Our Team

Carlos N. Medina

Senior Consultant and Senior Executive Coach
Carlos.Medina@academicsearch.org

Dr. Carlos N. Medina is the former Vice Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer of the State University of New York (SUNY). Where he served as the founding Chief Diversity Officer at SUNY, the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the nation. Medina led SUNY’s efforts in promoting and advancing the University’s diversity goals and ensuring that they were properly captured within all university policies and procedures. He provided leadership and strategic direction to SUNY campuses in connection with the recruitment and retention of faculty, staff, and administrators who come from groups within our society that are underrepresented in higher education and in SUNY. As co-chair of the SUNY-wide Diversity Task Force he helped lead the charge of identifying new ways in which the System’s diversity can be increased to better reflect and be aligned with that of New York State. As a senior member of the Chancellor’s cabinet he assisted with strategic planning efforts leading to implementation of SUNY-wide policies and initiatives. Dr. Medina also served as regional representative to the Commission on Access, Diversity and Excellence of the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities (APLU); as a Board Member for the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE); and as the SUNY System representative in the joint effort of the National Association of System Heads (NASH) and the Education Trust in the Access to Success Initiative (A2S).

As a result of Medina’s leadership, SUNY has received the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award each year since its inception in 2012 and thru 2018 from Insight into Diversity Magazine, one of the oldest diversity publications to cover higher education nationally. Recently, he was named as a recipient of the 2016 Public Service Award by the Suffolk County, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, he received the NYS Assembly Citation for Community Service, as well as receiving the 2014 Diversity Visionary Award also given by Insight into Diversity Magazine, in recognition of his outstanding contributions in diversity and inclusion in higher education.

He has more than 30 years of progressive responsibility in state government and higher education with proven experience in leadership, management, and staff development. He earned his BSE from SUNY Cortland, his MPS from Cornell University, and his Doctorate in Education from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY. He is a member of Kappa Delta Pi.