Alejandra Castillo

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Ms. Alejandra Castillo has recently been appointed to serve as National Deputy Director of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA).  In this role, Ms. Castillo will serve as the principal advisor to the MBDA National Director and will assist in managing the day-to-day activities of the Agency.  Prior to her appointment with MBDA, Ms. Castillo served as Special Advisor to the Under Secretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) where she was responsible for business outreach and development of policy initiatives geared at trade promotion and enforcement of U.S. trade laws.  Ms. Castillo’s experience will be valuable to MBDA as she will play an integral role in developing and implementing MBDA’s Global Export Initiative for the minority business community as part of President Obama’s National Export Initiative.

A practicing attorney for several years, Ms. Castillo has worked in the private, government and non-profit sectors.  Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Ms. Castillo served as the Interim Executive Director of the Hispanic National Bar Association headquartered in Washington D.C.  During her tenure at HNBA, she was instrumental in working with the White House, along with non-profit organizations, such as the Latinos for a Fair Judiciary, in support of the nomination and confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Ms. Castillo served in the Clinton Administration as a Senior Policy Analyst to the Deputy Director at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.  She was responsible for developing and analyzing White House initiatives on drug control policies in areas of drug trafficking interdiction, anti-money laundering, as well as drug prevention and treatment programs. Before joining the White House, Ms. Castillo served as key staff for the Democratic National Committee Chairman, Don Fowler, and then as Deputy Director for Special Projects for the Clinton Gore Re-election campaign. 

A native of New York, Ms. Castillo holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in economics and political science. Ms. Castillo holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin and has a Juris Doctor degree from American University -Washington College of Law.

Ms. Castillo is active in a number of civic and professional organizations, including: The Hispanic National Bar Association, the Hispanic Bar Association of DC, and the American Bar Association; and she is  a Board Member of the Dominican American Society of Queens, NY.  Since 1992 she has worked on several presidential campaigns, including the 2008 campaign when she served as a member of the DNC’s Hispanic Leadership Council and the Obama Latin America Foreign Policy Group, and worked as a Voter Protection Attorney in Broward County, FL.

In 2010, Hispanic Business Magazine recognized Ms. Castillo among the Top 100 Influential Latinos in the U.S.; and she received the 2010 Rising Star Award from  the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia.

Ms. Castillo, a native Spanish and English speaker, is also fluent in Portuguese.  She has appeared as a commentator or guest on Univision, Telemundo, HITN and CNN-Spanish, as well as Spanish language radio programs.

Request National Deputy Director Castillo to speak at your event.

National Deputy Director Alejandra Castillo Official Photo (High Resolution)

National Deputy Director Alejandra Castillo Official Biography (PDF)