Mary Ann Villanueva is Chief External Officer at Uncommon Schools, a network of public charter schools whose mission is to close the educational opportunity gap in underserved communities. She is a member of the Executive Team and oversees development, enrollment, external affairs, marketing and media.
In her prior role as Head of Brand Culture and Engagement at Citi, Villanueva focused on embedding the brand in colleague engagement, recruitment marketing, diversity, learning and development, and employee recognition initiatives. She pioneered an enterprise-wide CEO awards program, inviting colleagues around the world to submit innovative ideas with potential to scale and deliver impact. Villanueva partnered with UN Women and Citi’s Supply Chain Development team to publish a “Corporate Guide to Gender-Responsive Procurement.” Prior to that role, she led Citi’s brand experience practice covering product/service and business unit naming, brand strategy and architecture, governance, packaging and web design, and retail environments.
Villanueva is a member of the American Marketing Association’s Marketing Hall of Fame Academy and was part of the Women’s Leadership Board at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program and. She previously served as board chair for All In Together. Villanueva graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science, and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School with dual concentrations in Organizational Behavior and Finance.
