Team

Founder

Giovanni Dubois is originally from Guatemala City, Guatemala. He moved to Los Angeles with his family at the age of 14 and since then he’s been connecting people in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. His drive for building a community came from being the oldest of 5 siblings … being surrounded by people he loves. Giovanni has traveled through 40 countries and realized that Latino culture is everywhere. His dream is to continue to connect people and spread this beautiful culture to everyone regardless of racial background.In addition, Giovanni is currently Board of Director for the San Francisco Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. His previous experience lies in marketing consulting (ZS Associates in New York) and controls theory research. He holds an MS and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds a Management of Technology certificate from Haas Business School.  Contact Giovanni.

Director of Business Development

Sofia Ayala Perel was born in San Salvador, El Salvador and moved to the Bay Area when she was 15. She is a world traveler and someone who loves to bring people together to work on a common goal and to share their unique experiences.While at the SF Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in the early 2000s, she saw the fragmentation within the Latino professional community and began a movement to unify the different professional organizations (such as NSHMBA, SHPE, ALPFA, LBP, Latin American Consulates, La Raza Lawyers, and NLPOA, among others) in order to build a stronger and more connected Latino community.

Her career in marketing spans from the non-profit to the corporate industries.  Most recently, she was at Comcast where she created multicultural marketing campaigns for the most culturally diverse market in the nation.

She has a double major in Economics and Third World Development from Brown University, studied in the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, lived in South Korea for a year, and is a Coro Community Leadership Fellow Alum. Sofia has been a LAM advocate since becoming a member in 2010 and wants to take the organization to the next level. Contact Sofia.

Director of Strategy

Pablo Perez is a Bay Area native. Pablo is bicultural, with his father originally from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico and mother from Cavite City, Philippines. Pablo enjoys activities such as meeting new people and learning new something new every day.Pablo’s experience spans over 5 years in investment banking, management consulting, and technology sales. Pablo has previously worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Division, as a senior research manager/management consultant at Tiburon Strategic Advisors, and most recently as a manager at Reputation.Com. He has been quoted in various media sources such as Board IQ, Investment News, and the Financial Time’s Fund Fire on subjects related to strategy, financial products, & technology. Pablo graduated from the Claremont College – Pitzer College with a degree in Mathematical Economics and from the University of San Francisco with a Masters in Finance. Contact Pablo.

Advisory Board

Advisory Board Member

Edgar Mejia is Founder and Chief Creative Officer of CONEXION, a social media and virtual management company for chambers of commerce, membership organizations and Latino entrepreneurs across the U.S.A.As CCO, Edgar oversees the creative process and tactical direction of the company, including key alliances with media networks, government agencies, and Fortune-5000 clients.
Prior to his current position, Edgar served as Executive Director of the Latin Business Association (LBA), a nonprofit which developed chapters in key U.S. cities, in Mexico, El Salvador, Spain and Korea, and later became a model for Chambers of Commerce nationally. As E.D., Edgar designed and managed the association’s growth strategy, created its online initiatives, and developed the National Latino Business Expo, which featured two U.S. Presidents as keynote speakers.

Previous to leading the LBA, Edgar was Marketing & Programs Director for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, a lobbying organization with a strong presence at the local, state and national government levels. In this role, he designed programs and services exclusively for the young entrepreneur and the early-stage business owner.

In the community, Edgar is one of only 65 Americans to be invited to NASA’s first ever social media program held at the Goldstone Space Complex in the Mojave Desert, in California; he is currently working closely with the White House on small business investment efforts; he served as advisor to the CA Women’s Conference 2012; served as Marketing Committee Chair for the National Association of Hispanic MBAs; served as Small Business Commissioner for Majority Floor Leader and California Assembly Speaker, Karen Bass, from 2007 to 2009; and chaired the Hispanic Public Relations Association’s Membership Committee in 2010.

Above all, Edgar designed CONEXION as a sustainable vehicle for funding nonprofits projects seeking to abolish poverty for children. Since 2007, CONEXION has funded three projects totaling $135,000 with a total impact of close to $400,000 for the nonprofits involved.

For his successful use of sustainable business/nonprofit modeling, Edgar has been the proud finalist to the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year Award by INC & Hispanic Business magazines.
Edgar holds a bachelors degree in communications from Cal State LA, and a Presidential Key Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine University. He has also successfully completed two Executive Management Development extension programs at the Anderson School of Business, at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Edgar is an avid marathoner and an aspiring ultra-marathoner.

