Archie Cubarrubia, EdD

Vice President of Grants Archie Cubarrubia, Ed.D., is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction, management and execution of ECMC Foundation’s grantmaking programs.

Before joining the Foundation, Archie served as deputy director for the postsecondary success and pathways teams at the Gates Foundation. In this role, he oversaw teams responsible for understanding how colleges and universities transform to improve their performance toward equitable student success and refining public goods and solutions that enable and accelerate transformation. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, Archie served as vice provost for institutional effectiveness at Miami Dade College, where he led the institution’s strategic planning, institutional research, policy analysis, assessment and evaluation, and quality assurance activities.

Archie also previously served at the U.S. Department of Education, leading the agency’s high-priority and high-profile activities related to postsecondary access, affordability and accountability under the Bush and Obama administrations. He oversaw the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative and directed research and development activities for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). He also served as the designated federal official for the federal advisory committee on Measures of Student Success under former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and as principal analyst for former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings’ Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

Archie earned his Doctor of Education in higher education administration from The George Washington University. He also earned a Master of Education in policy, planning and administration from Boston University, and he holds a Bachelor of Science in health studies.

Why are you working at ECMC Foundation and committed to working toward improving higher education for underserved learners?

I started my career in higher education as an undergraduate student leader more than two decades ago and haven’t stopped advocating for students since. ECMC Foundation’s North Star of eliminating completion gaps by 2040 is ambitious and will require everyone to work together to remove barriers for all students. It will be hard work, but our students are worth it.