The first-generation son of Cuban immigrants. The first in his family to earn college degrees, a bachelor's degree at Brown University and then a JD from Rutgers Law School. Andrés Acebo could have gone on to bigger and greater opportunities in new cities, new countries.

But he chose to return to the New Jersey community where he grew up, where he serves as the youngest university president in the state.

His lived experience empowers his service to the students of New Jersey City University, which he's successfully brought from fiscal emergency to positive recovery.

It's a privilege that Acebo doesn't take for granted, and he sees the impact of his work reflected back at him on campus every day.