Thelma Meléndez De Santa Ana

Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana joined the board in 2012. Dr. Meléndez most recently served as the State Administrator/Superintendent for the Inglewood Unified School District from August 2017 until her retirement in December of 2019. Before that, she was Chief Executive Officer, Office of Educational Services for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) beginning in 2014. Dr. Meléndez served as education advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Dr. Meléndez was Superintendent of schools for the Santa Ana Unified School District, the largest school district in Orange County. She worked at the U.S. Department of Education as the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education where she helped to develop the Blueprint for Reform and led the office as it administered grant funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. She earned a BA cum laude in sociology from UCLA, a Ph.D. from USC's Rossier School of Education, and an Honorary Doctorate from Pepperdine University's Graduate School of Education and Psychology. Dr. Meléndez's recognitions include an Alumni Merit Award from the USC Alumni Association (2012), the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation's 2011 National Hispanic Woman of the Year, American Association of School Administrators, California State Superintendent of the Year (2009), and Hispanic Business Magazine's 2010 Woman of the Year. She is married to Otto Santa Ana, a retired professor in the Department of Chicano Studies at UCLA.