Ms. Janet Napolitano

President, University of California

Janet Napolitano is the 20th President of the University of California, and the first woman to serve in this role. She leads a university system of 10 campuses, five medical centers, three affiliated national laboratories, and a statewide agriculture and natural resources program. The UC system has more than 273,000 students, 223,000 faculty and staff, an operating budget of $36.5 billion, and two million living alumni. She is a distinguished public servant, and is the former U.S. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and was a two-term governor of Arizona.

The University of British Columbia is grateful to Janet Napolitano for her visionary leadership in the field of higher education. As president of the University of California since 2013, she has been a tireless advocate for access to higher education, for environmental responsibility and climate change awareness and for the importance of higher education.