Advisory Board Member

Giovanni Rodriguez is an award-winning consultant, strategist and thought leader on marketing, organizational design, and social technology. Today he is CEO of SocialxDesign, a new consultancy that’s enabling businesses and government agencies to grow by more effectively engaging new audiences. In prior roles, he has served as a senior member of the social-technology team at Deloitte Consulting, chief marketing officer for a publicly traded company, and managing partner of The Conversation Group (TCG), one of the first social consulting firms. Known for his work in designing and executing large-scale marketing campaigns and company launches, he has advised businesses and organizations as diverse as NBC, The New York Stock Exchange, Unilever, SAP, and The White House.

He is a regular contributor for Forbes, a columnist for ClickZ (the “Marketing to Latinos” column), and the author of an upcoming book on how social engagement is helping to remake the way government services are delivered (O’Reilly Media, Winter 2012). In addition, he is a frequent speaker on enterprise collaboration, the multicultural Web, and innovation in marketing. Recent speaking engagements include Enterprise 2.0, SxSW, Pivot, TEDx San Juan, and SES. Politic 365 recently named him a “game changer” for his work in multicultural media, marketing, and civic engagement.

He is a founding fellow of the Society for New Communications Research, a member of the advisory board for SES, a founding board director for Latinos in Social Media (LATISM), and co-founder of Parranda.org, a new non-profit dedicated to powering the Puerto Rican diaspora though online and offline social engagement. A graduate of Princeton University, he is an MSc candidate in organizational psychology at The University of London.

Advisory Board Member

Jesse Torres was born in Jalisco and raised in Los Angeles. He is passionate about strengthening the Latino community and has been an advocate for LAM for more than 2 years. He is currently the Director of Development and Corporate Relations at Texas State University. His main role is identification, cultivation, and stewardship of corporations to generate partnerships to support the mission and programs at Texas State University-San Marcos.Previously, Jesse was the Director of Development Northwest Region for the Hispanic Scholar Fund. He was part of a team that was able to raise 19 million dollars in 2011 alone to help Latino students pay for college. He and his previous team awarded deserving Latino students 30 million dollars overall. During his tenure in San Francisco, Jesse hosted various Hispanic Scholarship Fund networking events per year to connect local Hispanic professionals in San Francisco and San Jose. The goal of these events was to help Latinos explore professional opportunities and hear more about the work and mission of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

In addition to being a super connector and a former professional athlete, Jesse is also a motivational speaker who has been invited to speak to freshmen classes at Minnesota State Mankato as well as Sacramento State. He is also an entrepreneur and recently submitted a patent. Jesse graduated with a MA in Kinesiology from Humboldt State University and a BA in Kinesiology from Adams State College where he was a runner for the top Cross-Country Coach; Dr. Joe I. Vigil, Olympic Coach and Global representative of Adidas. He has been a member of the USA coaching staff for the past 6 Olympic Games.

Advisory Board Member

Maria Anguiano is originally from San Diego, California. She currently serves as the Chief of Staff to the CFO of the UC system and as the Director of Strategic Initiatives. She works directly with senior UC management on improving the administrative and operational effectiveness of the University as a key tenet of long-term sustainability and affordability for California residents.Prior to working at UC, Maria was a public finance investment banker at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital, providing investment banking expertise to the full range of public sector clients, including state and local governments, not-for-profit organizations, and public authorities. She participated on a host of municipal deals raising several billion dollars. Maria has also worked as a CPA at Deloitte where she performed financial statement audits for firms in a diverse set of industries.

Maria is passionate about connecting Latina throughout the State and over the past year has hosted several women oriented LAM events. She is excited about LAM’s future and creating more connections among our Latina members.

She holds a BA in Economics-Accounting from Claremont McKenna College where she graduated magna cum laude, and has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is an avid world travel, rock en espanol enthusiast and a first generation college graduate.

Advisory Board Member

Sergio Garcia currently serves as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of ZELTIQ Aesthetics, Inc., a public medical technology company. Sergio has been recognized as a “Super Lawyer” in Northern California for several years, and is a leader in the legal and business community in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sergio has extensive experience advising technology companies. Prior to joining ZELTIQ, Sergio was a partner at global technology law firms, Reed Smith LLP and Fenwick & West LLP, where he advised clients on corporate, transactional, and regulatory compliance matters. He also served as outside general counsel to early-stage companies on intellectual property matters, strategic alliances, licensing and collaboration agreements.

