Cynthia Buiza
Executive Director
California Immigrant Policy Center
LinkedIn | Twitter @calimmigrant
Cynthia Buiza is the Executive Director of the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) where she provides the vision for the mission of California’s leading immigrant rights organization. Cynthia has over two decades of experience in nonprofit management and human rights advocacy. She worked on international refugee, migration, human rights and civil rights issues in Southeast Asia before working with ACLU as Policy Director for its San Diego regional affiliate. She was also formerly Policy and Advocacy Director at CHIRLA in Los Angeles. More recently, she worked as a consultant with various immigrant rights and civil rights institutions in California and the United States. Before moving to the U.S. , she worked with various international organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Open Society Institute-Burma Education Project in Thailand, and the Jesuit Refugee Service.
Cynthia earned a Masters in International Affairs from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, with a concentration on human security studies. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work from the Philippines, and Certificates from Oxford University, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She currently serves as State Commissioner with the Milton Marks Little Hoover Commission for State Government Organization and the Economy, and is on the Board of Directors of the Pilipino Worker’s Center and Health Access California.
