Welcome to the Cornell Latino Alumni Association!

Executive Board 2020 – 2024

Executive Board 2020 – 2024

CLAA's Nominations Committee is pleased to present the final selection for the Executive Board for 2020-2024.

DR. CALIE SANTANA joins the CLAA board as its next PRESIDENT and will serve a 4-year term. She studied Human Biology and Spanish Literature at Cornell as part of the College Scholars program in the College of Arts & Sciences (’98). During her time at Cornell, she was treasurer of Teatrotaller and co-directed one of their plays. She was also active with the Cornell Catholic Community, was a finalist for the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, and was a Biology peer tutor. After Cornell, she completed her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and went on to do her residency at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and to pursue a Masters of Health Science in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Yale.  

After completion of her Masters, Dr. Santana worked as Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Quality in the Department of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, NY.  She is now the Chief Informatics Officer at Westmed Medical Group in Westchester, NY. She in charge of payer contracting as well as pay for performance initiatives and provides data analysis for key strategic initiatives. 

In 2018, Dr. Santana was selected to the inaugural class of Crain’s New York Notable Women in Healthcare. She is the Editor of the Society of General Internal Medicine’s Improving Finances in Clinical Practice content.

On a personal note, she enjoys baking and traveling (when that’s safe) with her family. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she looks forward to representing the Latino/a/x community of Cornell Alumni.

KETY ESQUIVEL joins the CLAA board as its next VICE-PRESIDENT. Kety also Co-Chairs CLAA's Programming Committee. Kety is a Cornell ILR (’97) graduate and served on the President’s Council of Cornell Women from 1995-1997 as well as the Cornell Board of Trustees from 1995-1997.  Kety is a senior executive with two decades of experience working with clients in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Her work has taken her to China and Ethiopia with the UN Economic Commission for Africa. She's coached executives in the US, Canada and Latin America. She has led the digital efforts for top tier agencies, companies and nonprofits for over ten years.

Her diverse B2B and B2C background includes work with several companies, US government agencies, foreign governments, charitable foundations and nonprofits. Her clients have included American Express, Kraft, Marriot, Huggies, Kodak, Yahoo, Smartmatic, United Airlines, Nissan, the Public Broadcasting Service, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Harvard University, the California Endowment, the US Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Health and the Center for Disease Control. Kety is on the Advisory Board of Yes We Code and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation's Innovation and Technology Advisory Board. She's a former editor of BlogHer, a current blogger on the Huffington Post and has been a convener for Web of Change, She’s Geeky and TEDxAdamsMorgan. Kety has spoken at conferences worldwide including SXSW, the World Bank’s Entertainment Education Conference, Social Media Week and CampaignTech as well as conferences in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, El Salvador, Spain, Ireland and Canada. The Maynard Institute included her in their 31 Profiles of Women of Color in Digital Spaces. 

This year Tech Talent South (TTS) named Kety as one of 12 Latinas Leading In Tech That You Should Follow and Digital Trends included her in their list of the most influential leaders in the technology industry. Her work in PR includes a PRSA-NCC Thoth Award Category Winner in Global Communications, a Global Gold Sabre Award and placement as a Cannes PR Lions finalist.  Her commentary has been featured in the WSJ, HITN, PBS, CNN, NPR, Televisa and Univision.

ALEXANDRA MIGOYA joins the CLAA board as its next SECRETARY and will serve a 4-year term. Alexandra also Co-Chairs CLAA's Development Committee.  Alexandra received her BA (’93) in Spanish and English Literature from Cornell University and earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Alexandra is a lawyer by training and an educator by heart.  She began her career as a corporate lawyer in New York, relocated to D.C., and after ten years practicing law in D.C., she and a fellow law school classmate co-founded Isabella & Ferdinand Spanish Language Adventures a Spanish language program whose mission is for students to become both linguistically and culturally fluent in the Spanish language with a rich understanding of the art, literature and vast and diverse culture of Latin America and Spain.  Alexandra is currently a Sr. Director of Legal and Business Affairs with Rally Health, Inc., a digital health and wellness company in Washington, D.C.