Throughout his legal career, Sergio has assumed leadership and policy role positions in the legal profession and in the business community. He has served on several bar and nonprofit boards, including the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco, the Hispanic National Bar Association and the Opportunity Fund, a Silicon Valley-based community development financial institution.

A world traveler, Sergio has taught law as a Fulbright Professor of Law in Oaxaca, Mexico, and has written and presented on intellectual property law, international trade and policy, antitrust law and technology issues. Mr. Garcia earned a JD from U.C. Berkeley School of Law and a Bachelors of Arts degree with distinction from Stanford University.

Sergio has been instrumental in LAM’s recent growth and is passionate about growing our community.

LAM Ambassadors

LAM Ambassador

Anthony Carrillo was born and raised in New York City. His family is originally from Intipucá, La Unión, El Salvador.Professionally, Anthony’s experience includes performing a variety of domestic and international assignments covering areas such as: accounting fraud, accounting malpractice, asset misappropriation, compliance matters, embezzlement, internal control risk assessments and remediation, securities and insider trading loss assessments, gap analysis, as well as investigations of alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). He currently works for a technology company responsible for Service Provider Compliance in Latin America.

Anthony has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance with a concentration in computer science. He is a registered Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner. Anthony has spent a considerable amount of time overseas, spending two months in India, as well as visiting over 19 countries.

He is passionate about empowering the community and helping others succeed. In his spare time, Anthony likes recreational sports, snowboarding, photography, traveling and salsa dancing.

LAM Ambassador

Gabriela Arvizu was born in Zapopan, Jalisco and raised in Oakland, California.

Her interest in media and global issues motivated her to receive a B.A. in Television and Radio, and a minor in International Relations from San Francisco State University. Gabriela lived in Sweden for a year, where she pursued her passion for International media and travel.

With the experience she gained overseas and through her studies, Gaby has worked to organize community based media projects and written for local newspapers. She hopes to continue to explore the many uses of digital media to connect local and international communities.

Gabriela also has an affinity for visual arts and culture. She has danced in San Francisco Carnaval for the last two consecutive years and plans to continue studying Brazilian dance. Living in the Mission District of San Francisco has also inspired her to explore painting and photography.

Gabriela joins the LAM team with strong aspirations to serve and help connect the LAM community.

LAM Ambassador

LAM Ambassador

Gabriela Chavez-Lopez was born and raised in Fresno, CA but is a true New-Mexican at heart and by family legacy.

She received her Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science from Santa Clara University. During college Gabriela founded and was President of Sigma Omega Nu, a Latina based sorority at Santa Clara.

Following her interest in politics she went on to become the Campaign Coordinator for Teresa Alvarado’s 2010 Campaign for Santa Clara County Supervisor. Soon after Gabriela transitioned into a sales and marketing role for Red Bull, North America but after two years public service called. After graduating from the HOPE (Hispanas Organized for Political Equality) Leadership Institute, Gabriela was inspired to further pursue her career in service to the Bay Area community. She eventually made her way up to San Francisco and is currently working in grantmaking for the Koret Foundation.

Gabriela is enjoying everything San Francisco has to offer-including her continued involvement with LAM. In her free time she enjoys dancing, exercising, eating delicious food (hence the need to exercise), traveling near and far, mentoring, and most of all spending quality time with loved ones.

Jessica Ruvalcaba

LAM Ambassador

Jessica Ruvalcaba was born in Watsonville, Ca. Her family is originally from Mexico City.

A Field Marketing Manager for the Cisco America’s Theater Marketing Enablement team with an emphasis in Latin America. Jessica works with the Latin America marketing team to drive awareness and adoption of marketing and services programs. Jessica has several years of marketing and management experience in the high tech industry in developing and executing marketing solutions.

Jessica earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration as well as an Executive Masters of Business Administration (EMBA) both from California State University of Monterey Bay.

Additionally, Jessica’s passion for philanthropy has led her to volunteer to various non-profit organizations and has enabled her to serve on several planning committees.

Juan Pablo

Creative Design Director

Juan Pablo Garcia was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia. He has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and mass media but has always worked as a Graphic Designer because it is his true passion. He arrived to San Francisco in 2003 and has been freelancing as well as working as a Real Estate Agent since 2004.

Nowadays he is working in the media design team at Wells Fargo. He recently completed a masters in New Media and Web Design in the Academy of Art. He has been involved with LAM for three years and was the author of LAM’s new branding. Juan P is a very proud Latino and a party lover! He will help LAM continue to grow and give the best to its members. Finally, he is passionate about technology, new media and cooking.

