Gina Rodriguez U.S. DOL- Women’s Bureau, Midwest Regional Administrator
Gina Rodriguez is the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau’s Midwest Office covering Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. She is laser focused on issues impacting working women across 11 Midwest states, Tribal communities, and Puerto Rico. She was previously the Director of Latino & AAPI affairs at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of the Secretary in Washington D.C., spearheading national outreach efforts during the inception of the Affordable Care Act.
As Director of Latino, AAPI Affairs and special needs populations at HHS Office of the Secretary’s Intergovernmental and External Affairs in DC. She served as a direct liaison to White House Office of Public Engagement and the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC) and White House Cabinet Affairs on health-related issues impacting Latinos, the AAPI community, elderly, disabled and mental health stakeholder groups. She was also leading Congressional Affairs and Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development where she staffed HUD Deputy Secretaries traveling to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands interfacing with Governors, key stakeholders, and Spanish-language media in light of a historic $20 billion investment following Hurricane Maria. Following a highly competitive process, Gina was selected to be part of the inaugural cohort of the HUD Synergy Innovation Fellowship.
Gina also served as Acting Executive Director for the Chicago Federal Executive Board, working collaboratively across all federal agencies in Chicago, representing more than 50,000 Federal employees in the Chicago metropolitan area. The Federal government is the largest employer in Chicago.
Prior to her federal service, she co-authored a publication, “From Data to Social Action: A Case Study of Community-University Partnership for Environmental Justice,” during her time with the Midwest Latino Health Research, Training, and Policy Center at the University of Illinois-Jane Addams College of Social Work, published in the American Journal of Public Health. In 1998 it was included as a case study in several college courses including the University of Michigan and UNC Chapel Hill Public Health Curriculum. She also served as a Research Intern at the Midwest Northeast Voter Registration Education Project now known as the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute.
Gina attained her Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and MBAs in International Business and Finance from the Dominican University. She is an active member of the White House Initiative on Asian American Pacific Islanders’ (WHIAAPI) Regional Network. She is the current President of the National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives-Chicago Chapter and serves on the Board of the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Government Relations Council and Chicago Federal Executive Board.