Valeria Cavazos is the director of human resources for the Carnegie Foundation. She directs the planning, evaluation, and administration of the Foundation’s human resource policies, procedures, and benefit programs to ensure they are proactive, efficient, compliant, and exemplary of Carnegie’s values and organizational culture.

Before joining the Foundation in 2015, Valeria managed human resources for Creative Commons, an international non profit that equips creators with technical, legal, and policy solutions to enable sharing of knowledge and culture in the public interest. She helped the organization streamline onboarding and performance management processes, restructure and simplify employee policies and procedures, put practices in place to ensure full legal compliance with national and international employment legislation, and transition to a fully remote organization operating worldwide.

Prior to Creative Commons, Valeria served with other non profits championing fair housing, workers rights, get-out-the-vote efforts, and equal access to reproductive health and public services. She also taught English as a Foreign Language for three years in South Korea’s most underserved public schools.

A native of the Sunshine State, Valeria holds a bachelor’s from the University of Florida, where she double-majored in political science and women’s studies. She’s passionate about animal rights, vegan cooking, and oreo cookies.