relations and Interim Vice President and oversaw the School of Continuing and Professional Studies. In the role, he secured New York City Council funding to establish the Bronx Business Tech Incubator. At CUNY’s College of Staten Island, he served as Vice President of Finance and Administration.
Throughout his career, Dr. Santiago has championed the success of students foremost. He has also supported economic development opportunities, having served as a board member of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce and the Bronx Initiative Corporation (BIC). He holds a B.A. from Binghamton University, an MSW from New York University and an Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts-Boston.
Secretary
Dr. Mary Jo Parker, Executive Director, Scholars Academy
University of Houston Downtown
After three decades in public education, private higher education called on Parker with an appointment to Rice University where she was appointed Associate Director for Online K-5 Elementary Science Curriculum with the focal area being teacher quality training and curriculum development. The entry into higher education paved a path for entry into public higher education by joining University of Houston-Downtown as Executive Director of the Scholars Academy, a competitive STEM student support program within the College of Sciences & Technology. Fifteen years later, the organization remains vibrant and Dr. Parker continues to develop grant proposals (foundation, state and national level) in support of STEM undergraduates to an amazing $9.5 million.
Mary Jo Parker, Ed.D., earned her bachelor and Master degrees from Sam Houston State University. During this time, she worked as a public secondary teacher, a curriculum coordinator for a large public ISD (Conroe ISD), and later was tapped to become the Headmaster of the second magnet school within the ISD. She earned her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with a Technology cognate from Baylor University, Waco, Texas.
Treasurer
Dr. Olga E. Rivera Velazco
President
President and Chief Executive Officer of the ICPR Junior College
Since 2005, Olga E. Rivera Velazco is the President and Chief Executive
Officer of the ICPR Junior College (ICPR). She holds a Doctorate in Business
Administration from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, a Master
in Business Administration in Management from the University of Phoenix and a
Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from the
Sacred Heart University. Olga has over thirty years of experience in the
administration of post-secondary university institutions.
She has been recognized with the EXCEL Award from the Association of Public
Relations Professionals of Puerto Rico and with the Francisco (Paco) Oller
Award, the most prestigious award granted by this association. She was also
recognized as Service Sector Representative of the Year by the Puerto Rico
Manufacturers Association. In 2004, the Caribbean Business newspaper recognized
her as one of the Powerful Business Women of Puerto Rico and in
2009, as one of the People to Watch.
Currently, she is the President of the Board of Commissioners of the
Accrediting Commission of Educational Institutions (CADIE), Inc. She served as
President of the Board of Directors of the Sales and Marketing Executives
Association of Puerto Rico from 2009 to 2010 and of the Caribbean Girl Scouts
Council from 2012 to 2016.
International Representative
Dr. Maritza Rondón Rangel
Chancellor
Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia
Maritza Rondón Rangel, who served as Director of Quality for Higher Education of the Ministry of National Education (2007 – 2008), Vice Minister in charge and who was linked to the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, since 2012, as Academic Vice-rector, became Nationwide Chancellor of the Institution since 2015. The University Assembly appointed the Academician to continue with the institution’s consolidation process, whose immediate challenges this year are: to accredit more than 20 undergraduate programs with high quality and to inaugurate modern infrastructure works in the Bucaramanga headquarters, Santa Marta, Espinal and Medellín. Rondón continued to lead the Strategic Plan “Navigating Together” that sets goals for 2022 and whose basic objective is to make the Cooperative University of Colombia a world-class institution. Rondón Rangel, is at the head of the institution that today has 18 branches, 52 thousand students, 4,500 professors and more than 220 programs with qualified registration.
Western Regional Representative
Dr. Britt Rios-Ellis, President
California State university, Stanislaus
Britt Rios-Ellis was appointed president of California State University, Stanislaus in July 2024. Rios-Ellis previously served as provost and executive vice president of Academic Affairs at Oakland University (OU), a public research university in Rochester, Michigan. Her appointment marked a return to the CSU system for Rios-Ellis. Prior to joining OU, she served as founding dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at California State University, Monterey Bay (2014 to 2020), where she led fundraising and strategic planning efforts and co-founded the Master of Science Physician Assistant Program—the first of its kind in the CSU.
From 1994 to 2014, Rios-Ellis served as a faculty member in the Department of Health Science at California State University, Long Beach. During that time, she also served as founding director of CSULB’s Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation, and Leadership Training (2005 to 2015) in alliance with UnidosUS, where she worked to promote and advocate for the health, culture and well-being of diverse communities. She was recognized with a CSULB Outstanding Professor Award in 2013 for her significant impact on Latinx health research and education, and was named Woman of the Year by the National Hispanic Business Women’s Association in 2010 and the Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in 2009.