As Senior Director of Government Affairs for PEPSICO, Lupe De La Cruz manages political and public policy activities for eight states in the western region of the United States. In its global portfolio of food and beverage brands, PepsiCo has 22 different brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. With net revenues of over $65 billion, PepsiCo’s main businesses also make hundreds of other enjoyable foods and beverages that are respected household names throughout the world.
Lupe represents PEPSICO’s diverse convenient food and beverages portfolio with policymakers and community leaders and directs PEPSICO’s community engagement in those states. With a cross-divisional team, Lupe supports PEPSICO’s national initiatives in the Latino community. He joined PEPSICO in 2005 and is most proud of his role in fostering relationships with the communities he works in.

Lupe’s interest in government affairs began working on several political campaigns and grassroots mobilization; a product of following his father to many political and campaign rallies as a youth. His passion for public policy issues was cemented while working in the office of Congressman Esteban E. Torres and later as Advocacy Director of the AARP California State office. While at AARP, with a cadre of volunteer activists and dedicated professional staff, he developed legislative strategies that led to the enactment of over a dozen consumer protection bills ranging in policy areas from healthcare and financial privacy to homeowner protections and long-term care.

Originally from the Greater Los Angeles area, Lupe graduated from UCLA with a degree in Political Science. As an undergraduate he served as a reserve deputy with the County of Los Angeles Juvenile Probation Department. He ran a literacy program in the juvenile probation camps and later managed caseloads in the Gang Alternative and Prevention Program.

Currently, Lupe serves on the Board of Directors of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, which celebrates and cultivates an appreciation for the enduring and evolving influence of Mexican and Mexican-American culture, with a specific focus upon the unique Mexican-American experience in Los Angeles and Southern California. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of the California Latino Caucus Institute, the National Council of La Raza and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. He served six years on the Board of the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Conference, which sends 120 high school students to Sacramento for a week-long of intensive leadership training. He resides with his wife, Yadira Tovar De La Cruz, son, Lupito, and daughter, Elizabeth, in Frisco, Texas.

Back To Top

Katharine Gin is co-founder and executive director of Immigrants Rising (formerly EDUCATORS FOR FAIR CONSIDERATION), a San-Francisco-based nonprofit whose mission is to empower undocumented young people to achieve their academic and career goals and actively contribute to society. Since 2006, IR has addressed the holistic needs of undocumented young people through direct support, leadership development, community outreach, creative expression, and advocacy.

Katharine is the proud descendant of Chinese immigrants, who first came to the U.S. in the 1860s to work in the gold mines of California and later during the restrictive Chinese Exclusion Acts. She was born and raised in San Francisco and received her BA from Yale University and MFA from the University of Oregon.
For nearly 20 years, Katharine has worked to enhance arts and education opportunities for low-income and minority youth. She has developed innovative programs in schools, housing projects, and detention facilities. Her artistic and educational work with youth has been exhibited and published widely in college textbooks, literary anthologies, magazines, and national newspapers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The Harvard Educational Review.

Outside of her work with IR, Katharine serves on the Leadership Committee of the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC), the National Advisory Board of TheDream.US, and is an advisor to the Nelson Fund at The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, where she has overseen the fund’s philanthropic investments in arts and education since 2001. She is also the proud mother of Anna Dido Nordeson and partner to Kjell Nordeson.

Back To Top

Don Graham is Chairman of the Graham Holdings Company (previously The Washington Post). His family published The Washington Post from 1946 until 2013.

After graduating in 1966 from Harvard College, Graham served as an information specialist with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam and upon his return, worked as a patrolman with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.

Graham joined The Washington Post newspaper in 1971 as a reporter and subsequently held several news and business positions at the newspaper, including publisher and chairman of the Board. Today, he serves as the chairman of Graham Holdings Company.

Don co-founded and served as chairman of the District of Columbia College Access Program that has helped double the number of DC public high school students going on to college and has helped triple the number graduating from college. He remains a member of the DC-CAP board. Since its inception, DC-CAP has assisted over 23,000 DC students enroll in college and has provided scholarships totaling more than $33 million.

Upon learning of the plight of undocumented students with no access to college, Graham co-founded TheDream.US, a national scholarship fund for DREAMers, created to help undocumented immigrant youth get access to a college education. His wife, journalist Amanda Bennett (formerly Director of Voice of America) joined him in this endeavor.

