Conversaciones con ALPFA NJ

Ralph de la Vega is Chairman of the De La Vega group, which focuses on investments in entrepreneurial startups. He is the former Vice Chairman of AT&T Inc., and the author of Obstacles Welcome. He is actively focused on helping young people reach their full potential. He serves on the boards of American Express Company, New York Life Insurance Company, and Amdocs Corporation. He is the former...

Ilhiana Rojas Saldana is the owner of BeLIVE Coaching & Consulting. She is an Executive & Career Transformation Strategy Coach, a DEI Consultant, a Hispanic advocate, Bestselling Author, and an international motivational speaker. She has 20+ yrs of global executive experience in top Fortune 500 companies in Mexico and US headquarters, leading and coaching professionals and businesses into...

Raquel Tamez is the Chief Inclusion and Engagement Officer at Charles River Associates (CRA). A leader in providing economic and financial expertise to major law and accounting firms, CRA also does consulting work for corporations and governments around the world. Raquel plays an integral role in the firm’s DE&I efforts and initiatives—both in-house and globally—and is essential to empowering...

Janet Schijns is the CEO and Co-Founder of JS Group, a go to market consultancy dedicated to achieving results. She is the founder of the #digitalnormal movement in the industry driving profitable change in the partner community.  Janet is a top 10 CEO Disruptor 2021, Top 10 Women in Technology 2020, 2021 (Analytics Insights), Top 50 Technology Influencers 2020, 2021 (Awards Magazine) and was...

Valentina Kordi , Certified Mindset & High-Performance Coach is an International Motivational Speaker, TEDx speaker and an author. She has 10 years of experience as an Executive & Business Coach having coached executives from multinational companies such as Microsoft, Novartis, Coca-Cola, Nissan Motor Corporation, Unilever and Sephora. Her book "Success is a mind game" is a best-seller. &n...

Cid Wilson is President & Chief Executive Officer of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR). CID brings more than 20 years of corporate finance and Wall Street equity research experience and works closely with corporate board members, Hispanic organizations, and corporate partners to increase the representation of Hispanics at all levels.  CID has been featured in The...

Jonathan Echeverria is the Chief Operating Officer - Technology Infrastructure for Bank of America. He leads the group responsible for managing business operations inclusive of economics, financial execution and expense management, portfolio management, strategic business planning, data governance, reporting and analytics. Jonathan actively supports Bank of America’s Hispanic Leadership Advisory C...

Sandy Torchia is the National Managing Partner, Advisory at KPMG. She is responsible for advancing KPMG’s Advisory strategy - driving growth and innovation as well as developing a diverse and inclusive culture. Sandy was named to the Hispanic Information Technology Executive Council (HITEC) Top 100 list of the most influential and notable Hispanic professionals in the technology industry. In addit...

Alexia Clayborne , J.D. (she,her), is the Director, D&I and Accessibility, Marketing & Consumer Business for Microsoft. She believes that team empowerment is critical to organizational success, as is an anti-racism lens that actively works on undoing systemic racism, and a company-wide approach that combats ableism. She is a federally certified French translator and interpreter, three...

Sylvia Acevedo is an entrepreneur, investor, business leader, and rocket-scientist. Passionate about building, scaling and leading market transitions. Startup mindset; global outlook. Devout believer in the power of transformation and disruption to change and improve lives, communities, organizations – and the world. Author of  Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist...

Alex J. Cisneros is the SVP of Revenue Generation and Analytics at Red Roof. Alex has 23 years of work experience of which 15 has been in the hospitality industry. He received a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Rutgers University and a master’s degree in Management from Fairleigh Dickinson University.  From May 2014 – November 2019, he was Vice President of Revenue Generation, Wy...

Theresa Torres has held Diversity and Inclusion leadership roles at several companies including; ADP, Verizon, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.   At Lehman Brothers, Theresa led Campus Recruiting, establishing her division as the premier diversity hiring organization within the company. She was an integral member of the firm’s Employee Resource Group leadership, establishing strategies...

Ralph Monte , a Principal at KPMG, has over 25 years of information systems audit and advisory experience and a comprehensive understanding of the benefits and risks that can arise from the use of IT and systems as well as experience in the design of relevant controls and security solutions. He is the KPMG short Hills Office Advisory Office Leader, a National Board Member for the KPMG Hispanic Lat...

Fabian Garcia , President, Unilever North America leads a portfolio of iconic brands including Dove, Hellmann’s, Breyers, Vaseline, Lipton, and Knorr.  As President and a member of the Unilever Leadership Executive team, Fabian helps drive Unilever’s mission of making sustainable living commonplace through a number of strategic initiatives including overseeing Unilever’s purpose-driven brands, ind...

Esther Aguilera is President and CEO of the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA), which convenes Latino directors and executives at the highest levels of corporate leadership who share the mission: to increase the number of US Latinos on corporate boards. She’s a proven leader who brings a 30-year record of successfully executing strategic business plans to drive organizational effectiven...

As Chief People and Inclusion Officer at the National Basketball Association, Oris Stuart is responsible for leading the combined Human Resources and Diversity and Inclusion groups.  He oversees diversity and inclusion strategies for the NBA, WNBA, NBA G League and NBA 2K League, and supports the growth and development of the NBA’s global workforce. With a focus on people, culture, inclusion...

Claudia Romo Edelman has more than 25 years of experience leading marketing and advocacy for global organizations including the United Nations, UNICEF, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the World Economic Forum.  Since 2017, Ms. Romo Edelman has served as the Founder and CEO of the We Are All Human Foundation, a New Y...

Originally from Puerto Rico, Jennifer Lopez-Reed moved to the US to complete her Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering at Purdue University before enjoying a long, successful career with Eli Lilly and Company, first in manufacturing and quality and then on the business side. She is currently Lilly's Sr. Director of Global Recruiting and Talent Acquisition. With over 18 years' experience in the p...

Carlos Santiago began his career in GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as a Site Utilities Engineer at their Manufacturing facility in Cidra, Puerto Rico. With more than twelve years at GSK, he held several roles of increasing responsibility in both the Global Manufacturing & Supply (GMS) and Worldwide Real Estate and Facilities (WREF) organizations.   Carlos led the Hispanic/Latino Employee Network (...

Lilia Flores is chief strategy officer at Havas Chicago , in charge of leading strategy across Havas Chicago, Annex Chicago and Annex Experience, bringing together human truths, data and insights to power creativity.  Having spent more than two decades working in advertising, communications and marketing, she leverages cultural competency to increase creativity and business growth. Previously...

Michele Meyer-Shipp was named MLB's Chief People & Culture Officer by Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. in August 2020. In this capacity, Meyer-Shipp oversees all of MLB’s human resources activities, including talent processes and programs, workplace culture, and diversity and inclusion. Meyer-Shipp also manages all off-field office operations.    Meyer-Shipp joined MLB from “...

Richard K. Bynum is chief corporate responsibility officer for The PNC Financial Services Group. In this role, he leads the PNC Foundation, Community Affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility; Community  Development Banking; and Diversity and Inclusion. In addition, Bynum is leading the implementation of PNC’s $1 billion commitment to help end systemic racism and support the economic empowe...

Damian Rivera serves as ALPFA’s CEO since September 2018. Prior to ALPFA, Damian Rivera was a Managing Director in Accenture’s Resources Utilities practice for 21 years where he started his career as a coder in their Technology Practice.  While at Accenture, Damian focused on Customer Care Transformation work for utilities including helping clients with strategically pivoting to digital capab...