Tony Salazar is the first vice president for outreach and engagement at the University of Colorado. Salazar is responsible for leading initial outreach and continued engagement efforts that strategically build and sustain relationships with key constituents in communities across Colorado and beyond.

Salazar is an experienced nonprofit and for-profit C-suite executive. He served as the chief affiliate officer for the National Education Association (NEA) Member Benefits Corp., an affinity marketing company based in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Salazar also served as the executive director of the Colorado Education Association (CEA), the state’s largest labor union with over 38,000 members at the time.

Salazar began his career as a policy analyst at Colorado Legislative Council, a nonpartisan support office for the Colorado state legislature. Later, Salazar served as an education lobbyist for CEA, where he also managed successful ballot issue and candidate campaigns.

Salazar is the immediate past board chairman of the Latin American Educational Foundation (LEAF), a 75-year-old, Colorado’s oldest Latino-serving scholarship organization. He is also the immediate past board chair for the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Salazar serves on the board of directors for the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce, and on the board of advisors for the CU Denver Business School. Before taking his role at CU, Salazar was on the University of Northern Colorado’s Board of Trustees for two terms as a gubernatorial appointee. In recognition of his work in the community, Salazar received the Latino Leadership Institute’s (LLI) 2023 Influence Award, which recognizes individuals who serve in an elevated leadership role in their organization or community and who have leveraged their power, influence, resources, platform, and connections to drive meaningful change.

Salazar is a northwest Denver native and fifth-generation Coloradan. He received a full scholarship to attend the University of Denver, as a first-generation college student, where he graduated with honors. Salazar is also a 2018 graduate of the LLI Fellowship and a 2021 graduate of Leadership Denver.