Alexandra is deeply proud of her Dominican and Spanish heritage and has published short fiction related to Latin American culture and identity in various small presses including The Caribbean Writer. Her publication credits include a contributing article to Women, Feminism, and Femininity in the 21st Century: American and French Perspectives published by Palgrave McMillan. Her poetry translations from Spanish to English have been published in Twentieth Century Latin American Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology. Alexandra previously taught English Literature as an adjunct professor at Montgomery County Community College in Takoma Park, Maryland. She is on the Board of Advisors of the Intentional Life lab at the University of Maryland.  Alexandra grew up in upstate New York and currently lives in Bethesda, MD with her mother, husband and two teenage daughters. She has previously served as a Cornell Mosaic panelist and mentor and as a CAAAN volunteer from 2001-2020 and is excited to serve the current and future Cornell Latino Alumni community in particular in the area of career development and growth.

JOSE A. REYNOSO joins the CLAA board as its next TREASURER and will serve a 4-year term. Jose also Co-Chairs CLAA's Development Committee. Jose earned his BS (’92) from Cornell University and a J.D. and LL.M, specializing in taxation from New York University School of Law. He is admitted to practice law in New York and before the U.S. Tax Court and is a member of various bar associations, as well as the international Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

Jose is a Senior Managing Director who also serves as Chief Risk Officer for Clarfeld and is on the firm’s Executive Committee. He also leads the Advanced Tax and Estate Planning division and the Personal Financial Planning practice.  Jose has been working with clients in his role as an attorney and financial planning professional for more than 20 years. In addition to managing family client relationships, he oversees process, delivery, policy making and administration of Clarfeld’s estate and trust planning and financial planning practice.

Residing in Westchester County, N.Y. with his wife and two children, Jose has been active in the community, serving on the Board of the Westchester Community Foundation, the Auction Committee for Arts Westchester, and the Selection Committee for the Mamaroneck School Board.  Jose enjoys coaching sports teams for his two kids. Additionally, he dedicates time and energy to tennis, golf, and CrossFit workouts. Whenever he can, he reads nonfiction books, with a preference for history and biographies.  In addition to supporting the Latino Alumni community, Jose hopes to be a voice and catalyst that continues to promote an inclusive and tolerant environment at Cornell and further the enduring Cornell mission of Any person, Any study.

JANCEY JOSE TAVERAS joins the CLAA board as its EXTERNAL RELATIONS CHAIR and will serve a 4-year term.  A liberal arts creative (A&S ’15) turned all things tech enthusiast, Jancey received a Masters in Computing and Information Science from Cornell in May 2020.  Jancey has a bias toward action and a healthy disrespect for the impossible. An unapologetic lover of Mangú, Bachata, and Beyoncé, Jancey is looking forward to serving the Cornell Latinx community.  As part of Cornell’s English Creative Writing undergraduate program, Jancey produced short stories that centered on the experiences and voices of Latinx and LGBTQA+ characters. Outside the classroom, he not only held leadership positions as Co-Chair & Treasurer of the Quisqueya: The Dominican Students' Association, and Co-Founder & President of Gates' Opportunities for Advancement & Leadership but also, he was a Funding Commissioner for both the Student Assembly Finance Commission and CUTonight. Post-undergrad, Jancey continues to serve the Cornell community as an enthusiastic ambassador to prospective students and families in his role as a New Jersey Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network Volunteer.

Demonstrating his commitment to the Latinx community at large and his reach outside Cornell, Jancey advocated for Latinx and LGBTQA+ representation and recruitment during his employee resource group positions at JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. Currently, he holds roles as a Founding Member of the New Jersey Advisory Council for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Corporate Programs Committee Member of the Association of Latino Professionals For America New York, and Diversity & Inclusion Ambassador at FTI Consulting. As a committed Cornell community member, he will bridge the gap between the Cornell Latinx Alumni Association and other external organizations within and outside Cornell. At present, Jancey is a Senior Consultant at FTI Consulting’s Technology Transformation Practice. He is an avid reader and concert enthusiast (when that was a thing). Nowadays, when he is not indulging in much-needed self-care practices like meditating and journaling, Jancey is showcasing diverse emerging leaders while discussing nuanced topics from career readiness to mental health on his SERVING podcast.

CLEMENCIA FONSECA joins the CLAA board as its COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR and will serve a 4-year term.  Clemencia was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She studied International Studies and Foreign Languages at San Jose State University, California, finished the first year of Stanford’s master’s in liberal arts before she started international assignments, and completed her MBA at Cornell University in 2013.

