Prior to assuming the role of President and CEO of MANA, Ms. Riojas served as National Executive Director of Federally Employed Women, Inc; Executive Director of the National Alliance of Veteran and Family Service Organizations; Associate Director of the National Network of Runaway and Youth Services; and President of ALMA Consulting Services.

After several years as a grade school teacher and ten years as Regional Manager with USAA Insurance Company in San Antonio, Texas, she moved to the Washington metropolitan area where she took a position as Expert Consultant in personnel and equal opportunity issues with the Washington Headquarters Services, The Pentagon. Her work included development of the first Affirmative Action and Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Plans for the Offices of the Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On President Reagan’s Transition Team and then in White House Personnel she specialized in Hispanic and women’s recruitment and placement. Later she handled personnel responsibilities for the Offices of the Secretaries of Agriculture and Defense. She then served as Executive Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Manpower, Reserve Affairs and Logistics; Executive Assistant to the Director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization; and as National Director of Equal Opportunity for the Department of Agriculture.

Ms. Riojas has served on the Commission on the Status of Women in Texas and Virginia, and has received numerous professional and civic awards. She is the proud to be a recipient of the Tomás Rivera Leadership Award from the National Hispanic University and member of the Senate Advisory Task Force on Hispanic Affairs. Ms. Riojas was awarded the President’s Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives. She has been an advisor to Lifetime Network, To the Contrary, a PBS women’s talk show, American Family, a PBS series, Real Women Have Curves an HBO film, and to the Women’s Policy Journal of Harvard University. In 2002 she was appointed to the Secretary of Labor’s Committee on 21st Century Demographics of the President’s Council on 21st Century Workforce. In 2003, the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) presented the Hero’s Award to Ms. Riojas for her work on financial literacy for Latinas.

As National Chairwoman of the American GI Forum she served as a Board member of the Hispanic Education Foundation, National SER, Jobs for Progress, and the National Veterans Outreach Program. Ms. Riojas was on the national boards of the National Hispanic Women’s Council, Women in Community Service and was elected President of the largest women’s political group in Texas. She represented her district at several state and national conventions. She has been keynote speaker at large groups including the American Association of University Women, the Urban League, the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus, National Image, American Federation of Teachers, National Association of School Administrators, the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Navy, and Labor, the Office of the Comptroller General, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Safety Transportation Board. She is Chair of the Board of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), Vice Chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, and on National Council of Women’s Organizations’ steering committee. She serves on the Diversity Council for Bennett College, the AARP and Pfizer Hispanic Advisory Council, the National Consumers League Board of Directors, and as Vice-Chair of the SER National Board of Directors.

Ms. Riojas, a National Science Foundation Scholar, attended San Antonio College, Our Lady of the Lake University and the University of Texas in Austin. At Harvard University’s JFK School of Government she completed “Women in Power: Leadership in a New World” Executive Leadership Program and at Harvard University School of Business she completed the “Serving on Corporate Boards of Directors” Program.