LAM Ambassador

Julio Lara is a child of the Bay Area by way of San Francisco and El Salvador, Central America. Home is now Burligame, but has been anywhere from Daly City to San Jose to Oakland. He is son to a pair of hard-working parents, brother to a trio of incredible siblings and proud uncle to five future superstars.Julio has been a student of journalism for the majority of his life and has been a part of a newspaper editorial team since junior high school. After studying and working his up through junior college newspapers galore, he cut his teeth writing sports for the Daily News Group. Julio then took his talents to the San Mateo Daily Journal where he was a production artist and sports intern before realizing a life-long dream and taking a job as a reporter with the same, award-winning publication. He now writes sports and reviews Latino concerts in the Bay Area — with a couple of visits to Los Angeles sprinkled in between. Sports is his baby, Music his passion,

Writing his life.

When he’s not at a sports event or covering a concert (which isn’t often), you’ll find him working on a degree in Creative Writing where he focuses on creative non-fiction and poetry. His other interests include dancing, a Cha Cha Chas sangria … and eating. Rumor is, he loves to eat.

LAM Ambassador

Perla E. Parra is a first-generation American; she spent half of her formative years in Mexico and the other half in California.

Perla is a co-founder of LAM, and she served as the Fundraising Manager from 2007 to 2009. In this role, Perla helped to establish the organization, forming vital partnerships and assisting with strategic planning for growth. Perla continues to be involved with LAM, currently as an Ambassador and consultant due to her other commitments as a first year law school student.

Perla received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley and graduated Pi Alpha Alpha with a Masters in Public Administration from Cornell University in 2011. During college, Perla studied in Italy and Cuba and mentored middle school students in an after school program as the program’s manager. While at Cornell, Perla served in numerous leadership roles, including chair of the Latino Graduate Student Coalition, president of the Cornell Women in Public Policy, the Senior Managing Editor of The Cornell Policy Review, and she worked as a consultant in South Africa and Barcelona.

Most recently, Perla spent a year as a Luce Scholar in Thailand, where she worked advocating for human and labor rights for immigrant workers. Perla is a dedicated activist currently pursuing a law degree at UC Hastings. She is committed to serving disadvantaged and underrepresented groups and hopes to continue to make meaningful contributions to her community.

Apart from her advocacy work and studies, Perla enjoys photography, salsa dancing, cooking Thai food, painting, and playing soccer.

LAM Ambassador

Sandra Rivadeneyra was born and raised in Lima, Perú. Her passion for languages and cultural diversity infused her desire to travel in Europe, the U.S. and Latin America. She lived in Germany before moving to the Bay Area eight years ago.

She has a professional background in International Tourism and Business Administration working for recognized Global companies.

After attending her first professional LAM event, which featured International Business Consultant and Motivational Speaker Daniel Gutierrez, she had the opportunity to follow his coaching and mentoring that eventually led her to discover her interest in Corporate Event Planning. She is highly motivated to make this her own career path and is eager to support LAM’s growth within the Latino Professional Community in San Francisco / Bay Area.

Additionally, Sandra is a firm advocate for animal rights, a proud vegetarian and Chihuahua owner who enjoys nature, dancing and oil painting in her free time.

LAM Ambassador

Veronica Marulanda is originally from Bogota, Colombia. She is Vice President, Enterprise Data & Analytics Team, Wells Fargo Bank. Her main role is delivering actionable business insights through data-driven analysis, and facilitating processes to aid decision-making.Previously, Veronica supported the development of business and marketing strategies to drive growth across consumer segments, including Hispanic and Women’s markets. She also serves as board member for Wells Fargo’s Latino team member resource group “Latin Connection”.
Veronica is intellectually curious and passionate about the Hispanic Community. She is excited about LAM’s future and creating more connections among members. Combo data nerd and world traveler that escaped from South America upbringing to find a world of diversity and new experiences.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Catholic University in Bogota, Colombia and MS in Economics from San Francisco State University.

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LAM Ambassador

Martha Edith was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Her family is from San Miguel El Alto, Jalisco, Mexico. She became an active member of LAM in 2009 and since then has helped transformed LAM from a party group to a professional organization. Her ambition to succeed has benefited LAM by helping create key partnerships with organizations like NSHMBA and others.She is the CEO and Founder of Martha Edith Marketing (http://www.marthaedithmarketing.com.) Martha Edith Marketing helps small businesses and non-profits establish a strong online presence by setting them up with a website that is optimized for their target audience. Martha holds a B.A. in Mass Communications from University of California Berkeley.