José A. Cabrales

José A. Cabrales is the vice president and chief operating officer at AASCU, where he oversees the operations of the office of the president, human resources, research, and membership services. He also serves as the secretary for the AASCU board of directors. In addition to his current role, Cabrales has previously overseen AASCU Consulting and served as the senior director of student success programs and operations, where he provided strategic vision, leadership, and support for developing and building a plan to launch a student success strategy.

Before joining AASCU, Cabrales was a senior associate for higher education practice at The Education Trust and a program manager for community engagement at Excelencia in Education. He brings 20 years of professional experience in higher education, nonprofit, advocacy, and association management.

As a first-generation college student and a native of Watsonville, California, Cabrales earned a doctorate from Iowa State University in educational leadership and policy studies, a master’s degree from Michigan State University in student affairs administration, and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Santa Clara University.