Cecilia Muñoz, immigration policy expert and former director of the Domestic Policy Council in the Obama White House, will deliver a public talk, “Governing for Hope and Change: Some Lessons.”

The daughter of immigrants from Bolivia, Muñoz spent eight years as the top-ranking Latina in the White House. She served as assistant to the president and director of the Domestic Policy Council (DPC), which coordinates the domestic policymaking process in the White House, for five years. She joined President Obama’s White House staff in January 2009 as director of intergovernmental affairs and became the DPC director in January 2012. She advised President Obama on policies such as the Affordable Care Act and worked closely with the late Senator Ted Kennedy on pushing immigration reform within Congress.

Prior to her work in government, Muñoz served for 20 years at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation’s largest Hispanic policy and advocacy organization. At NCLR, she served as senior vice president for the Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation, overseeing policy analysis and advocacy work on a range of issues including economic mobility, housing, employment, civil rights, health and farmworker issues.

Muñoz received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2000 for her work on immigration and civil rights and has served on the boards of the National Immigration Forum, the Open Society Institute and the Atlantic Philanthropies.