Clemencia has worked 20+ years for several technology companies in the Silicon Valley. She is now the Senior Director of Business and Marketing Strategy for Wipro Technologies, where she and her team help companies accelerate the digital transformation of their business. Her current focus is cybersecurity, robotics, cloud and edge computing among other hi-tech segments. She has held various global management roles building partner ecosystems, field marketing teams and digital practices in the Americas and Asia Pacific. Clemencia has been committed to promoting Latinx talent in every regional and global organization she has built. Clemencia has been invited to be a panelist in several “Latins in Tech” meet-ups and has represented Hispanic women in university/college forums highlighting the opportunities for minorities in the Silicon Valley. 

Throughout her career, Clemencia has mentored several Latinx marketing students and professionals, whether to tackle professional growth opportunities or to build career pivot strategies. She volunteers as Strategy Leader for one of the private entities that builds interactive classrooms for rural communities in Colombia as well as fundraising activities for families displaced by violence. Clemencia and her husband live south of San Francisco, in sunny California.

VERONICA DAGOSTINO joins the CLAA board as its MEMBERSHIP CHAIR.  Veronica earned her BS (’15) from Cornell University’s ILR program with minors in Business, Latino Studies, and Law and Society. While at Cornell, she served as Class President and Executive Vice-President throughout all four undergraduate years. She was also actively involved with Phi Sigma Sigma serving on the Executive Board as Founding Tribune and Membership Recruitment Chair, the ILR Student Government Association, the ILR Minority Student Organization, Student Assembly Committee for Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives, and Convocation Committee, among others.

Veronica is an investor relations professional with experience working with institutional investors across private equity, credit, and real assets. Veronica worked on the Investor Relations team at Searchlight Capital Partners and the Institutional Client Business team at BlackRock where she focused on developing relationships with institutional investors and investment consultants, fundraising, project management, client service, and new product development. 

Veronica is passionate about empowering women and people of color to pursue arenas where they are underrepresented (such as private equity and venture capital) and promoting financial literacy among underserved communities. Veronica works with Angeles Investors, a mission driven venture capital angel group and co-founded the first Latinx employee network at BlackRock.

DAVID SANDOVAL, ESQ. previously served on the CLAA board as its Secretary and will continue his tenure as CLAA’s ADMISSIONS LIAISON.  David holds an AB ‘99 from Cornell University in English and Philosophy with a concentration in Law and Society, a J.D. from NYU School of Law, and a Certificate of Business Administration from Georgetown University.  

David is an attorney in the pharma/biotech industry, a musician, and a columnist on Latino issues.  While an undergrad, he founded the Ecuadorian Students and Scholars Association, and served as Secretary of the Cuban American Students Association.  He has also worked to support Cuban youth on the island by volunteering for Raices de Esperanza, and as a musician has explored Latino immigration issues in his most recent album Panamericano and performing on the Latin GRAMMY stage. 

David brings both his legal skills as well as his creativity to CLAA and is proud to add CLAA to the list of his Cornell volunteerism (Class of ’99 Council, Cornell Fund, Reunion Chair, CAAAN).

ISELA HERNANDEZ joins the CLAA board as an AT-LARGE MEMBER and will serve a 4-year term. Isela also Co-Chairs CLAA's Membership/Engagement Committee. Isela earned a BS (’95) from Cornell University and is the founder and President of HERNÁN, a brand of premium Mexican culinary products, is an award-winning merchant and entrepreneur. Her accomplishments have earned her noteworthy acclaim—from Sofi™ awards by the Specialty Food Association to recognition by the U.S. State Department for her work with artisans and food producers in Mexico. 

In 2007, after a decade in the fashion industry, Isela launched HERNÁN to promote Mexican cuisine and culture, and to open up new markets to Mexican artisans and small producers. HERNÁN appeals to gourmet enthusiasts and discerning foodies who appreciate quality and authenticity, and who want to prepare, cook, and serve Mexican food at home the way it's done "en Mexico".  They remain true to their Mexican roots while embodying a contemporary sensibility. Available nationwide in gourmet, specialty, and fine food stores as well as online, and served in restaurants and cafes in the US.  Isela currently resides in San Antonio where she oversees operations of HERNÁN. Warehouse headquarters are based in Del Rio, Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border where she grew up just minutes away from Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila. Isela was raised in the best of both worlds, exploring the opportunities of the U.S. while remaining closely connected to Mexico’s rich culture. HERNÁN has been featured in Martha Stewart Living, Food & Wine Magazine, Food Network’s Iron Chef America, Fine Cooking, CNN’s Your Money, Cosmopolitan Latina, Telemundo, Univision, and the Specialty Food Association’s “Craft. Care. Joy.” ad campaign. Her entrepreneurial journey is featured on AT&T’s “Escape the Cube” web series.   

