RNHA Hispanic Heritage Spotlight 2020 Honors Pedro Celis

About Pedro Celis

The RNHA is proud to recognize Pedro Celis for his many years of service to the Republican National Hispanic Assembly. Pedro Celis was born in Mexico and works in the field of computer science. In 1979, Celis obtained a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the Monterey Institute of Technology and Higher Studios. In addition, he also obtained both a Masters in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Waterloo University.

He began his career working as an Assistant Professor at the Computer Science Department at Indiana University. Celis later worked as a software designer at Britton Lee, Inc., and then worked at Tandem computers from 1989-1998 where he became the Technical Director of the NonStop SQL team. From 1998 to 2012, Pedro Celis worked at Mircosoft and held several positions in the SQL Server Group including the WinFS team, the Chief Technology Officer. He also worked in Bing from 2009-2010.

A Legacy of Leadership and Service

He served on the U.S President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) 2003-2005. The PITAC is responsible for advising the President on policies and investments that the federal government pursue to maintain the preeminence of the U.S in the IT industry. The Hispanic IT Executive council named Pedro Celis one of the most influential Hispanics in the IT industry in 2009 and 2010. In 2009, the Hispanic Business Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the United States of America.

Pedros Celis an organizer, founder, and member of the board of directors of the Plaza Bank, which is a Latino business-focused bank that opened in 2006 in Seattle, Washington. He is a board member of the Stronger Families and Washington News Council. He is the founder of the Washington State Chapter of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly and served as its first chair from 2001-2005. Pedro Celis also served as the National Chairman of the RNHA from 2005-2007. In the 2008 presidential primary campaign, Celis served as Co-Chair of the Mitt Romney for President Washington Steering Committee. In February 2014, he ran against Washington state’s 1st Congressional District challenging incumbent U.S Rep. Suzan Delbene. For his many years of service, the RNHA recognizes him for our National Hispanic Heritage Month spotlight.