Graham is a trustee of the Federal City Council. He also served as a director of the College Success Foundation, KIPP-DC, The Summit Fund of Washington, Facebook, and was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.

Back To Top

Carlos Gutierrez is currently Chairman & CEO at EmPath and former Kellogg’s Chairman & CEO. Secretary Gutierrez served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 2005 to 2009 under President George W. Bush, where he worked with foreign government and business leaders to advance economic relationships, enhance trade, and promote U.S. exports.

Previously, Secretary Gutierrez spent nearly thirty years with Kellogg Company, a global manufacturer and marketer of well-known food brands. After assignments in Latin America, Canada, Asia, and the United States, he became President and Chief Executive Officer of Kellogg in 1999 − the youngest CEO in the company’s hundred-year history. In April 2000, he was named Chairman of the Board of Kellogg Company.

Secretary Gutierrez joined ASG from Citi, where he was Vice-Chairman of the Institutional Clients Group and a member of the Senior Strategic Advisory Group.
Secretary Gutierrez was born in Havana, Cuba. He is married to Edilia and has three grown children.

Back To Top

Mei-Yen Ireland is the senior program officer responsible for strategic investments and portfolio management related to advising solutions as a part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s postsecondary success strategy.  Mei-Yen works with grantees and partners to advance the postsecondary success strategy focused on transforming colleges and universities to ensure that more students, particularly Black, Latinx, and indigenous students, and students experiencing poverty obtain quality, affordable credentials offering value and mobility. Prior to joining the foundation, Mei-Yen was the Executive Director of Holistic Student Supports at Achieving the Dream (ATD). In this role she was responsible for leading and designing ATD’s strategy, thought leadership, and services for redesigning advising and student supports. Mei-Yen managed the Holistic Student Supports team, which developed and delivered customized coaching, tools, and resources to support institutions in the design and implementation of a seamless, personalized student experience that leveraged technology and data. Mei-Yen’s background includes a focus on organizational change, student development theory, equity and inclusion, qualitative research methods, and change leadership. Mei-Yen received her Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Leadership from the Ohio State University. Her dissertation research focused on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy and DACA community college students’ educational access and experiences. Mei-Yen earned a Masters in College Student Personnel from the University of Maryland-College Park and a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages from Lewis & Clark College.

Back To Top

Cristina Jiménez is a community organizer, political strategist, and storyteller. She is the co-Founder & former Executive Director of United We Dream & United We Dream Action. She served as chair of the Board of Directors and transitioned to staff in 2011. Cristina has organized immigrant youth and workers for the passage of the DREAM Act, comprehensive immigration reform, and pro-immigrant legislation at the local and national level since 2004.

She co-founded the New York State Youth Leadership Council, was an immigration policy analyst for the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, and an immigrant rights organizer at the Latin American Integration Center, now merged as Make the Road New York. Cristina’s immigration policy work has been published in the American Prospect, El Diario, and the Huffington Post. Cristina was recently named among Forbes “30 under 30 in Law and Policy”, the “21 immigration reform power players” and one of 5 non-profit leaders who will influence public policy in 2013 by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

She holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College, CUNY, and graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in Political Science and Business from Queens College, CUNY. Originally from Quito, Ecuador, Cristina came to the U.S. with her family at the age of 13, attending high school and college as an undocumented student.

Back To Top

Georgia Levenson Keohane is a Responsible Investment and Philanthropy Executive & Advisor; Social Enterprise Professor & Podcast Host; Author, Capital & the Common Good, Social Entrepreneurship for the 21st C.; Corporate & Nonprofit Board Director.

She has over twenty years of leadership experience in the private and nonprofit sectors at the intersection of capital markets, responsible investing, philanthropy, and public policy. Georgia is also a Professor of Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School, the host of the Capital for Good podcast, and the author of two award-winning books. A senior fellow at New America, she has degrees from Yale University, Harvard Business School, and London School of Economics, where she was a Fulbright Scholar. She received the One To World Fulbright Award in 2021.

Back To Top

Kai K. Martin is an entrepreneurship manager at Immigrants Rising, responsible for providing grant support to undocumented business owners through the SEED grant program.

Passionate about serving the community, Kai volunteers with organizations such as TheDream.us, where she serves as an advisory board member and Alumni Network leader. And the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy, serving as a committee member for the professional development funds program.

