Aarti Dhupelia

Aarti Dhupelia is passionately committed to advancing equity and economic mobility across communities. She currently serves as Executive Vice Chancellor – Chief Student Experience Officer at City Colleges of Chicago (CCC), where she oversees CCC’s efforts to grow enrollment and maximize student retention, completion, transfer, and employment outcomes in collaboration with leaders across CCC’s 7 colleges. With over 20 years of experience, prior to CCC Aarti most recently served as Vice President for Undergraduate Education and Founding Dean of the Undergraduate College at National Louis University, where for nearly eight years she led the start-up and rapid scaling of NLU’s innovative efforts to drive equity in bachelor’s degree attainment and employment. The college under Aarti’s leadership grew to serve nearly 4,000 students annually by offering affordability, strong holistic support, and a personalized and professionally focused academic experience, and in 2022 it was ranked #4 nationally for driving students’ social mobility and as #2 bang for the buck in the Midwest.

Prior to joining NLU, Aarti served in several senior leadership roles at Chicago Public Schools, most recently as CPS’ Chief Officer for the Office of College and Career Success, where she drove strategies around attendance and truancy, drop-out re-engagement, out-of-school time, social and emotional learning, college and career planning, and early college and career acceleration coursework. Before joining CPS, Aarti worked as a management consultant to Fortune 500 companies at Marakon Associates.

Currently, Aarti serves as Board Vice Chair of Noble Schools and as a Board Member of Civic Consulting Alliance, and she previously served on the Boards of Distinctive Schools, iMentor Chicago, and Genesys Works Chicago. In 2019, Aarti served as Co-Chair of the Mayor of Chicago’s Education Transition Committee, and in prior years, she participated in the US DOE’s employability skills expert working group and as a Judge in First Lady Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher Career App Challenge.

Aarti holds a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, an Education Specialist degree from National Louis University, a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University, and a certificate in Academic Leadership from Penn State University, and she is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Higher Education Leadership from NLU. She is an alumna of the Broad Residency in Urban Education, Leadership Greater Chicago, and Aspen Presidential Fellowship programs, and she is a member of The Chicago Network and Northwestern University’s Council of 100. In 2017, the Center for Digital Education named Aarti to its Top 30 Technologists, Transformers, and Trailblazers nationwide, and in 2023, Bottom Line Chicago recognized Aarti as its Champion for College Completion for her career impact in supporting students’ postsecondary success.