Leadership

Paulina Artieda (She/Her/Ella)

Executive Director

With over 15 years of experience in marketing, Paulina is a driven and self-directed Creative Thinker that has focused her career on delivering solutions for multicultural communities, as well as helping clients connect with audiences in relevant and meaningful ways.

She attended the University of Texas at Austin and has a Bachelor of Science in Advertising, with a concentration in the Creative Sequence and a minor in Business. Paulina's leadership skills have stemmed from various roles, including: Creative Director, Bilingual Marketing Consultant, Digital Strategist and Design Thinking Coach. As Executive Director for The New Philanthropists, she leads all efforts in making Austin nonprofit boards more diverse and inclusive. She is passionate about elevating the discussion on diversity, equity and inclusion among leadership circles and in helping add more seats at  tables where representation is crucial. Paulina is a Leadership Activist who also has served as a CASA of Travis County advocate for over three years, is a scholar at life and passionate about mentoring and philanthropy.

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Mando Rayo

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Mando is CEO and Engagement Strategist at Mando Rayo + Collective, a multicultural advertising agency based in Austin, Texas.

Mando’s work is deep rooted in multicultural experiences and works on campaigns with such brands as KLRU-TV, PBS Austin, Capital Area Food Bank, Blanton Museum of Art, Texas Beef Council, Austin Film Society, Whataburger, People en Español Magazine y más. Mando's work has been featured on Bon Appetite Magazine, The Food Network, NPR, The New York Times and SXSW!

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Cody Horton

Board Chair

Cody Horton is the Founder and Managing Director for Diverse Recruiting Experts LLC. He serves his team, clients and candidates with diversity recruiting leadership expertise.

His personal mission and vision are: Vision: Empower People To Change Their Lives 
 Mission: Connect Great People With Great Companies Prior embarking on this entrepreneurial journey, Cody spent over 20 years in a variety of leadership roles in the US Navy and companies including Walmart, Microsoft, Dell, Deloitte, Rackspace, Thoughtworks and Sunpower. 
 He has held several roles as Head of Talent Acquisition and Diversity Recruiting where he was responsible for helping the business attract and hire great people to build a diverse and inclusive workforce. Cody has a diverse background and has led teams in IT, College Recruiting, Diversity recruiting and training. He started his career in the US Navy where he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander and served in a variety of leadership, recruiting, and operational roles. He earned a Masters of Science in Management (Information Technology) from the Naval Postgraduate School, a Bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico and maintains his SPHR certification. 
 Cody and his wife Dorothy live in Round Rock. They have two daughters who have graduated from college and are now empty nesters.

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Denise Hernandez

Board Chair

Denise D. Hernandez is a Lawyer and Social Entrepreneur in Austin, Texas. She is the Co-Founder of Hustle for the Cause, LLC., a social impact production company owned by LGBTQ women of color. Hernandez is also the founder of Chingona Fest Texas, an empowerment festival for the Latinx community.

Her humble beginnings fuels her passion for empowering and uplifting marginalized communities. Since launching Hustle for the Cause, Hernandez has been nationally recognized by PBS for her philanthropic contributions, and honored as an Anne McAfee Leader of Cultural Change in Central Texas. Her work consists of multicultural productions that celebrate diversity and inclusion for the Latinx community and the LGBTQ community. Her vision is to produce experiences and content that inspire young people of color to become ChangeMakers!

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Kiyomi Beach

Board Chair

Kiyomi works on strategies for growth and leads the Data Analytics team at Emancipet. Kiyomi spent 8 years supporting social sector growth through roles in impact investing, non-profit/social enterprise, and international development.

This was a pretty big change from where she began her career – in private sector finance. Kiyomi holds degrees from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and the University of Miami. She also serves on the Board of Capacity Catalyst. She loves spending time with her partner and 2 pups, Dax and Juniper, and is passionate about creating equity of opportunity for everyone with dignity.

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Damián Pantoja, MS

Board Secretary

Damian is a focused, determined, and dedicated practitioner with experience in strengthening relationships between partners and causes in order to meet common goals.

Born and raised in the Montopolis neighborhood, he is a proud Del Valle alumnus and native Austinite. Damian comes from an immigrant family and is grateful for his upbringing, which include all of the sacrifices his family endured so that he and his siblings had access to a good education. His family taught him early on the importance of community, and after college he was inspired to move back home and give back to the community that raised him. As a Trustee of the Del Valle ISD School Board, Damian has learned that it takes both professional expertise and lived experience to make good decisions for the district and community. As a leader in education, he strives for an inclusive instructional experience that bridges the gaps of a diverse student body. With a Master of Science in Communication, and a concentration in Leadership, Damian streamlines operations, addresses barriers to basic needs, and is working towards increasing the quality of education in his district. He is a skilled communicator, and his leadership focuses on cultivating results and building meaningful relationships. His personal goal is to help the most vulnerable communities reach their success.

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Ian Burk

Board Treasurer

Ian Burk is EVP & GM, Customer Experience Management and Integration for Upland Software (Nasdaq: UPLD), a publicly traded acquisitive growth platform company specializing in subscription-based enterprise software.

Ian's focus for some time has been creating value through mergers and acquisitions and helping people and organizations manage through the transformation required. He has been personally and deeply involved in 35 acquisitions and several divestitures. Prior to Upland, Ian spent 20 years with Dell in a variety of roles including leadership posts in sales & marketing, strategy & corporate development, operations and M&A integration. Ian holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University, a BBA from St. Edward’s University and has pursued continuing professional education at Harvard University, London Business School and University of Texas at Austin.

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Max Elliott

Board Member

Max Elliott, LMSW, provides therapy to teens and adults at Elliott Psychotherapy, PLLC, and also works as an Adjunct Professor at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin.

He holds Masters Degrees from the University of Essex, England, and from the Steve HicksSchool of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin.

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Andrea Herrera Moreno

Board Member

Andrea is the executive director of Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering which focuses on increasing students from underrepresented groups that choose engineering careers. In addition, she has over ten years of experience in the fields of community development, positive youth development, and out-of-school programs for social impact organizations.

Andrea is from Mexico City and grew up internationally across three continents. Everywhere she lives, she seeks opportunities that merge her passion for collective action and her professional focus. Currently, she sits on the Co.Lab Community Makers Advisory Council and the TEA Executive STEM Committee. Andrea holds a B.A. in international political economy with a minor in Latin American Studies from Colorado College. She is passionate about reimagining our systems and is therefore ecstatic to pursue a Data, Economics, and Development Policy MicroMasters from MITx.

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Janice Omadeke

Board Member

Janice Omadeke is the CEO and Founder of The Mentor Method, an enterprise platform helping companies keep and develop their diverse talent using the proven power of mentorship. Using a double-blind algorithm, The Mentor Method is closing the opportunity equity gap in the workplace.

Janice is a 2020 Austin Under 40 nominee and winner of DivInc’s Champion of Change Diversity Champion of the Year for the city of Austin. Venture-backed by funds including Backstage Capital and Capital Factory, Janice's company was a finalist at the Grace Hopper annual conference in 2018, is a MassChallenge Texas Gold winner, a 50 on Fire winner for both Austin and DC Inno, and a 2017 Startup Grind Global Exhibition selection. Black Enterprise recognizes Janice as one of DC’s top 5 black women in tech. She has also been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur magazine, and she was a subject matter expert at the 2016 White House Summit on Building the Tech Workforce of Tomorrow. Janice is certified in Entrepreneurship from MIT, and is PMP certified with over 10 years of corporate leadership experience for Fortune 500 companies.

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LaRessa Quintana

Board Member

LaRessa is a 5th generation Texan raised in Austin, Texas. In 2020 she served as campaign manager for now Councilwoman Vanessa Fuentes for Austin's District 2 seat. In 2019 she worked in the office of state Rep. Mary Ann Perez (D-Houston) as a Mexican-American Legislative Caucus Fellow.

She is a past participant in the Blue Leadership Collaborative, a national program dedicated to training and building a pipeline of women of color campaign managers. LaRessa currently serves as Fundraising Chair for the Young Hispanic Professional Association of Austin, who also awarded her the Rising Star Award at their most recent gala celebration. LaRessa holds B.A.s in Latin American and Borders Studies and Feminist Studies from Southwestern University. She is a graduate of Austin's Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders.

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