1. Angel Rivera is presently the Chief Diversity Officer in the Office of the President at Kingsborough Community
College where he enforces compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity laws and promotes diversity and
inclusion. In September of 2013, Rivera was the recipient of the National Diversity Council’s Multicultural
Leadership Award which was presented by former Secretary of State, Colin Powell. In August, 2015, he will
receive the Tri-State Diversity & Leadership Award and he will be a Multicultural Leadership Roundtable panelist.
Previously, Rivera was an Executive Director/Senior Consultant for the Latino International Film Institute and the
Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival where he worked with Edward James Olmos (Actor, Director,
Community Activist and Institute/Festival Co-founder) to achieve the goals and objectives of the Institute and
international film festival.
From 2002 to 2007, Rivera directed the Los Angeles and New York office staff of the Screen Actors Guild’s
Diversity Department as the Guild’s National Director of Affirmative Action and Diversity. SAG recorded the highest
annual percentage share of roles for minority performers on record in the five years that Mr. Rivera managed the
department. He dramatically increased the number of network/studio talent showcases, updated the Department’s
Diversity, Special Skills and Talent Bank to an online service, managed a stage script reading program with the
Writers Guild of America for women, expanded the SAG/FTRA cold-reading program for seniors, and partnered
with the Producers Guild of America to establish the first Producer’s Diversity Workshop. He initiated the Guild’s
first National Task Force on Spanish Language Media, National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Actors
Committee and President’s National Task Force for American Indians. Rivera also successfully secured grants
totaling over $450,000 which, among other things, instituted a nationally recognized diversity film screening and
panel series, commissioned the first of its kind study on performers with disabilities and organized a national
diversity summit. For all his accomplishments, Mr. Rivera was awarded the Pre-Oscar Luncheon Multicultural
Motion Picture Association’s “Innovative Entertainment Award” in 2007.
Mr. Rivera has 25 years of professional employment history in public service, non-profit organizations, educational
institutions and the private sector. After serving as a United States Senate Page in the US Capital, he attended
Fordham University where he graduated with a BA in Political Science and entered a Management Training
Program at the Consolidated Edison Company of New York, but decided to teach history at St. Agnes High School
after completing his Management Training Program. After teaching, Rivera joined a career-counseling center in
East Harlem to serve the local community. In 1986, Rivera answered the call to public service and joined the New
York City Mayor’s Office under Edward I. Koch as an Audit Analyst. Rivera began to serve Mayor David Dinkins,
after a change in administration, as a Labor/Management Facilitator and later as a Project Planner. In 1991, he
joined the faculty of the City University of New York to administer a grant to create a diversity initiative for the New
York City Police Department. At the conclusion of the grant, Mr. Rivera became a Program Director at the Edwin
Gould Foundation for Children’s Sponsor for Educational Opportunities (SEO) program which prepared inner-city
students for college and career opportunities. In 1995, he returned to government service as a Special Assistant to
the Fire Commissioner and Director of Employment Initiatives at the Fire Department of the City of New York
(FDNY) where he received the “Man of the Year” award by the FDNY Hispanic Society.
After a successful FDNY multimedia advertising recruitment campaign, Mr. Rivera entered the marketing
communication industry as Manager of Diversity for True North Communication Inc. When the global advertising,
public relations and marketing services holding company, Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG), acquired True
North, Rivera was promoted to Director of Corporate Global Diversity. He was responsible for collaborating with
senior management to develop new global inclusion management strategies and multicultural marketing programs
for IPG and its worldwide family of leading agency brands such as Foote, Cone & Belding Worldwide (now
DraftFCB), McCann Erickson Worldwide, Bozell (now Lowe Worldwide), TN Media (now Initiative), BSMG (now
Webber Shandwick), and New America Strategies Group (Now Global Hue), and their clients - JP Morgan Chase,
SC Johnson, US Postal Service, Chrysler, Coors, Verizon Wireless and Microsoft among others.
2. Page 2 Angel’s Bio
Rivera has been a frequent speaker around the country and he has organized numerous panels, workshops and
conferences. He has served and/or is a member of the Board of Directors/Advisors of the Frederick Douglas Creative
Arts Center, Latino International Film Institute/Los Angeles International Film Festival, Imagen Foundation/Awards,
Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration’s California Arts Advisory Council/, Nativity Mission Center and TORCH (for
NYC high school students interested in media). He is a member and/or has served as a member of the NAACP Image
Awards Nomination Committee, American Advertising Federation's Multicultural Business Practice Leadership Council,
National Association of Latino Art & Culture, National Organization of La Raza’s Blue Ribbon Panel for the ALMA
Awards, Women in Film, Film Independent, National Association of Latino Independent Producers and the Media Access
Award Commission, which promotes access for performers with disabilities. He has also served as Chairman of the
American Association of Advertising Agencies' Diversity Committee and Chairman of the Ad Club of New York's
Changing Face of Advertising Committee.
Mr. Rivera resides in New York, NY and has two children - Kaelin (20) who is a sophomore at the University of
Scranton and Sean (18) who is a freshman at Loyola University.
