Officers and Board Members
President
Gavin Mariano
E-mail
Secretary
Jerame Hicks
Vice President
Jessica Montalvo
Immediate Past President
Daniel Simonsohn
Board Members-At-Large
Ex-Officio
Gavin Mariano graduated from IU Bloomington, class of 2001, with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Spanish.
Mariano played a large role in the Latino student community while at IU. As the first member of his family to attend and graduate from college, Mariano achieved the following at IU: president of Latinos Unidos of IU (1993-94); two-time recipient of the IU Office of Latino Affairs Latino Service Award (1994 & 1998); member, Latino Enhancement Committee (1993); Dance Marathon participant (1992); member, Indiana Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness (1992); three-time attendee of the Hispanic Leadership Conference (1993, 1998, 1999); work-study employee (IUSA 1993-94); La Casa Latino Cultural Center (1994 and 1998-2000); president IDIOMA (IU Spanish-speaking club, 2000); president Omega Delta Phi Latino Club; resident assistant (1999-2000); CommUNITY Educator (2000-01); and undergraduate representative for the IU Latino Alumni Association (2001).
Mariano, who resides in northwest Indiana, has worked for the Crisis Center, Inc. of Northwest Indiana since 2001 in the areas of direct care, as a program coordinator, and in technical support. Mariano serves on the advisory board of the Laporte County Correctional Association and held the position of at-large board member in the IU Latino Alumni Association from 2005 to 2007 before being elected president in the fall of 2007.
Jessica Montalvo, Vice President:
Jessica Maria Montalvo is IULAA’s vice president for the 2007-08 academic year. She graduated from IU Bloomington in 2003 with a BA in Spanish. Currently, Montalvo is in her third year as a Spanish teacher for Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Ind. While attending IU from 1999 to 2003, Montalvo was president and member of Gamma Phi Omega International Sorority Inc., and a member of Latinos Unidos. She was the president of the Spanish-speaking club IDIOMA, and was actively involved in promoting cultural awareness in the community. Her goals as vice president of IULAA include recruiting Latino alumni to actively participate in mentoring current IU students and providing current information about what our Latino alumni have accomplished after graduation.
Jerame Hicks began his educational career during the summer of 1995 as a Groups student. While an undergraduate, Hicks was very involved with the IU community and a variety of organizations including Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Inc., Latinos Unidos of IU, Faculty and Staff for Student Excellence Mentoring Program, Eli Lilly Mentoring Program, and IUPHC. He graduated in 1999 with a bacehelor’s in both criminal justice and African-American studies. Currently, Hicks is attending the graduate studies program of education at Indiana University Northwest with an anticipated 2010 graduation date.
Hicks resides in his hometown of East Chicago, Ind. He is a school teacher at George Rogers Clark Middle/High School for the School City of Hammond and the middle school athletic director and wrestling coach for Lake County High School, the wrestling championship director, and Latino Club co-sponsor.
Daniel Simonsohn, Immediate Past President:
Daniel Simonsohn was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and raised in New York City. He received a BA in Political Science from IU Bloomington in 1976. From 1974 to 1976, he played varsity soccer for the Hoosiers under Jerry Yeagley.
In 1977, Simonsohn was a graduate assistant with La Casa. He received an MBA from Inter-American University of Puerto Rico in 1980. He has had 25 years of experience as a project manager in the telecommunications industry with AT&T, Lucent, and Avaya Communications. From 1989 to 2003, he was involved with HISPA, the Hispanic association representing more than 5,000 AT&T, Lucent, and Avaya employees. He served as HISPA’s international president from 1998 to 2003. He has also been a member of the National Association of Hispanic MBAs.
In addition to serving as the immediate past president of IULAA, he is a member of IULAA’s executive council.
Members At Large
Cristal L. Cabrera, a 2009 graduate from IU in Bloomington, is currently fulfilling the Indiana Conference for Legal Education Opportunities Law Fellowship program to help her transition to law school next August. She became involved with the Latino Alumni Association when she was selected for an undergraduate scholarship in the fall of 2008 and took part in Alumni Association weekend events that same year. During her undergraduate years, she was a member of Delta Alpha Rho, a community service fraternity, and rode for team Mezcla in IU’s Little 500. Cabrera hopes to keep her strong ties with the community-service group as well as her team, and to inspire other Latino students to become more involved not only in the Hispanic community but also in the Indiana University campus community.
