Cesar Maldonado

In May of 2014, Dr. Cesar Maldonado joined Houston Community College as Chancellor of the six-college system. Under his tenure, HCC has restructured to focus on student success resulting in an increase of graduates by more than 12 percent per year. Under Dr. Maldonado’s leadership, HCC has expanded to 19 campuses and facilities, and created 14 new Centers of Excellence.

As part of a $425 million Capital Improvement Program, 14 new projects are underway or completed.

As Chancellor, Dr. Maldonado has created academic partnerships that ensure students can seamlessly transition to specified four-year university programs at Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at Tyler, Stephen F. Austin and others.He has also fostered partnerships with private industries that created additional pathways for students eager to enter the workforce after obtaining their associates degree or certificate. Apple chose HCC to be one of six community colleges in the nation to offer its Swift Curriculum, which led to the establishment of the iOS Coding and Design School. Dr. Maldonado’s business acumen led the Houston Business Journal C-Suite Awards Committee to name him as a finalist for the 2017 nonprofit CEO of the year.

With Dr. Maldonado at the helm, HCC has been nationally recognized as the #1 college for international students, #1 for granting associate degrees to minorities, #2 in granting associate degrees in all disciplines, #2 for granting degrees to African American students, #3 for granting degrees to Hispanics, and #4 for granting degrees to Asian Americans.

Dr. Maldonado began his career in 1976 as a process engineer for Celanese Chemical Corporation, where he designed the company's first digital control system used for real-time process optimization. In 1980, he accepted a position as Vice President of Information Systems with Tex-Steel Corporation and became President and Chief Executive Officer within 10 years. Through acquisitions, organic growth, and the addition of software development divisions, Dr. Maldonado led the company to international prominence. He ultimately navigated Tex-Steel through a successful acquisition into a larger publicly held enterprise. Dr. Maldonado then joined ASSA ABLOY as Division Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, and led joint venture technical groups in the development of new business lines and in the support of custom engineered products. Subsequently, he became an executive in two successful engineering firms and, in 2008, was named President of Texas State Technical College in Harlingen, Texas. In 2011, he was named Vice Chancellor for Institutional Effectiveness and Commercialization for the TSTC System, while remaining President at TSTC Harlingen.

In addition to his demonstrated business experience, Dr. Maldonado has led legislative efforts to create high school/college dual enrollment opportunities in Texas and served for over a decade as a board member (twice as president) of the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District. He served as the interim Chairman of the Border Governors Conference on Science and Technology, where he worked to foster bi-national research and technology exchange with scientists across the U.S. and Mexico border. Dr. Maldonado was also appointed by the governor to serve as a Regent of the Texas State Technical College System.

In 2014, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the non-profit Houston Technology Center, the largest technology incubator and accelerator in Texas, and to the Texas Tech University Industrial Engineer Academy. In 2017, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board appointed Dr. Maldonado to its Community and Technical College Formula Advisory Committee. His business experience encompasses strategic planning, project management, infrastructure design, industrial systems and software design. He is also a member of the Greater Houston Partnership Board of Directors and was elected as a director of the Quality Texas Foundation.

Dr. Maldonado holds Bachelor and Masters of Science degrees in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University, a Doctorate in Systems and Engineering Management from Texas Tech University, and is an alumnus of the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.