Beatriz “BB” Otero

BB is president of Otero Strategy Group, a strategic consulting practice in the areas of health, education, human services, and community development. BB has extensive experience formulating and executing policy related to early childhood education and community development. Prior to helming Otero Strategy Group, BB served as Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services for the District of Columbia where she oversaw policy and services strategy for the Departments of Health, Behavioral Health, Health Care Finance, Disability Services, Disability Rights, Human Services, Child Welfare, Youth Rehabilitation Services, Aging and Parks and Recreation. During her time as Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, she also developed and led several cross-agency and cluster strategies.

BB is also the founder and CEO/President of CentroNía, a community-based, nonprofit organization providing a range of bilingual educational and family support services to children, youth, and their families in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. CentroNía began as a small child care center housed in a church and grew into an award winning educational and community development organization in the Washington Metropolitan region. CentroNía has received numerous recognitions and awards as a high quality early childhood and community support organization and was selected by the Doris Duke Foundation as one of 21 exemplary early childhood programs in the nation.

Along with her many years of local community service, BB has a wide range of international experience including disaster preparedness and humanitarian relief and advising local governments in Europe on immigrant conflict.