Kai is a former TheDream.US Scholarship recipient and holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from The George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Arts from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Back To Top

Henry R. Muñoz III is a nationally respected voice in the discourse about the imprint of Latino culture and identity upon American Society in the 21st Century. A Designer, Social Activist, Opinion Leader, and Philanthropist, Muñoz works across multiple platforms that converge at the intersection of politics and the built environment. As Chairman of the Board and Chief Creative Officer of Muñoz & Company, Mr. Muñoz leads one of the largest and oldest minority-owned design practices in the country. Under the three decades of his leadership, Muñoz & Company has pioneered an approach to architecture and design that acknowledges the rapidly shifting demographics of the United States.

In January 2013 Mr. Muñoz was appointed Finance Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the first minority or openly gay citizen to hold such a position for an American political party. In this role, he leads the effort to erase a $35 million dollar debt and has raised over $75 million dollars in resources for The Democratic Party and its candidates, up and down the ballot.

Mr. Muñoz’s life and career has been to illuminate a more complete American story for the benefit of all people.

Back To Top

Jill Nishi is the principal consultant at JTN Consulting. She is the former Director, Office of the President and Chief of Staff at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, overseeing Special Initiative grant making and managing the overall operations for our United States Program. Jill has served in a number of leadership roles at the Gates Foundation, most recently as Senior Advisor in the Office of the President, and previously overseeing the management and research & evaluation functions for the foundation’s Postsecondary Success strategy which aims to increase the number of low-income young adults who complete a post-secondary credential. She also led the foundation’s U.S. Libraries Program, an initiative dedicated to bringing technology access to underserved communities through the nation’s public libraries.

Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, Jill served in several leadership positions in the public sector. She was appointed by Mayor Greg Nickels as director of the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development; and previously served as deputy director of the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. She also worked as a senior management consultant for Deloitte in the firm’s public sector practice.

Jill holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Puget Sound; and a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of Puget Sound; and on the boards of the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience and U.S.-Japan Council.

Jill lives in Seattle with her husband and two young children.

Back To Top

An American by choice, Eduardo Padrón arrived in the United States as a refugee at age 15. From 1995 to 2019, he served as President of Miami Dade College, a national model of student achievement and the largest institution of higher education in America, with more than 175,000 students.

An economist by training, Dr. Padrón earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. In 2009, Time magazine included him among the “10 Best College Presidents” in the United States; in 2010, Florida Trend magazine named him “Floridian of the Year”; and in 2011, The Washington Post recognized him as one of the eight most influential college presidents in the country. In addition, the Carnegie Corporation of New York granted him its prestigious Centennial Academic Leadership Award; he is the first college president to receive the National Citizen Service Award from Voices for National Service; he has been named an Ascend Fellow by the Aspen Institute; and he is the recipient of the Hesburgh Award, the highest honor in U.S. higher education.

During his career, Dr. Padrón has been selected to serve on posts of national prominence by six American Presidents. His energetic leadership extends to many of the nation’s leading organizations. He is the immediate past chair of the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education and a past Board chair of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Dr. Padrón is widely recognized as one of the top educational leaders in the world. He serves on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Business/Higher Education Forum, the League for Innovation (former chair), RC-2020, the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center, the White House Fellows Selection Panel (chair), and the International Association of University Presidents. He has held leadership positions on the American Academy of Arts & Sciences/Humanities Commission and on the boards of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (chair), the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Campus Compact, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. He is also the immediate past Board Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Miami Branch.

President Padrón’s transformational accomplishments at Miami Dade College have been acknowledged by the national media, including The New York Times, NBC Nightly News, Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He has received some of the most prestigious awards in and out of academia and more than 15 honorary doctorates from leading universities such as Rollins, Princeton, and Brown. He is also the recipient of highest honors by the governments of foreign nations, including France, which named him Commandeur in the Ordre des Palms Académiques; Argentina, which awarded him the Order of San Martin; and Spain, whose King Juan Carlos II bestowed upon him the Order of Queen Isabella.

Back To Top

Andrew S. Rosen is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kaplan, Inc., among the largest, most diverse global education organizations and the largest subsidiary of (formerly) The Washington Post Company. Throughout his career, Rosen has helped pioneer much of Kaplan’s innovation and growth, with a focus on student success and outcomes. These include the founding of Concord Law School, the first fully online law school in the U.S.; the development of Kaplan University; and the creation of new blended online and classroom-based learning opportunities for both working adults and test preparation students.

