Carl Zaragoza

Carl Zaragoza is working to eradicate the injustice of educational inequity by inspiring, developing, and supporting a national network of anti-racist civic leaders. He is the founding Board President and a mentor at School Board Partners. Professionally, Zaragoza serves on the executive leadership team of Leadership for Educational Equity and is head of its elected leadership program. Previously, he contributed at Stand for Children and led the Arizona affiliate’s efforts to increase educator and school quality. Zaragoza was publicly elected twice to the Creighton School District Governing Board and served two terms as President. Zaragoza began his career in public education as an eighth-grade social studies teacher in central Phoenix. Throughout his career, Zaragoza directly mentored and coached individuals as well as built and led teams to recruit, coach, and support hundreds of educators and parents to engage in the political process and drive impact. Zaragoza is a United States Army veteran, a Teach For America alumnus, and five-time 140.6-mile Ironman triathlete. He earned an MBA from W.P. Carey School of Business and a BA in political science at Arizona State University. Zaragoza currently lives in Phoenix with his family and two rescue dogs. He is a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow, a Flinn-Brown Fellow at the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership, and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.