ZACHARY GARCIA HUNTER joins the CLAA board as an AT-LARGE MEMBER. Zach also Co-Chairs CLAA's Communication Committee. Zach earned his BS (’18) from Cornell University and after graduation immediately began giving back to the Cornell community and became a CAAAN representative.

Zach is an Experienced Associate in PwC’s Real Estate, Hospitality & Leisure Advisory practice. At the highest level, Zach spends the majority of his time providing strategic advisory services and transaction due diligence expertise to various stakeholders across the hospitality and leisure sectors. During his two years with PwC, Zach has worked with an assortment of clients across the United States and the Caribbean. After working with owners, operators, large hotel companies, and industry trade associations, Zach has gained an incredible depth and breadth of experience in the lodging sector. His engagements have included everything from conducting due diligence for high-profile brand and single asset transactions, to helping large hotel companies and third party operators develop and implement growth and operational strategies. Lastly, Zach is a contributing writer to one of the industry’s leading thought leadership publications, PwC’s Hospitality Directions, which is a quarterly industry update and forecast projecting performance two years into the future.

Outside of his role on PwC’s Hospitality & Leisure team, Zach is also very active within PwC’s diversity and inclusion efforts. He recently was a founding member of a Financial Markets Latino Inclusion Group and serves as a member of the Financial Market’s Diversity & Inclusion Task Force. Zach was born and raised in Miami. He was the first in his family born in the United States and is incredibly proud of his Cuban culture and Hispanic heritage.

FREDDY TERRAZAS ESCAMILLA joins the CLAA board as an AT-LARGE MEMBER and will serve a 4-year term. Freddy also Co-Chairs CLAA's External Engagement Committee. Freddy holds his M.H.A. from Cornell University and a B.S. from Marquette University. Before Cornell, Freddy spent two years serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua. In his two years abroad, Freddy worked in teaching roles for youth, consulting roles for national NGO’s and served as an ambassador on Peace Corps committees in and outside of Central America.  Freddy was born and raised in Chicago, IL. A recent Florida transplant, Freddy works for the Mayo Clinic as an Administrative Fellow. He is currently working within the division of Business Strategy and Planning and Corporate Strategy consulting on various enterprise projects including the formulation of Mayo’s International Strategy and the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center.

Previously, Freddy spent time at the Cleveland Clinic working in their International Operations department. Freddy serves on the Board of Directors for the Cornell Club of Greater Jacksonville, as an at-large member for Cornell MOSAIC and he serves as a CAAAN ambassador in Northeast Florida. During his time at Cornell, Freddy served on the Cornell Latin American Student Society (CLASS) and the Latinx Graduate Student Association (LGSC) where he mentored first-generation and underrepresented undergraduates at Cornell.

In his free time, Freddy enjoys connecting with the community in Duval County, training for road races and triathlons, playing golf in beautiful Jacksonville, and rooting for all Chicago sports, Marquette basketball, and the Big Red!

 ARTURO CARRILLO obtained his bachelor’s degree from the School of Operation Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell’s College of Engineering in 1996. He completed his Masters of Engineering in 1997. He also holds a Master in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He will be an EX-OFFICIO Member for CLAA.

Since graduation Arturo has been involved in many volunteer roles. He has been a CAAAN volunteer, CAAAN Chair and is currently General Co-Chair for the Dallas – Fort Worth area and other Texas committees.  He is a member of the Cornell University Council Administrative Board where he serves as Vice Chair.  From a local club perspective, Arturo has held many roles and is currently the CAAAN representative and also helps in club communications.

For his profession, his career has spanned various finance positions from investment banking, private equity and corporate finance.  He is currently the Chief Financial Officer at a Dallas based national real estate investment firm.

Arturo lives in Dallas, TX with his wife Jamie Carrillo '96 and his two children Daniel and Lulu. 

Cornell Latino Alumni Association (CLAA) Board of Directors
Invites you to volunteer and get involved!

Please contact us at claa94@cornell.edu to discuss opportunities.

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with CLAA!