New York, N.Y. (September 3, 2025) – The City University of New York (CUNY) has welcomed three new interim college leaders, including Elizabeth de León Bhargava as interim president of Guttman Community College, effective September 1 and pending approval by the CUNY Board of Trustees.
Interim President de León Bhargava comes to Guttman after serving as assistant secretary for administration at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Read CUNY’s announcement below.
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CUNY Welcomes New Leaders at Three Colleges for Start of Academic Year
Interim Heads Appointed at City Tech, CUNY Law and Guttman Community College
The City University of New York appointed highly experienced interim leaders for three of its colleges for the 2025-2026 academic year: Milton Santiago at New York City College of Technology, Natalie Gomez-Velez at CUNY School of Lawand Elizabeth de León Bhargava at Guttman Community College.
“With these appointments, I’m confident that City Tech, the School of Law and Guttman are in capable hands during this period of transition,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “Milton Santiago’s strong leadership across multiple CUNY campuses, Natalie Gomez-Velez’s deep ties to CUNY Law and Elizabeth de León Bhargava’s distinguished record of public service position each of them to provide steady, thoughtful guidance. We thank each of them for stepping into these important roles and welcome Ms. de León Bhargava into the CUNY family.”
Seasoned CUNY Leader
Interim President Santiago has championed a student-centered approach to college governance. Santiago joined City Tech, CUNY’s technology-focused college in downtown Brooklyn that offers a national model for industry-aligned education and serves nearly 15,000 students, from Bronx Community College. At BCC, where he served as interim president for the past two years, he supported the creation of top-quality career-connected educational programs that prepare students for life after college. His more than three decades of experience include senior leadership roles at three CUNY colleges — BCC, Lehman College and College of Staten Island.
At Lehman, he secured New York City Council funding to establish the Bronx Business Tech Incubator, a hub for local startups and workforce training. He has also held senior administrative roles at SUNY Dutchess Community College, Westfield State University and Bunker Hill Community College. He holds a B.A. from Binghamton University, an M.S.W. from NYU and an Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts-Boston. Longtime City Tech President Russell K. Hotzler recently retired after nearly 22 years as president and 55 years of service to the University.
“I am honored and excited to step into the role of interim president at City Tech, following Dr. Hotzler’s distinguished career at the institution and at CUNY,” said Santiago. “I hope to build on the legacy he left to continue to expand City Tech’s students’ successes and their contributions to the City’s industry sectors.”
Experienced Educator in Public Interest Law
Gomez-Velez ascended to the role of interim dean at CUNY Law from the school’s faculty, where she has served as professor of law for two decades. An alumna of Hunter College, she has developed numerous CUNY Law courses in public interest law and served in leadership roles including associate dean for academic affairs. Before joining CUNY Law, she held various positions in state and city government, including New York State assistant deputy attorney general for public advocacy, special counsel to then-chief administrative judge Jonathan Lippman and general counsel for the New York City Department of Youth Services.
A graduate of NYU School of Law who practiced with NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice and the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, Gomez-Velez has also served on the New York State Board of Regents and as the Bronx representative for the Panel for Educational Policy of NYCPS. She will lead the Law School during the search for a successor to former Dean Sudha Setty, who was appointed to serve as president and CEO of the Law School Admissions Council. With nearly 700 students on its campus in Long Island City, Queens, CUNY Law is recognized for the high quality of its clinical education programs and routinely ranked among the nation’s top institutions in public interest law.
“I am honored to take on the role of interim dean of CUNY School of Law. As a proud CUNY alumna, longtime faculty member and former academic dean, I value our legacy of public service and community impact,” said Gomez-Velez. “CUNY Law’s mission to train public interest lawyers and reflect the diversity of our society is more vital than ever. I thank Chancellor Matos Rodríguez and the CUNY Board of Trustees for this opportunity to serve and lead our incredible community.”
Longtime Public Policy Expert, Former White House Appointee
De León Bhargava brings more than 25 years of executive, legal and public policy experience across federal, state and city government to her role as interim president of Guttman Community College. She most recently served as assistant secretary for administration at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development where she oversaw key agency operations and a $10 billion federal contracting portfolio. Her career includes leadership roles in the White House, the New York State Executive Chamber and the New York City Council where she spearheaded initiatives advancing educational equity, workforce development and economic opportunity.
A graduate of Binghamton University and the SUNY Buffalo School of Law, she began her legal career as a legislative fellow for former Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and held clerkships for Judge Sonia Sotomayor at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Civil Rights Bureau for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
She will lead Guttman during the search for a permanent successor to Larry Johnson Jr., who became president of Bronx Community College in July, and her appointment is pending approval by the CUNY Board of Trustees. Guttman, which enrolls about 1,000 students on its Midtown Manhattan campus, has added several key degree and certificate programs and student career success initiatives in recent years.
“I am incredibly excited to join Guttman Community College as interim president. As a first-generation college student and proud product of public higher education in New York, it is an honor to join an institution with such an important mission, an innovative legacy and a deep commitment to student success,” said de León Bhargava. “I look forward to working with the talented faculty, staff and especially the students, to help cultivate a new generation of leaders who achieve their dreams and serve as powerful role models.”
The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and eight honors, graduate and professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving nearly 240,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 50,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “genius” grants. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background. To learn more about CUNY, visit https://www.cuny.edu.
Three Guttman Students Complete a Study Abroad Experience in The Netherlands