Dr. Peter Rios

Why organisations work with Peter Rios

• He brings a published research base on Latinx leadership in higher education that few DEI advisers can match. Untold Stories (Wipf & Stock, with Juan F. Martinez) is one of the first academic studies of Latinx administrators in Christian higher education and gives his diagnosis weight no consultant deck can.
• He works in two doctoral disciplines, intercultural studies (Fuller) and strategic leadership (Regent), so his prescriptions sit inside organisational structure and incentives, not alongside them.
• He delivers in English and Spanish, useful for organisations with bilingual workforces or Latin American operations where translated DEI content typically loses its edge.
• His operator credibility is genuine. He held vice presidential roles at two universities and ran teams as a pastor for a decade before moving into consulting, so his sessions speak to leaders carrying P&L and people responsibility, not just HR.

Biography highlights

• Author of Untold Stories: The Latinx Leadership Experience in Higher Education (Wipf & Stock, 2022), co-written with Juan F. Martinez.
• Author of Maximize!: 12 Keys to Unlocking Your Greatest Potential.
• Lecturer in leadership at Penn State University; former adjunct at Colorado State University-Global Campus and Indiana Wesleyan University.
• PhD in Intercultural Studies, Fuller Graduate Schools; Doctorate in Strategic Leadership, Regent University School of Business and Leadership; doctoral coursework at USC Rossier School of Education; MA, Northeastern Seminary.
• Founder of Peter Rios Consulting, advising clients across business, government, higher education and faith-based institutions on leadership and inclusion.
• US Marine Corps veteran; bilingual in English and Spanish.

Biography

Most organisations describe inclusion as a value and treat it as a programme. The leaders who carry it inside the building, particularly Latinx leaders in white-dominated institutions, often experience something else: invisibility, code-switching, and a slow drain on the energy needed to do the job. Untold Stories: The Latinx Leadership Experience in Higher Education, written by Peter Rios with Juan F. Martinez and published by Wipf & Stock, was one of the first academic studies to document that gap inside Christian higher education.

Rios writes from inside the systems he studies. He served as vice president at two universities, taught at Penn State, Colorado State University-Global Campus and Indiana Wesleyan University, and built Peter Rios Consulting to advise organisations on leadership development, organisational change and DEI integration. Clients sit across business, government, higher education, non-profits and faith-based institutions.

His credentials sit in two disciplines on purpose. The PhD in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Graduate Schools gives him the language of identity, power and belonging. The Doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Regent University gives him the language of structure, decision-making and organisational design. That dual lens is what allows him to translate inclusion from values statement into management practice.

His second book, Maximize!: 12 Keys to Unlocking Your Greatest Potential, sits alongside the consulting work as a leadership development resource. He delivers in English and Spanish, draws on his US Marine Corps service and a decade in pastoral ministry, and is a frequent podcast guest on shows including Les Brown and Cafe con Pam.

Key speaking topics

• Inclusive and values-based leadership
• Latinx leadership and representation
• Leadership development and executive coaching
• Organisational change and culture
• Identity, power dynamics and belonging at work
• Generational diversity in the workplace
• Personal leadership and peak performance

Ideal for

• Heads of HR, CHROs and DEI leads in organisations where inclusion programmes are stalling at the leadership pipeline
• University presidents, provosts and trustees navigating Latinx student growth and faculty representation
• Bilingual or pan-American organisations seeking leadership development that works in English and Spanish
• Faith-based institutions and non-profits revisiting how leadership is identified and developed across cultural lines

Audience outcomes

• A clearer view of where inclusion language and leadership practice diverge inside their own organisation
• Specific moves leaders can make to retain and promote underrepresented talent rather than just hire it
• A framework drawn from Rios’s research and consulting for surfacing the lived experience of Latinx and other underrepresented leaders
• Personal leadership reflection grounded in the twelve principles of Maximize!