Carlos Enrique Santiago is a Puerto Rican American labor economist and the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (MDHE).

[4] He is a labor economist with expertise in the Caribbean and Central America regions, with a special emphasis on Puerto Rico.

He is a founding co-editor of Latino Research Review and is a member of the U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus International Relations Advisory Group.

During his tenure at UW-Milwaukee, he raised 125 million dollars from the private sector for the school's research arm and advocated a 240 million dollar state-funded "UW-Milwaukee Initiative" campaign,[6] before resigning to take the post at the Hispanic College Fund.

Santiago joined the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education in April 2013 as the senior deputy commissioner for academic affairs.