Lande Ajose

Strategic Advisor

Lande Ajose directs California Competes, a project of The Opportunity Institute where she serves as Senior Vice President of the Postsecondary & Transitions to Work Division. An expert in employment and higher education policy, Lande advocates for bold yet pragmatic policy improvements that equitably boost California’s postsecondary degree attainment.

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She has spent her career addressing systemic poverty through her work in philanthropy, consulting, research and public policy. With a deep commitment to the nonprofit sector, her current board service includes the Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), REDF, Equal Measure, the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) and St. Paul’s Episcopal School. She also serves on the Advisory Committee for the Higher Education Policy Center at the Public Policy Institute of California. In November 2014 Governor Jerry Brown appointed her to the California Student Aid Commission where she is Vice Chair.

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Lande holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.A. from UCLA, and an A.B. from Occidental College.