Manuel Montalvo attended IU Bloomington. He declared political science as a major and excelled academically, adding Spanish as a second major. At IU, Montalvo participated in Latinos Unidos and College Democrats. Montalvo also actively supported the successful mayoral bid of John Fernandez. Montalvo graduated from IU with a BA double major from the College of Arts and Sciences in May 1998.
After college, Xerox, SBC, MCI, and then AT&T, hired Montalvo. Although fascinated by the technology, his interests remained in politics. In 2002, while at SBC, Montalvo formed a political action committee and supported then-councilman George Pabey in his mayoral bid against eight-time incumbent Robert A. Pastrick. Montalvo was asked to join Pabey’s committee and eventually earned the title of campaign manager. After an election marred by fraud, a Supreme Court hearing, and finally an unprecedented second primary, George Pabey made history and was elected the first Latino mayor of East Chicago, Ind.
Montalvo made an unsuccessful bid for council in 2004 but was appointed by the Lake County Council that same year to the East Chicago Library Board of Trustees. In 2005, he was appointed by Mayor George Pabey to be East Chicago’s information technology director. In January 2006, Montalvo became president of the Library Board and eventually became interim director of the East Chicago Public Library in November of that same year. Montalvo is married and has two children.
Ricardo "Ric" Montelongo is the director of academic enhancement at Texas A&M University at Galveston. His office provides academic support through general academic advising, peer tutoring, supplemental instruction, and college-success courses. Motelongo completed his PhD in higher education at IU in 2003. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1991 and a master’s in educational administration in 1993, both at Texas A&M. He has worked in student-support services, student-athlete services, residence life, and institutional research. His research is focused on the educational outcomes associated with minority student involvement in college extracurricular activities. When not spending time with his wife, Angie (who worked at IU as an assistant residence hall manager for Briscoe and Read Halls), he can be found running. He has completed three marathons, 10 half-marathons, and countless 5K’s. He currently resides in Houston, Texas.
David Ortiz, Chair, the Distinguished Alumni Awards Selection Committee/Annual Meeting Committee:
David Ortiz has worked in higher education for over 10 years. He is a sought-after keynote speaker, presenter, and consultant on issues of diversity, leadership, and student development. Ortiz has facilitated numerous workshops and presentations at regional and national conferences.
Ortiz is a registered educational consultant with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). His most recent consultation project was commissioned by the University of Tulsa in order to study the campus climate for white and non-white students.
Ortiz is past national president of Omega Delta Phi Fraternity, Inc.; former member of the IU Project Team board of directors; Sigma Lambda Gamma Foundation advisory group member; and a past member of the Executive Council of the American College Personnel Association. He is also a former national officer of Chi Alpha Epsilon National Honor Society and past executive director of the Adelante Educational Foundation. He is currently a project consultant with the North American Interfraternity Conference’s national assessment program.
Ortiz is an assistant professor of education and director of the Master of Education Program at Concordia University, Texas. He earned his PhD in higher education administration from IU. Ortiz earned both his Master’s in educational administration and Bachelor’s in sociology from Texas A&M University. He resides in San Antonio, Texas with his wife of 13 years, April, an elementary school teacher, and daughters Leticia and Liliana.
Fred Ramirez was born and raised in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he attended private parochial schools and was involved in football, basketball, wrestling, baseball, and body-boarded and surfed any chance he got. He graduated with an AA from Santa Barbara City College then a BA from San Diego State University, where he majored in social studies. He went on to teach at his alma mater in Santa Barbara, then pursued an MA at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he also taught at an inner-city public high school. It was at this time that he was encouraged by a professor to pursue his doctoral degree.
Ramirez graduated in 1999 from IU’s School of Education with a PhD in curriculum studies and a minor in education policy. He returned to Southern California, where he currently teaches at California State University, Fullerton, in the Department of Secondary Education.
Ramirez got married before leaving for Indiana in 1995, and during graduate school they had two beautiful children. Upon returning to California, they were blessed with a third child. In his spare time, when he is not taking his kids to sport practices or games, Ramirez teaches scuba diving.
