Meet the Chancellor

Andrés Acebo, J.D., the Chancellor of Kean Jersey City, is the proud first-generation son of Cuban exiles and a Hudson County native who grew up in Union City, N.J. In January 2023, he became only the third Hispanic to serve as the leader of a four-year public institution of higher education in New Jersey and the youngest known president to ever lead a public university in the state.

Acebo was unanimously appointed president of New Jersey City University (NJCU) by the Board of Trustees on July 23, 2025, after serving as interim president NJCU since January 17, 2023, and formally installed during an investiture on September 10, 2025. In nearly three years of mission-driven servant leadership, Acebo guided NJCU from a fiscal emergency to remarkable recovery. Taking office amid a $22.7 million deficit, he achieved the university's first balanced operating budget since 2017.

Chancellor Acebo's leadership has garnered significant recognition. ROI-NJ named him the No. 1 ranked Influencer in New Jersey Higher Education (May 2024), while NJBIZ ranked him No. 4 overall in their Education Power 50 List (September 2024). In November 2025, he was named to the inaugural BINJE's Best: Power Players 2026 list.

Acebo holds a B.A. from Brown University and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers Law School. He is father to three young children and husband to an NJCU alumna.

In July 2026, NJCU merged with Kean University and Acebo joined the newly formed Kean Jersey City, as chancellor. Under the leadership of Kean President, Lamont O. Repollet, Ed.D., and Chancellor Acebo's direct oversight, Kean Jersey City is building on both institutions' longstanding legacy in higher education, charting a course for a transformative and exciting new chapter in New Jersey higher education.