President & CEO

Raul Cardenas, Jr., PhD

Dr. Raul Cardenas, Jr, was born in El Paso, Texas.  He joined the Mullen family in May 2019 assuming the role of President & Chief Executive Officer. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Pepperdine University, his Masters from Northern Arizona State, and his PhD from Arizona State University (ASU).

Dr. Cardenas comes from a family of educators and learned very early the value of listening.  That early experience led him to higher education. Along the way, he started two charter high schools in Arizona for high-risk groups, so that those students would be on track to college. Since that experience 15 years ago, Cardenas has continued working to get young people into education pipelines. “In our society, we need to make sure people have opportunities to fulfill their dreams,” Cardenas says. “I want to positively impact every student.”

Prior to his current position, he worked as the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs for the University of Colorado, Denver. During his long tenure at both CU Denver and the University of Northern Colorado, he has become aware that Colorado has some of the lowest rates in the country for students going to college. It is this statistic that has motivated his work.
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