Natalia Peral Rayzor, earned a bachelor’s Spanish and political science with a certificate in Latin American studies from IU in 1997. While at IU, Rayzor co-founded the PSI Chapter of the largest Latina based multicultural sorority – Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority Inc. She devoted her time not only pursuing her education, but also worked with Latino-related organizations and causes such as Latinos Unidos of IU and Sports Fest. She organized initiatives for migrant farm worker rights, tutored immigrant children, and worked at La Casa and the Spanish and Portuguese department.
Rayzor is the training coordinator for the Indiana University Credit Union and has over 13 years experience in the credit-union industry. She is responsible for training and development initiatives offered through the Credit Union. She is certified as a professional in human resources by the Human Resource Certification Institute and serves as district director for the Indiana State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management. Rayzor is a member of St Paul’s Catholic Church, the Society of Human Resource Management, the South Central Indiana HR Association, the Credit Union National Association HR/Training Council, and the IU Alumni Association.
Rayzor resides in Bloomington with her husband of 12 years, Jeff, and their 3½-year-old son Nathan. Rayzor enjoys spending time with her family and friends and continues to stay active with her sorority. Her hobbies include knitting, reading, spending time in her garden, remote control air shows, and attending a good Jazzercise class.
Ex-Officio
Salvador Soto is CEO of DeSoto Translation & Marketing, Inc., a full-service translation and interpretation agency, focusing on international and multicultural advertising services and headquartered in Fort Wayne, Ind. with a secondary office in Raleigh, N.C. Soto is also founder and coordinator of "Fiesta Fort Wayne," the region’s largest Hispanic heritage celebration; Latinos Count; and Latino Monthly newspaper. Soto founded and coordinated the Indiana Hispanic Leadership Summit, which is a statewide conference developed to discuss Hispanic/Latino leadership issues. Soto is also the past founder and director of the Avant-Garde Fine Art Gallery which now operates under the Cashman Gallery name.
Lillian Casillas is the director of La Casa, the Latino Cultural Center. She earned her BA in Spanish in 1989 and MS in education in 1998 from IU Bloomington.
With the university, Casillas serves as a resource and support for Latino students, faculty, and staff. Specifically, she is responsible for programming that contributes to the educational, cultural, and social enrichment of Latino and non-Latino students, faculty, and staff. She also works with students in the areas of academic progress, integration into the mainstream of university activities, and all other aspects of campus life. Other duties include general advising and support for student organizations, leadership development, grant writing, serving on campus committees, and working collaboratively with the other cultural centers to maximize resources.
Within the Bloomington community, she helps provide support and access for Latinos to educational, health, social, and other community services while acting as a resource for these same agencies.
Yolanda Treviño, earned her PhD in higher education from IU in 2004. She also holds an MS from Northern Illinois University and a BA from Baylor University in Texas. Currently, she works as an assistant dean at the IU Graduate School in Bloomington. She is the director for the IU Midwest Crossroads Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (a National Science Foundation grant program which develops and implements innovative programs that promote the academic success of graduate students, with a special interest in activities designed to advance under-represented minority students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics degree programs); is responsible for diversity-building fellowships; and, serves as the ombudsperson for the Graduate and Professional Student Organization, the official graduate student government for IU.
Treviño is actively involved in her local community and serves, or has served, on the board of directors of the following organizations: IU Latino Faculty and Staff Council, IU Credit Union, Bloomington Rotary Club, and Middle Way House Inc.
From 1993 to 2002, Clarence Boone held joint appointments with the IU Alumni Association as an affiliate club director, with the IU Foundation as a development officer, and with the Office of Student Development and Diversity as director of the Office of Community and School Partnerships. In 2002, he began serving as IUAA director of Diversity Programming. Among his duties, he coordinated activities for both the Neal-Marshall Alumni Club and the African-American Arts Institute Alumni Association. Since then, he has added the following affiliate groups to his portfolio: the Latino Alumni Association, the Groups Alumni Association, and the Asian Alumni Association. He coordinates alumni events and programs that specifically target minority alumni, faculty, staff, and students. Boone assists the IUAA in increasing minority involvement and participation, identifies and cultivates prospective minority alumni leaders and donors, and serves as a liaison to the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs.