Born and raised in central Connecticut, Dr. Jorge Juan Rodríguez V is the son of two Puerto Rican migrants who came to the United States a year before he was born. He was raised in an affordable housing community just outside of Hartford by his mother, father, grandmother, and uncle.
Dr. Rodríguez began his tenure at the HSP as a social media intern in 2014 and continued to grow with the organization. Working closely with the Rev. Dr. Daisy L. Machado, Ph.D., and the Board, Dr. Rodríguez helped shape the organization’s infrastructure, brand, and reach.
Question: What are two projects you led at the HSP that you are most proud of?
JJRV: Becoming an American Council of Learned Societies Leading Edge Host Institution. In addition to expanding our capacity with the brilliant Dr. Breanna Escamilla, Assistant Director of Programming and ACLS Leading Edge Fellow, this grant was a recognition of HSP’s commitment to mentorship and social justice. Additionally, cultivating a partnership between the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving, Association for Hispanic Theological Education (AETH), and HSP to expand the impact of El Semillero: Executive Certificate on Religious Fundraising. This partnership allowed us to increase our average program participation by 200% while opening space for impactful place-based pedagogy around Latine religious fundraising.
Question: What are you looking forward to?
JJRV: I dream of a world where immigration status, income level, race, and gender are not impediments to housing, water, food, and culturally competent education. I believe that theological education has a unique role to play in building that world. I am looking forward to deepening the role of the HSP at the intersections of theological education, the nonprofit sector, and Latine faith communities, especially churches. I am most excited to weave a network of unlikely partners committed to reading the signs of the times, analyzing our current realities through insights from the global south, and accompanying faith communities in cultivating more just solutions—which is to say, doing theology ¡latinamente!\
Dr. Jorge Juan Rodríguez V begins his tenure as Executive Director on August 1, 2026.
