Fidel A. Vargas is president and CEO of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF), one of the nation’s leading nonprofit organizations. As such, he is accountable for championing HSF’s vision and mission, ensuring the delivery of world-class service to every individual who interacts with HSF, safeguarding the organization’s financial health and sustainability, and leading an unrivaled, high-performance team that delivers industry-leading operational excellence and impact. Founded in 1975, HSF empowers students and parents with the knowledge and resources to successfully complete a higher education while providing support services and scholarships to as many exceptional students, scholars, and alumni as possible. As one of the country’s leading nonprofit organizations, HSF provides a broad range of programs and support services to over 25,000 parents and students annually and has awarded over $726 million in scholarships since its inception.

Before joining HSF, Vargas was a founding partner of Centinela Capital Partners, an alternative asset management firm that invested nearly $1 billion in leading emerging private-equity and venture-capital funds. At the age of twenty-three, Vargas was elected the country’s youngest mayor of a major city, Baldwin Park, California, in Los Angeles County . Vargas has served on various public and private sector boards and commissions, including the Clinton administration’s Advisory Council on Social Security, the George W. Bush administration’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security, and Bush and Obama administrations’ Commission on Presidential Scholars. He currently serves on the board of directors of Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat; the Biden administration’s Commission on White House Fellowships; and the boards of the Charter School Growth Fund, the Latino Donor Collaborative, and the Latino Theatre Co. at The Los Angeles Theatre Center .

Vargas is an HSF alum and holds a master of business administration and a bachelor of arts in social studies from Harvard University.