Office of the President

Photo of New York City skyline showing the Freedom Tower.

Office of the President

Andrés Acebo

Interim President of New Jersey City University

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Phone:  201-200-3111 | Email: aacebo@njcu.edu

Acebo headshot

Andrés Acebo is a Hudson County native who grew up in Union City, N.J., and has maintained strong ties to the community. He is only the second Hispanic to serve as the leader of a four-year public institution in the state of New Jersey — following in the legacy of another NJCU leader, Dr. Carlos Hernandez, who led the institution as its 11th president from 1993-2012. Acebo is also the youngest known president to ever lead a public university in the State of New Jersey. 

Acebo was elevated to Executive Vice President and University Counsel in the midst of the announcement of the university’s current financial emergency on June 27, 2022. He also served as Secretary to the Board of Trustees and guided its government relations initiatives.

Since the announcement of the financial emergency, Acebo has demonstrated significant executive leadership. Facing a more than $20 million deficit, he collaborated with NJCU’s organized labor, stakeholders, and constituencies to reduce the deficit by more than 50 percent within 120 days, while leading with empathy and compassion about the mission of the university and those who serve it.

Acebo has worked diligently with NJCU’s other senior leaders, external stakeholders, and entities, including the bond rating agencies which has resulted in the removal of the University from the rating agency’s negative watch. His efforts with the senior leadership of NJCU’s academic affairs division has led to developing an academic rightsizing framework that honors collective bargaining rights and creates a pathway for reallocation of resources and an updated academic portfolio.

He also has worked with the Division of Academic Affairs to affirm NJCU’s Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) accreditation while working with Senator Menendez and our congressional delegation to identify significant future federal aid which will provide equitable access to high demand online nursing education.

Acebo, who recently completed a one-year fellowship program as part of the third annual cohort of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) Leadership Academy/La Academia de Liderazgo in Spring 2022, was one of just 25 fellows selected nationally.

He originally joined the university in February 2021 as a senior leader facilitating institutional planning, policy and program development and was responsible for facilitating effective decision-making and coordinating the execution of strategic initiatives, while providing close coordinative support to the President as an ongoing liaison for external governmental affairs issues. As Executive Vice President, he continued those critical contributions.

Acebo most recently served on the vetting and due diligence team for the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) and Alliance for Latinx Leadership and Policy (ALLP) partnership to identify U.S. Department of Justice presidential nominees for the Biden/Harris transition.

In his private practice, Acebo has counseled and represented governmental entities, higher education institutions and public school districts, and closely-held corporations. His practice focused primarily on employment and labor, education law, and government/public entity law.

Acebo has been recognized as a Rising Star by New Jersey Super Lawyers, a Top Latino Lawyer by Latino Leaders Magazine, a Top Lawyer under 40 by the Hispanic National Bar Association, and as a Diverse Attorney of the Year by the New Jersey Law Journal. In Fall 2022, he was recognized as a 2022 “Latinos 40 Under 40” award recipient by Negocios Now, in recognition of leadership by young Latinos in the New York metropolitan area. This fall, Acebo was also honored by the Boys Scouts of America-North Jersey Council with the 2022 Good Scout Award, in reflection of his service to his community.

He currently serves as a Deputy Regional President of the Hispanic National Bar Association and Chair of the Special Committee on Cuba. He serves on the board of the Cuban American Alliance for Leadership and Education (CAALE) — a non-profit board that serves first-generation students in the NJCU community.

Furthermore, Acebo serves on the board of the North Hudson Community Action Foundation, which helps underserved members of Hudson County with equitable access to healthcare and social services.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Acebo lives the NJCU mission every day, as a first-generation college student, who has a similar life story as many of our current students. His family story began nearly 60 years ago when his father fled Cuba for freedom, and his path to NJCU was recently depicted in a feature in Hispanic Executive and in an NJ.com Op-Ed entitled “A father’s story and a son’s promise.”

Acebo holds a B.A. from Brown University and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers Law School. He is a proud product of Union City public schools in Hudson County. He resides in North Jersey with his wife — an NJCU alumnae — and three children.


Office Staff

Main Phone Number: 201-200-3111

Chief of Staff to the President
Milagros Peralta

Confidential Assistant to the President
Michael Sims