Cabrera to leave Georgia Tech in the fall
Angel Cabrera
By Ty Tagami
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Georgia Tech is losing Ángel Cabrera, who shepherded the campus through a pandemic and into an era of feverish growth as the institute’s 12th president.
Cabrera will leave for the Aspen Institute at the end of October, after the global nonprofit’s board of trustees voted unanimously to hire him as their next president and CEO, the organization said in a statement Monday.
Cabrera, appointed to lead Tech in 2019, oversaw record growth in enrollment and funding, as well as development on the Atlanta campus.
Cabrera brought “energy, warmth, and engagement” to campus, Chancellor Sonny Perdue said in a statement.
“That personal touch has made a profound difference,” Perdue said.
During Cabrera’s tenure, Tech enrolled more in-state undergraduates than ever while raising graduation rates and pushing total enrollment to the highest in the state, Perdue said.
Enrollment grew 55% to more than 56,000.
Annual sponsored research awards surpassed $1.4 billion, boosting Tech to No. 1 nationally in research expenditures among universities without a medical school and No. 2 in federal research funding, according to Tech.
The institute also advanced the development of three “innovation” districts under his watch, called Tech Square, Science Square and Creative Quarter.
Cabrera was the first native of Spain to lead an American university.
After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer and electrical engineering from Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Cabrera attended Tech as a Fulbright scholar, earning an M.S. and Ph.D. in psychology and cognitive science.
Before leading Tech, he served as dean of the IE Business School in Madrid and then as president of the Thunderbird School of Global Management, now part of Arizona State University.
He will succeed Dan Porterfield at the Aspen Institute after Porterfield leaves to become CEO of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.
Cabrera will lead the Aspen Institute amid a major fundraising push. The nonpartisan organization, founded in 1949 to convene leaders and address societal challenges, said it had raised $340 million toward a $450 million campaign.
Cabrera will remain at Tech until he starts his new job Nov. 1.
Tech had no immediate word on a succession plan for its campus of more than 5,700 faculty and staff.
