Antonia Hernández,who was elected to MALDEF's presidency in 1985, directs all litigation and advocacy programs, manages a $6.2 million annual budget and a 75 person staff. MALDEF is headquartered in Los Angeles and maintains regional offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Washington D.C. MALDEF also has program offices in Sacramento, Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Houston.

Ms. Hernández earned her B.A. in History at UCLA in 1970 and J.D. at the UCLA School of Law in 1974. An expert in civil rights and immigration issues, she began her legal career as a Staff Attorney with the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice and worked as counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary before joining MALDEF in 1981 as Regional Counsel in Washington, D.C.

She is a Trustee for the Rockefeller Foundation, and member of the Board of Directors for National Endowment for Democracy, Automobile Club of Southern California, Golden West Financial Corporation, America's Charities, and Los Angeles County Alliance for Student Achievement. Ms. Hernández serves on various commissions, advisory boards, committees and panels, including the Senior Advisory Committee of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Innovations in the State and Local Government, Council on Foreign Relations, Inter-American Dialogue, Pacific Council for International Policy, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, and Commission on Presidential Debates. Ms. Hernández is an appointed member of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. Active in Community affairs, she sits on awards committees such as the Hispanic Heritage Awards, UCLA Community Services Awards, and John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.