Cecilia grew up in Lynn and is a proud graduate of Lynn Classical High School. She is also a past recipient of the Lynn Hispanic Scholarship Fund.
Cecilia earned a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Boston College, and she was a National Urban Fellow.
Since 2020, Cecilia Gutierrez has served as a Managing Director at Blue Meridian Partners, a philanthropic organization that seeks to transform the life trajectories of young people and families in poverty.
Prior to BMP, Cecilia served as the Deputy Director of My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (MBKA), Obama Foundation. She co-led the development and launch of the MBK Framework to Affect Systems Change, a foundational standard of excellence outlining a set of principles, indicators, and processes to accelerate progress on complex social conditions for boys and young men of color. By 2018, she certified and onboarded 180 cities, towns, and tribal nations across the country as part of the MBK Network. She also orchestrated a 50-member team in planning and executing MBK Rising! Prior to this, Cecilia spent five years as President and CEO of the Miami Children’s Initiative, a place-based cradle to career strategy in the community of Liberty City in Miami, FL.
She previously held roles with National Academic Educational Partners, a turnaround company, as Acting COO and Strategic Consultant, and served as Executive Director of Breakthrough Miami, an academic enrichment program that uses a student-teaching-students model to ensure that motivated, under-resourced middle-school students have access to excellent high-school opportunities, graduate from high school on time, and attend college.
Cecilia, you are a true inspiration and we are delighted to have you back.