Rosen’s book Change.edu: Rebooting for the new talent economy details the history of American higher education and describes how to restore its pre-¬‐eminence by focusing on the goals of learning outcomes, access, affordability, and accountability. The book earned positive reviews in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Forbes, Fortune, and elsewhere. Bill Gates called it “truly important” for the debate about improving higher education; Joel Klein called it a “must-read book.”
Rosen joined Kaplan in 1992 and was named Chairman and CEO in November 2008. Before Kaplan, he was an attorney at The Washington Post and associate counsel at Newsweek. Rosen holds an A.B. degree from Duke University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Back To Top

Deborah A. Santiago is the co-founder, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President for Policy at EXCELENCIA IN EDUCATION. For more than 15 years, she has led research and policy efforts from the community to national and federal levels to improve educational opportunities and success for all students. She co-founded Excelencia in Education to inform policy and practice to accelerate Latino student success in higher education.

Her current work focuses on federal and state policy, financial aid, Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and effective institutional practices for student success in higher education. She has been cited in numerous publications for her work, including The Economist, the New York Times, the Washington Post, AP, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Deborah serves on the board of the National Student Clearinghouse and the advisory board of Univision’s Education Campaign.

Back To Top

Ms. Stonesifer served as the President and CEO of Martha’s Table, a non-profit, from April 2013 to March 2019. She served as Chair of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution from January 2009 to January 2012 and as Vice Chair from January 2012 to January 2013. From September 2008 to January 2012, she served as senior advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a private philanthropic organization, where she was Chief Executive Officer from January 2006 to September 2008 and President and Co-chair from June 1997 to January 2006. Since September 2009, she has also served as a private philanthropy advisor. From 1988 to 1997, she worked in many roles at Microsoft Corporation, including as a Senior Vice President of the Interactive Media Division, and also served as the Chairwoman of the Gates Learning Foundation from 1997 to 1999.

Ms. Stonesifer has served as a trustee of The Rockefeller Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to promoting the well-being of humanity throughout the world, since 2019, as an emeritus member of the Museum Council of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture since 2021, and as a member of the Museum Council from 2012 to 2020. Ms. Stonesifer has been a member of the Board of Advisors of TheDream.US, a college access and success program for immigrant students, since 2020.

Back To Top

Jose Antonio Vargas is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and the founder of Define American, a media and culture campaign that seeks to elevate the conversation around immigration and citizenship in a changing America.
In June 2011, the New York Times Magazine published a groundbreaking essay he wrote in which he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant, stunning media and political circles and attracting worldwide coverage. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine internationally with fellow undocumented immigrants as part of a follow-up cover story. Since then, he has testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration reform, and written and directed “Documented,” a documentary feature film on his undocumented experience. It world premiered as the centerpiece of the 2013 AFI Docs film festival in Washington, D.C. and will air on CNN in summer 2014.
He’s written for daily newspapers (Philadelphia Daily News, San Francisco Chronicle) and national magazines (The Atlantic, Rolling Stone) and was a senior contributing editor at the Huffington Post. At the Washington Post, he was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for covering the Virginia Tech massacre, and his 2006 series on HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C. inspired “The Other City,” a documentary feature film he co-produced and wrote. It world premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival and aired on Showtime. That same year, he wrote an exclusive profile of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg for the New Yorker.
He has appeared on several national and international television and radio programs, including Nightline, The O’Reilly Factor, and The Colbert Report.

Back To Top

Diana is the Program Director for the Pershing Square Foundation, where she is responsible for program management, grant administration, communications, and due diligence. In her current role, Diana is focused on managing the foundation’s portfolio of grants, building new partnerships, and offering strategic support to grantee partners.

Diana joined the Foundation from Seoul, South Korea where she was a Consultant at MYSC. There she supported entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia, lectured at universities on design thinking, and helped adapt frameworks to measure social impact.

Diana has a background in community-economic development and entrepreneurship. While receiving her graduate degree, Diana worked at the State Department in Lima, Peru and developed a case study on public-private partnerships at the William Davidson Institute. Diana was a Fulbright Scholar in Bucaramanga, Colombia and has worked on community development issues in Newark, NJ. She was a Term Trustee of the Asia Foundation (2017-2019). Diana is currently teaching at Glasgow Caledonian University’s New York campus.

Diana graduated from Rutgers University’s Bloustein School with a BA in Urban Planning and Public Policy and holds an MPP from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School.

Back To Top