José A. Gómez

José A. Gómez is executive vice president and provost at California State University, Los Angeles, ranked number one in the nation for the upward mobility of its students. At Cal State LA he has been instrumental in President William A. Covino’s strategic effort to enhance student success, elevate fundraising to historic highs, craft innovative partnerships with government and industry, and deepen engagement with the city of Los Angeles.

In the past four years, Gómez has guided philanthropic, facilities, and research initiatives that have raised more than $50 million in external funding, including the largest private gift in the University’s history ($10 million). His major accomplishments at Cal State LA include launching Cal State LA BioSpace, a biosciences startup incubator on campus, and securing funding from Los Angeles County and the U.S. Economic Development Administration to support the initiative. He developed and negotiated the recently approved public-private partnership with the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC), the newest Major League Soccer team in Los Angeles, to locate and invest more than $30 million to renovate Cal State LA’s stadium field and construct a new state-of-the-art professional soccer training and operations facility on campus. He also directed a comprehensive rebranding of the University, raising Cal State LA’s profile as graduation rates and enrollment have climbed. His leadership was central to the creation of Cal State LA’s new downtown campus, the establishment of California’s first bachelor’s degree program taught in prisons, and the acquisition and financing for the University’s state-of-the-art Television, Film and Media Studies Center.

Prior to joining Cal State LA in 2009, he held senior positions in the California Legislature, Department of Justice, and State Treasurer’s Office, including serving as the chief higher education advisor to the president of the California State Senate and executive director of the California Educational Facilities Authority (CEFA), the state’s higher education facilities financing and student loan agency.

Gómez holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) and master’s degrees in political science and public administration, as well as a Ph.D. in political science, from the University of Southern California (USC). Gómez chairs the Cal State LA BioSpace life sciences incubator and the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State LA. He also serves on the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) Board of Governors and Executive Committee, the Board of Directors of the Western Justice Center Foundation, and the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles.