We’re builders. We’re conveners. And we’re the líderes of Latine Philanthropy.

Hector Mujica

Chair

Head of Economic Opportunity, Americas
Google.org

Hector leads Google.org’s philanthropic programs for Canada and Latin America, as well as US Hispanics efforts across the United States. His previous experience includes investment banking at Oppenheimer & Co, constituent casework with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and bilateral relations in the Economic Section of the US Embassy in Tokyo.

Hector holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Business from Florida International University, a Professional Certificate on Social Entrepreneurship from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a Master of Public Affairs from the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley. Outside of work, Hector serves in several advisory boards, including the Oceanic Global Foundation and the Impact Canada Advisory Committee, part of the Privy Council Office of Canada. Hector is originally from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and now resides in Oakland, California.

Efrain Escobedo

Emeritus Chair

Vice President, Civic Engagement & Public Policy
California Community Foundation

Efrain Escobedo is the vice president in charge of civic engagement, multisector collaboration and public policy at California Community Foundation, responsible for promoting collaboration and advocacy efforts across the nonprofit, public and private sectors to address community problems. Escobedo is recognized nationally and locally as an active leader and expert in Latino civic engagement and elections policy. He has worked extensively with academia, civic and community organizations, as well as with elected officials in developing research, strategies and program to increase voter participation.

Prior to joining CCF, Escobedo was the manager of governmental and legislative affairs for the Registrar of Voters in Los Angeles County, the largest election jurisdiction in the nation with more than 4.5 million registered voters. There, he worked with elected officials to enact numerous initiatives aimed at making the voting process easier for Angelenos, including the electronic delivery of sample ballots and the authorization of online voter registration. Escobedo also served as senior director of civic engagement for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund, where he led the development of innovative voter contact strategies and technologies that have helped to engage more than one million young, newly registered and infrequent Latino voters across the country.

Escobedo earned his bachelor’s degree in American studies and ethnicity from the University of Southern California and is a recent graduate of the Los Angeles County Executive Leadership

Christine Switzer

Vice Chair

Philanthropic Advisor

Christine Switzer is an independent philanthropic advisor providing philanthropic counsel to philanthropists, foundations and organizations, such as the League of Women Voters. She takes pride in developing strategies for short- and long-term giving including recommending organizations for support, engaging multigenerational families, and helping clients become more effective philanthropists. She enjoys serving as a thought partner to clients and has extensive experience working with family offices, foundations, wealth advisor firms, nonprofits, and companies.

Christine brings more than 25 years of experience across multiple sectors. She was formerly a vice president of philanthropic consulting at Fidelity Investments ® , where she provided philanthropic counsel and strategic planning support for a wide range of donors seeking to create more meaningful impact. Prior to joining Fidelity Philanthropic Consulting, Christine was vice president of philanthropic strategies for the Private Donor Group at Fidelity Charitable, where she provided trusted guidance and innovative solutions to affluent philanthropists interested in effective grantmaking. Prior to that, she worked in a variety of director roles for institutions including Accenture, University of California Berkeley, the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, the Global Fund for Women, the International Museum of Women, and the U.S. Embassy in Paris and in Madrid. She also worked as an independent philanthropic advisor to family foundations and nonprofits. Christine holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Virginia and a master of arts degree from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and she studied abroad at the Sorbonne and Institut de Sciences Politiques in Paris.

She is half-Mexican, multilingual, and a 21/64 Certified Philanthropy Advisor. She serves on the board of two nonprofit organizations: Hispanics in Philanthropy and Pro Mujer. She is passionate about social change and inclusive philanthropy, gender equity, economic empowerment, democracy and climate activism, impact investing, enabling opportunities for Latine and diverse communities, and helping donors be more effective.

Maria del Socorro Pesqueira

Secretary

Maria del Socorro Pesqueira was appointed President of the Healthy Communities Foundation in May 2017. The Foundation’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities in over 20 communities in western Cook County by promoting health equity, quality and access. As an award-winning visionary leader, she is a sought-after speaker addressing local, national, and hemispheric audiences on a wide variety of topics ranging from private/nonprofit partnerships, health disparities, immigration reform, women and family issues, violence prevention, and the future of philanthropy.

Prior to joining the Healthy Communities Foundation, Maria served as President to Mujeres Latinas en Acción. Preceding her time at Mujeres, Maria led The National Museum of Mexican Art’s Development and Marketing team.

Her civic and community involvement includes appointments to the United States Congressional Commission for a National Women’s History Museum, Illinois Children and Family Services Advisory Commission, Illinois Partners for Human Services, Community Memorial Foundation, Aetna Medical Advisory Board, and The Chicago Network. Her awards consist of being named a Chicago Community Trust Fellow in 2015, 1 of 50 Women of Influence by Chicago Business Journal in 2016, the Excellence in Community Service award by MALDEF in 2015, the Making a Difference Award by Chicago Women in Philanthropy in 2013, selected to AJC Project Israel Interchange for National Latino Opinion and Policy Leaders in 2016, and named one of “Forty under Forty” by Crain’s Chicago Business.

Maria is the eldest daughter of Mexican immigrants and a graduate of the Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Program; St. Thomas University, Mini-MBA in Nonprofit Management; and DePaul University, B.A. Latin American Studies. Maria and her husband David are proud parents of their son David Ollin.

Hilda H. Polanco

Treasurer

Founder and CEO, FMA

Hilda leads BDO’s Nonprofit & Grantmaker Advisory team, which exclusively serves nonprofit organizations and their funders, and is the new home of FMA, the specialty practice she founded in 1999 as Fiscal Management Associates.

Passionate about helping nonprofits develop a resilient long-term financial strategy, Hilda has also worked closely with some of the nation’s largest foundations to illuminate the full cost of delivering nonprofit programs and has joined them in calling others in the philanthropic sector to better understand nonprofit revenue models and ultimately, to work toward more knowledgeable financing of those business models.

Hilda is widely known for providing nonprofit leaders with the skills and confidence they need to tell their organization’s financial story, as well as working with boards to strengthen their capacity to execute their fiduciary responsibility. Currently on the faculty of Columbia Business School’s Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, she is also a frequent speaker with the AICPA and philanthropy-serving organizations such as GEO, PEAK Philanthropy, and Philanthropy NY.

Hilda’s impact has been recognized throughout her career, earning her the Social Entrepreneur Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners-NYC; the Latina Excellence Award in Community Service from HISPANIC Magazine; New York Brava! Top Female CEO from SmartCEO; the Philanthropy Award from L.O.V.E, Latinas On the Verge of Excellence; and from WHEDCO, the award for Outstanding Leadership in Nonprofit Finance.

In addition to her service with Hispanics in Philanthropy, Hilda is a member of Latino U’s Advisory Board, the Board of Directors for Levitt Foundation, and is a Member of the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers. She also serves as a Leap of Reason Ambassador, a selected community of leaders championing and contributing to a more effective social sector.

Raul Moas

At Large Officer

President
Partnership for Miami

Raul Moas is the President of the Partnership for Miami, a civic group of preeminent business leaders who catalyze the resources, creativity and civic commitment required to build a Miami that works for all. Through the Partnership, Raul works with grassroots organizations, researchers, policymakers and philanthropists to develop and implement solutions that improve Miami’s affordability, livability, educational systems and resilience.

Prior to joining the Partnership, Raul served as senior director of Knight Foundation. In response to a growing number of Miamians seeking to participate in the city’s burgeoning tech economy, Raul directed over $60 million in grantmaking to accelerate Miami’s development as a tech hub. Under Raul’s leadership, Knight’s investments unlocked and leveraged more than $135 million in new public and private capital to expand pathways to careers in tech, which, in part, will double the number of undergraduate STEM degrees conferred in Miami by 2028.

Raul brings a wealth of experience in business and early-stage venture capital. He previously served as a scout for Lightspeed Venture Partners, a global venture capital firm, and managing director of Miami Angels, Florida's largest angel investor collective. He served as the executive director of Roots of Hope, an international non-governmental organization focused on youth empowerment in Cuba. At Roots of Hope, Raul led the creation of programs like StartUp Cuba, which supports emerging entrepreneurs on the island, and social ventures like Discover Cuba, which facilitates socially conscious trips and family
reunifications. Raul serves on the boards of The Miami Foundation, Beacon Council, and Hispanics in Philanthropy and is a CPA.

Marco Davis

At-Large Officer

Marco A. Davis joins CHCI as President and CEO of the institution with more than 20 years of experience in leadership development, academic achievement, community advocacy, and civic engagement. Davis comes to his new position after being a partner at New Profit, a national nonprofit venture philanthropy, where he led Capitalizing Diverse Leaders and Organizations—an effort to create a more equitable social sector, and served as organizational lead on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Davis served in the Obama Administration as Deputy Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics and as the Director of Public Engagement for the Corporation for National and Community Service. Previously, he was Director of Global Fellowship and Regional Manager for Latin America at Ashoka’s Youth Venture and led leadership development for UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza), creating the Líderes Initiative.

Davis serves on the boards of Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC) and Independent Sector, and represents CHCI on the boards of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) and the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR). He was a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow and Hispanics in Philanthropy NGen Lideres Fellow, and is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and an alumnus of Yale University. A New York native, Davis, now lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and daughter.

Cecilia Garza

Board Member

Director Donor Initiatives & President's Fund, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund

Cecilia Garza directs the Donor Initiatives & President's Fund at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, where she has worked since 2009.  She supports Wellspring’s donors, next gen donors, and President with the incubation and launch of new philanthropic initiatives and supports multi-issue philanthropic interests.  With over 20 years of experience in human rights, including 13 years in philanthropy, Cecilia has a track record with strategic planning and implementation, grantmaking experience in the U.S. and internationally, and across various operational functions in philanthropy, etc.  Cecilia served as the Chief Operating Officer at Perspective Fund, a grantmaking initiative that funds and partners with impact-oriented media makers and held several positions with international organizations and nonprofits in New York, including Human Rights Watch, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, and the United Nations. Prior to moving to the U.S., Cecilia worked at the Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos de Aguascalientes in her home-country -- México. Cecilia is a 2018 alumna of Hispanics in Philanthropy's Líderes Fellowship.  

Cielo V. Castro

Board Member

Chief Officer of Policy & Programs, California Community Foundation

Cielo V. Castro is a public policy leader focused on cultivating a thriving multiracial democracy in Los Angeles County. She serves as Chief Officer of Policy and Programs for the California Community Foundation. At the Foundation, Castro is responsible for CCF’s programmatic strategies, overseeing grantmaking, and fostering collaboration across nonprofit, public, and private sectors to tackle community challenges. She also guides the policy advocacy agenda across the Foundation’s grantmaking portfolio.

With extensive experience in government and public-private partnerships, including at Fairplex in Pomona, the City and County of Los Angeles, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in DC, Castro brings a wealth of strategic insight to her oversight of CCF’s programmatic investments and policy advocacy agenda.
Castro received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Boston University and a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is an appointed commissioner to the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and currently serves as Chair of its board, providing oversight to all public housing developments across the City.

Don Chen

Board Member

President, Surdna Foundation

Don Chen is the President of the Surdna Foundation where he leads the 100-year old foundation’s efforts to strengthen and further leverage its commitment to social justice.

Prior to his appointment, Don was the Director of the Cities & States program at the Ford Foundation, where his work supported urban development initiatives to make housing more affordable, promote more equitable land use practices, and empower communities to have a powerful decision-making voice in American cities and in developing countries. He also led a multi-program team to support the strengthening of social justice organizations and networks in targeted U.S. states.

Previously, Don was the Founder and CEO of Smart Growth America, where he led efforts to create the National Vacant Properties Campaign (which later became the Center for Community Progress) and Transportation for America and managed a merger with the Growth Management Leadership Alliance.
He has authored many pieces on land use, transportation, social equity, and environmental policy. Don currently serves as Co-Chair of the President’s Council on Impact Investing and on the boards of Living Cities, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, and Philanthropy New York. He holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of the Environment and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Yale University.

Eli Velasquez

Board Member

Founder & CEO, Capital Stack Investors and Founder & Managing Partner, Investors of Color   

Eli is founder & CEO of Capital Stack Investors, a global innovation and venture advisory firm. He is also founder & Managing Partner of the Investors of Color, a U.S. network of Black, Latinx and Asian accredited investors syndicating investments into early stage companies and emerging funds.  He also serves as a Principal and Capital Advisor to the University City Science Center Health Fund, investing in healthcare innovation with global impact.  He is an angel investor and serves on the Board of the Angel Capital Association, Hispanics in Philanthropy, and Capital Advisor to the Stanford Latino Business Action Network.

Icela Pelayo

Board Member

Program Officer, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Battle Creek, MI

Icela Pelayo is a Program Officer for racial equity and community engagement at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation working on the foundation’s efforts to support thriving children, working families and equitable communities. She supports local community leaders of multi-sector collaborations implementing Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation efforts.

Previously, Icela served in various roles at the New Mexico Public Education Department, including Acting Deputy Cabinet Secretary of Teaching and Learning. She also served as Director of Bilingual Multicultural Education, having led comprehensive state policy and program development, implementation, and evaluation in support of culturally and linguistically responsive instruction and emerging bilingual students. Icela currently serves as a board member of Hispanics in Philanthropy and is also an alum of HIP’s Líderes program. She is also part of the Aspen Global Leaders Network.

She earned her PhD from the University of Southern California in K-12 Education Policy, focusing on the intersection of policy, teaching, and learning of emerging multilingual students. She earned an MA in elementary education at Loyola Marymount University while working as a public school teacher in South Los Angeles, and a BA from University of California, Berkeley. Icela is a first-generation college graduate, bilingual, and a daughter of Mexican immigrants.

Jonathan Jayes Green

Board Member

Democracy Fellow, Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance & Innovation; Founder & Principal, Transcendent Futures

Jonathan is committed to the effective and innovative deployment of capital for the public good. Jonathan brings over a decade of nonprofit, philanthropy, and political experience in senior leadership roles.

Jonathan earned a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. Jonathan is a Democracy Visting Fellow at Harvard's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. Jonathan is also the Founder and Principal of Transcendent Future, a social change consulting practice working with private, public and civil society leaders.

Previously, Jonathan served as a Gleitsman Fellow at the Harvard Center for Public Leadership and as a Rappaport Institute Public Finance Fellow at the Federal Funds and Infrastructure Office within the Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
Jonathan serves on the boards of eBay Foundation, Funders of LGBTQ Issues, and Hispanics in Philanthropy. Jonathan’s profile and contributions to social justice movements are featured at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

Manuel J. Santamaria

Board Member

Director, Gilead Foundation

Manuel Santamaria brings over two decades of expertise in high-impact philanthropy and strategic development. He currently is a Director at the Gilead Foundation, where he leads the grants portfolio across the Foundation's strategic initiatives including the Creating Possible Fund, the Healthcare Education Access and Leadership (HEAL) initiative and other projects. Most recently worked at Silicon Valley Community Foundation where he led numerous programs that provided vital support to nonprofits and service provider collaboratives. While at SVCF he led investment opportunities and special initiatives, including the Bay Area Rapid Response Network, the California Dignity for Families Fund, Census 2020, the Emergency and Disaster Relief Fund, and technology platforms like CitizenshipWorks.Prior to joining Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Manuel worked for Peninsula Community Foundation serving in a variety of roles at the Foundation in the First Five Years, Education & Community Building Portfolios. Manuel is currently on the Board of Directors for Hispanics In Philanthropy and Mission Economic Development Agency. In June 2022, Manuel was appointed as a San Mateo County Health Commissioner.

Maribel Cifuentes

Board Member

Portfolio Director, The Colorado Health Foundation

Maribel Cifuentes is a health philanthropy leader with 25+ years’ experience leading teams in fast-changing organizations, tackling complex adaptive problems and developing multifaceted programs and strategies to improve health. Over the last two decades, she has worked in clinical settings, academic medicine, health services research, evaluation and learning, and in the field of philanthropy to discover solutions, remove barriers and create the necessary conditions to achieve health equity in partnership with communities who have less power and privilege. She has conducted and published original research and holds content expertise in the areas of integrated primary care and behavioral health, healthcare delivery system and payment reform, affordable housing and food access and security. Maribel is a Portfolio Director at The Colorado Health Foundation, where she directs a $25M portfolio of social determinants of health investments and a team of program officers working to bring health in reach for all Coloradans. Maribel holds a nursing degree from the University of Colorado. She is from Guatemala City and brings her full and colorful lived experience as an immigrant, indigenous woman, wife and mother to all her professional and personal endeavors.

Midy Aponte

Board Member

Founder & Principal, Civil Strategies

Midy is a strategist by trade and a futurist at heart – with over two decades of experience in public, private, and philanthropic sectors. She tackles social justice issues like income inequality, environmental protection, land preservation, and health disparities with a holistic approach. She believes that starting small yields big results and that real change happens when communities own their power.
Midy began her career in Miami, focusing on social activism against the tobacco industry. Her work at Golin and the American Legacy Foundation (now the Truth Initiative) showcased her ability to handle complex public health issues and set the stage for her achievements in strategic communication and social advocacy.
In 2004, she moved to D.C. and later honed her crisis communications and litigation communication skills at The Walker Marchant Group, focusing on diversity and inclusion efforts within Fortune 500 companies.
In 2011, Midy was appointed the founding executive director of the American Latino Heritage Fund (ALHF) of the National Park Foundation. She played a crucial role in recognizing and preserving significant Latino heritage sites, such as the César E. Chávez National Monument, Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry Murals, and Concha Melendez’s home in Puerto Rico. She helped promote the National Park Service’s “American Latinos and the Making of the United States” theme study and conceptualized the American Latino Expedition, a public engagement and awareness initiative designed to increase Latino visitation rates and stewardship of America’s National Parks.
Midy joined Spitfire Strategies in 2014, later serving as its Chief Experience Officer. She was
responsible for building the firm’s Intermountain West presence while expanding their international portfolio. Here, she collaborated with prestigious national and global foundations such as the Ford Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Earthjustice and World Resources Institute, plus countless community foundations and national nonprofits. She also played a pivotal role in developing innovative and effective operational systems that supported the sustainability of the firm, as well as the wellbeing of staff during the pandemic and periods of national unrest in 2020.
In 2023, after witnessing the shortcomings of philanthropy and mainstream consultancies’ commitment to racial justice, Midy founded Civil Strategies, a consulting firm that works exclusively with philanthropy and business to find constructive solutions to age-old problems through strategic communication and smart operations and management. Civil’s approach embraces “a third way” – working alongside clients to bring about comprehensive and lasting transformation in the system that can be felt, seen and heard by those most impacted.
Until recently, Midy sat on the board of directors for the Alaska Wilderness League and the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado and is a current board member of Hispanics in Philanthropy. She received her Bachelor of Science in Communications from the School of Journalism at Florida International University. Go Panthers! A fluent Spanish, Midy was born in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City to Cuban immigrants and was raised in Miami. Having spent considerable time in Washington, DC, and Denver, she now lives in Dallas with her wife and three dogs, Fluffy, ¡Sassy!, and Tinker.

Pedro Abramovay

Board Member

Vice President of Programs, Open Society Foundation

Pedro Vieira Abramovay is a lawyer, graduated in law from the University of São Paulo, Master in law from the University of Brasília and PhD in Political Science from IESP - UERJ. He was Legal Advisor to the Brazilian government leadership in the Senate (2003-2004), Special Advisor to the Minister of Justice (2004-2006), Secretary of Legislative Affairs (2007-2010) and National Justice Secretary (2010). He also acted as a Professor of Law at FGV-RJ (2011-2013) and Director of the Avaaz campaigns (2012-2013). In 2022, Pedro published the book A Democracia Equilibrista - Políticos e Burocratas no Brasil together with Gabriela Lotta. He is currently Vice President of Programs at Open Society Foundations.

Pilar Paras

Board Member

Board Chair of CEMEFI

Licenciada en Administración de Empresas por el ITAM, Institución que le otorgó el premio al Mérito Profesional 2014 en la categoría social. Actualmente cursa la maestría en Políticas Públicas en la IBERO.

Presidente del consejo del Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía CEMEFI, consejera de IXIM A.C., Centro Comunitario Santa Fe A.C., ConcienTe A.C.  y miembro del comité coordinador de Acción Ciudadana Frente a la Pobreza.

Miembro de la asamblea y del comité de administración de Fundación Merced A.C., ha sido consejera por más de 20 años, fungió como presidente del consejo durante 6 años y fue vicepresidente del consejo de  RedEAmerica internacional.  Co-fundadora de Proeducación IAP, de la cual fue Directora, 10 años presidente y actualmente es consejera.
Fue 6 años Consejera de la Junta de Asistencia Privada, representando al Rubro de Educación y Desarrollo Comunitario.

Participó en movimientos ciudadanos como Juntos por la Educación, 10 por la Educación y Muévete por la Educación.

Rosa Maria Castañeda

Board Member

Rosa Maria Castaneda is a dynamic authentic change-maker with a unique leadership record of driving impact toward racial justice and economic opportunity at four of the nation's leading philanthropic ventures. She has deep experience designing major philanthropic initiatives bridging advocacy, mobilization and policy development and building effective and empowered teams in service of a bold strategic agenda.

As a Director at the Omidyar Network, she is leading the firm's program-wide efforts to create a more inclusive and equitable future through our strategies and partnerships. Before joining Omidyar, she was the Racial Justice Initiative Director at William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Prior to that at Annie E. Casey Foundation, she seeded one of the largest state and federal campaigns with racial equity and policy advocacy groups to successfully reverse an anti-immigrant policy. While there, she shifted the foundation's investments to advance economic mobility in southern states. She began her career in philanthropy at Pew Charitable Trusts after a decade developing actionable policy research to tackle economic and racial inequality at the Urban Institute, Center for Law and Social Policy and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

A child refugee to the US, she is motivated to reimagine philanthropy, government and business to realize the promise of a just multiracial democracy.

Saul Valdez

Board Member & LAN Representative

Senior Program Officer, ECMC Foundation

Saúl Valdez oversees grants that increase college persistence, two-year transfer and bachelor degree completion for students from underserved backgrounds. Prior to joining ECMC Foundation, Saúl worked with Seattle Foundation's philanthropic advising team where he advised a portfolio of donors and philanthropic partners and managed a youth grantmaking board. Previously, Saúl worked at the Seattle Region Partnership and served as the program manager for the Latin American Association in the state of Georgia. He is an alumnus of Coro’s LEAD LA fellowship program and Hispanics in Philanthropy’s (HIP) lideres fellowship program. Outside of ECMC Foundation, Saúl serves on the steering committee for HIP’s lideres alumni network and the Los Angeles chapter of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP). Saúl holds an MA in public administration with a nonprofit management certificate from the University of Washington and a BS in international business and BA in Spanish from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Shawn Escoffery

Board Member

Executive Director,
Roy and Patricia Disney Family Foundation

Shawn Escoffery is the Executive Director of the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Foundation. RPDFF invest in innovative solutions and community leaders to build a more just, equitable and sustainable world in which all people thrive. Shawn manages a small staff, a $5 million annual grantmaking budget and an endowment approaching $130 million. Prior to joining RPDFF Shawn Escoffery directed the Strong Local Economics program at the Surdna Foundation – a nationally focused family foundation with over $1 billion dollars in assets. In this role, Shawn worked to support the development of robust and sustainable economies that include a wide range of businesses, equitable economic policy and access to quality jobs. With an annual budget of $9.2 million, the program aims to create opportunities for upward economic mobility among communities that have experienced historical barriers to opportunity, including low-income people, communities of color, women, and immigrants. As the foundation developed a mission related investing and impact investing portfolio, Shawn was also responsible for deploying an additional $10 million dollars in (debt and equity) aimed at addressing access to capital challenges facing minority and women owned businesses.

Before joining philanthropy, Mr. Escoffery served as the Deputy Director of the New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative (NONDC), a community organizing, planning and housing development organization, focused on post-Hurricane Katrina neighborhood revitalization. As an urban planner with over 15+ years of experience, Shawn has been responsible for designing workforce development programs serving lower income communities, developing financing strategies for affordable housing developments and coordinating resident engagement efforts. Throughout his career, he has managed projects and people effectively to produce positive outcomes for communities.

Shawn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and English Literature from Rutgers University and a Master’s of City and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a concentration in Housing, Community, and Economic Development. He also holds certificates in Communications and International Relations, Urban Redevelopment and Effective Leadership from Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pennsylvania and Duke University, respectively.

Stephanie Valencia

Board Member

Co-Founder Latino Media Group & Equis Research

Stephanie Valencia is a national leader and innovator at the nexus of Latino civic engagement, media and technology, and leadership development.

She is the co-founder of Equis, a set of organizations working to create a better understanding of Latinos, innovate new approaches to reach and engage them, and invest in the leadership and infrastructure for long-term change and increased engagement.

As Latinos are driving growth of the population and the electorate, Latinos still have a “guest complex”, a lack of a sense of belonging in the country that we believe is the root of lower levels of civic participation.

Already known as the gold standard of Latino polling, in the last two years Equis has expanded its innovative work to include a one of its kind Moonshots program. “Equis’ Moonshots” are a series of audacious, multimillion, multi-year projects spanning democracy, media, culture, and talent to building new, stronger, year around infrastructure to shift the way Latinos and Hispanics see their own sense of belonging, power and influence in this country. From owning and operating radio stations and YouTube channels with authentic messengers and content, to leveraging critical moments for cultural mobilization to claiming our part of the governing coalition with policies and policy makers that meet Latino voters needs - these investments in critical infrastructure will support increased engagement of Latinos in democracy and all aspects of civic life.

Stephanie is also Co-Founder and co-owner of the media company Latino Media Network, an audio focused multimedia company inspiring, informing, and celebrating Latinos, owned and operated by members of the community. They currently own stations in eight of the ten top Latino DMA’s, with the ability to reach over two thirds of Latinos in the United States.

She has spent her career working in Congress, the White House, the Commerce Department, Google, and advised entrepreneurs like Reid Hoffman and Penny Pritzker.

She serves on the boards of Latino Media Network, Community Change Action, and is a founding member of Poderistas, with Eva Longoria & America Ferrera.

She grew up in a family of public servants in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a small town near the U.S. Mexico border.

Tony Mestres

Board Member

Chief Executive Office
The Sobrato Organization

Tony Mestres is the Chief Executive Officer of The Sobrato Organization (TSO). His responsibilities include overseeing TSO’s three enterprise groups: Sobrato Real Estate, Sobrato Capital, and Sobrato Philanthropies. Additionally, he manages a growing portfolio of cross-organizational initiatives focused on economic mobility, affordable housing, and sustainability.

Before joining TSO, Tony led Partner Solutions at Arabella Advisors where he managed the firm’s global partnerships dedicated to protecting the planet, defending democracy, and strengthening communities. Prior to Arabella, Tony served as president of health data company Truveta during its first chapter of growth and impact on human health. Tony spent seven years as president and CEO of Seattle Foundation, one of the largest community foundations in the country. Under Tony’s leadership, Seattle Foundation redefined its role as a civic leader, shining a light on community needs and developing cross-sector initiatives to drive racial and economic equity throughout the region. He provided strategic counsel and support to Seattle Foundation’s individual, family, and corporate philanthropists and oversaw the acquisition and investment of a significant annual portfolio of charitable grants. Before joining Seattle Foundation, Tony had a 22-year career in high technology, largely at Microsoft, where he was a vice president responsible for worldwide sales and marketing of the Windows product line.

Tony currently serves on the boards of the Hispanics in Philanthropy, Seattle International Foundation, and Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences. Previously, Tony served on the boards of the Washington Roundtable and the Council on Foundations, and he is president emeritus of the board of trustees of The Kindering Center, a nonprofit that serves and supports children with special needs and their families. In 2019, Tony was among the executives selected for The NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50 and was also named its Influencer of the Year. He has been recognized as one of Global Telecoms’ Most Promising Executives. A graduate of Phillips Academy Andover, Tony received his BA in history from Dickinson College, which in 2017 recognized him with a Distinguished Alumni Award for Professional Achievement.

Diana Campoamor

Emeritus Member

Founder of Nuestra America Fund (NAF)

Diana is the Founder of Nuestra America Fund (NAF), an initiative focused on documenting Latino leadership and best practices in philanthropy. NAF also supports individual and institutional donors that have an interest in strengthening Latino influence in US policy towards their countries of origin.

Prior to NAF, Diana served as President of Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) for nearly 27 years. At HIP, she grew a small network of funders, from a volunteer group of advocates into a transnational philanthropic network. HIP, under her leadership, invested over $40 million in small Latino nonprofits and leaders.

Under Diana’s tenure, HIP was recognized with the Kellogg Foundation’s National Leadership in Action Award in 2007 and received the prestigious Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking in 2008 for its groundbreaking Funders’ Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities.

Her book of essays, Nuevos Senderos: Hispanics and Philanthropy, published by Arte Publico Press in 1999, remains one of the few anthologies to portray Latinos as givers and leaders in philanthropy. Her editorials focusing on policy issues have been published by the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and others.

Diana has served as a trustee of the Council on Foundations, Independent Sector, the Inter University Project for Latino Research, BRAVA for Women in the Arts and Horizons Foundation, and Planned Parenthood for the Western Hemisphere. She has been listed as one of the 100 most influential Latinos by Latino Leaders Magazine, who also awarded her their prestigious Maestro Award for Philanthropy. She’s also received honors from the New America Alliance, The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the Latino Economic Development Corporation, the Latin American Research and Service Agency (LARASA), and Procura in Mexico. She received a BA from the University of Florida and an MA from the University of Miami.

Elisa Arévalo

Emeritus Member

Vice President, Latino Remittance Marketing Manager
Wells Fargo Bank

Elisa Arévalo is currently the Latino Remittance Marketing Manager for Wells Fargo’s Regional Banking Partnership team. She has over twenty-five years of banking experience with special emphasis in ethnic segment marketing. Elisa joined Wells Fargo in 1977 after completing her Master’s Degree in Business Administration from U.C. Berkeley.

In 1981, she was the first Vice President and manager of the Wells Fargo Foundation. During her ten year tenure with the Wells Fargo Foundation, she along with Luz Vega and Herman Gallegos founded Hispanics in Philanthropy in 1982, in response to the lack of Hispanics in the field of philanthropy and the need to create awareness of Hispanic issues to the philanthropic community.

She has been a board member of New Economics for Women, the only Latina founded community development corporation in Los Angeles since 1991. In 2003, she joined the board of directors of the Pan American Health and Education Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Elisa was born in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, and resides in Oakland, California.

Herman E. Gallegos

Emeritus Member

Retired Corporate & Foundation Director

For over fifty years, Herman Gallegos has successfully undertaken important and challenging work seeking the betterment of Hispanics and other minorities ranging from community-based organizing in the Mexican American barrios of the Southwest to pioneering work with nonprofits, philanthropy and the boardrooms of corporate America.

As a civil rights activist in the early 1950’s with Cesar Chavez, Gallegos was active in the formation of the Community Service Organization (CSO), a self-help group organized to promote citizenship and naturalization classes, non-partisan voter registration campaigns, programs aimed at improving neighborhoods, and advocacy to end unwarranted actions by police and immigration officials.

In 1965, with Dr. Ernesto Galarza and Dr. Julian Samora, Gallegos served as an Urban Affairs Consultant with The Ford Foundation for purposes of assessing and recommending ways the Foundation might initiate philanthropic support for vital Hispanic concerns. As a result of this work, in 1968, The Ford Foundation made significant grants to establish what are now the National Council of La Raza and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund/ Gallegos went on to serve as the Council’s first Executive Director.

In 1969, Gallegos co-authored, with Dr. Samora and Dr. Galarza, a book entitled, Mexican Americans in the Southwest. In 1975, he produced the seminal study, U.S. Foundations and Minority Group Interests, which advocated greater philanthropic support for Hispanics and other minorities. In 1991, he co-edited with Dr. Michael O’Neill, Hispanics in the Non Profit Sector.

Since 1974, Gallegos has served as one of the first Hispanics elected to serve on various corporate and philanthropic boards including: Pacific Bell; Pacific Telesis Group; SBC Communications Inc.; UnionBanCal Corporation; Transmetrics Inc. and, by presidential appointment, The Student Loan Marketing Association.

Past philanthropic boards include The Rockefeller Foundation; The Rosenberg Foundation; The California Endowment; The San Francisco Foundation; The Hogg Foundation; The Poverello Fund; the National Campaign for Human Development.

Gallegos is a Trustee Emeritus of the University of San Francisco; Emeritus, Board of Overseers, The University of California, San Francisco; Hispanics in Philanthropy and The National Council of La Raza.

Gallegos is a graduate of San Jose State University and The University of California, Berkeley.

Luz A. Vega-Marquis

Emeritus Member

President & CEO
Marguerite Casey Foundation

Luz A. Vega-Marquis has led Marguerite Casey Foundation since December 2001. As president, she manages the Foundation’s investment portfolio, leads its effort to disburse approximately $30 million in grants annually and spearheads the organization’s focus to positively impact families, youth and children.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Vega-Marquis served as executive director of the Community Technology Foundation of California (CTFC), a community foundation based in San Francisco. She was instrumental in developing the strategic framework of CTFC’s grants program as well as energizing the CTFC vision of bringing information technology to under-served communities throughout California. Ms. Vega-Marquis’ nonprofit experience includes four years as vice president and chief operating officer at the National Economic Development and Law Center, an organization committed to providing technical, law and business expertise to distressed communities nationwide. Her career also encompasses 17 years at the James Irvine Foundation, where she served as director of grants programs, senior program officer in charge of northern California office and program officer.

A leader in her field, Ms. Vega-Marquis has contributed widely to the philanthropic community. A founder of Hispanics in Philanthropy, she has served on numerous boards including the Council of Foundations, Northern California Grantmakers, The Women’s Foundation and Katalysis Foundation. She currently serves on The California Wellness Foundation board of directors. A graduate of the University of San Francisco, Ms. Vega-Marquis received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern Languages and earned a Masters degree in Latin American Studies from Stanford University.

Miguel Bustos

Emeritus Member

Senior Director, Center for Social Justice
Glide Foundation

Miguel was born and raised in the Mission District of San Francisco. He attended St. Peter’s Elementary School on 24th and Florida Streets and Archbishop Riordan High School. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Political Science for Holy Names University and a Masters in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from the School of International Service at the America University in Washington, DC.Most of Miguel’s career has been as an appointed official to local and national elected officials: first as Policy Advisor for President Clinton and Vice President Gore at the White House; Deputy District Director for Congresswoman Barbara Lee; Director of Boards and Commissions for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom; and most recently Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for Mayor Ronald V. Dellums.His nonprofit and philanthropic career highlights include: serving as Executive Director of the California Latino Civil Rights Network (Latino Network). The only statewide organization that focuses on the threats to civil rights aimed at the Latino community in California; serving as Program Officer for the Marguerite Casey Foundation (MCF). As a member of the MCF team his responsibilities included researching and evaluating potential grantees, working with Latino, Native American, Asian, African-American and LGBT communities and organizations, and analyzing and educating grantees on public policy. His regions included California, the Southwest, US/Mexico Border and Native American reservations and communities; and working as Community Relations Advisor at the California Community Technology Foundation of California (Now known as Zerodivide).Previously, Miguel was Senior Vice President, Community Relations and Outreach Regional Director at Wells Fargo in San Francisco, California. He also served as the Senior Program Manager for the Americas for the Levi Strauss Foundation. He managed grantmaking in the Foundation’s global giving areas of HIV/AIDS, asset building and workers’ rights in the regions of Latin America and Canada. He was also responsible for HIV/AIDS grantmaking domestically in the United States and LS&Co.’s Community Involvement Teams in Latin America and Canada.Miguel loves his city and still lives in his childhood home in the Mission District of San Francisco.