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• BOARD OF DIRECTORS
• BOARD OF TRUSTEES
• BOARD OF ADVISORS
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
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| KELLY EDWARDS |
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MOCTESUMA ESPARZA |
 Vice President, Talent Development
NBCUniversal
Kelly Edwards is vice president of talent development at NBC Universal. She recruits creative executives, writers, directors, and producers for NBC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, Oxygen, Telemundo, Mun2, and feature entities Universal Pictures Group and Focus Films. She works on special projects such as organizing bi-coastal creative summits focusing on strategic alliances between divisions and leveraging the Telemundo/Mun2 assets to increase the Hispanic audience. Kelly also has a hand in NBCU's pipeline programs – the Directors Fellowship, Writers on the Verge, Comedy Short Cuts, and the Writers Initiative. Recently, she developed an internship program in Canada by partnering with universities in Vancouver and Toronto to give students interested in production exposure to the industry.
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 Executive Committee
MoctesumaE@mayacinemas.com
Moctesuma Esparza is an award-winning filmmaker, veteran producer, entertainment executive, entrepreneur and activist well known for his contributions to the movie industry and creating opportunities for Latinos. He established Maya Cinemas, a growing chain of modern movie theatre mega-plexes, and Maya Entertainment, the only Latino media content company providing full service motion picture distribution and production. Moctesuma’s production credits include Price of Glory, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, Selma, Lord, Selma, Selena, The Milagro Beanfield War, and HBO’s Walkout. He founded the Los Angeles Academy of Arts and Enterprise Charter School, co-founded the Smithsonian Latino Center and NALIP, and is founding member of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.
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| EFRAIN GARZA FUENTES |
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MONICA GIL |
Director of Multicultural Programs
The Walt Disney Company
Dr. Efrain Garza Fuentes is director of multicultural programs at the Walt Disney Company. He is responsible for reinforcing and enhancing Disney’s commitment to employment, community relations, philanthropy and corporate responsibility within the Asian, Latino and Native-American communities. He assists in the development of company-wide recruitment and diversity strategies, plus evaluation and assistance in the selection of requests for corporate contributions, sponsorships and special events. Previously, he worked at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where he served as director of Patient & Family Services. Efrain also formed his own consulting firm, which specialized in development, training, and qualitative research on multicultural populations. |
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Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs
Nielsen Media Research
Mónica Gil is senior vice president of public affairs at the Nielsen Company. She works with news media, elected officials, community leaders, and Nielsen businesses including Nielsen Media Research, Nielsen Entertainment, and Nielsen Business Media. Mónica also manages Nielsen’s national Hispanic/Latino Strategic Community Outreach, and the company’s California government and community affairs programs. Previously, she served as a senior member of Antonio Villaraigosa’s 2001 Los Angeles mayoral campaign team, and, in 2005, was part of his historic and victorious mayoral campaign. Mónica was also director of public affairs and community outreach for Los Angeles’ Telemundo stations KVEA and KWHY. |
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| PENNY GRIEGO |
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CYNTHIA LOPEZ |
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Penny Griego is the associate director of busines development at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She works to bring groups and partnerships to this dramatic, yet graceful combination of striking architecture and rock-n-roll vibe. Her establishment offers impeccable hospitality with an incredible array of amenities, which provides each guest with an unmatched experience. |
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 Executive Vice President and Co-Executive Producer
American Documentary | POV
Cynthia López is the executive vice president and co-executive producer of American Documentary | POV, responsible for programming content, broadcast distribution, community-engagement activities, communications, marketing, online initiatives and overall strategic development of the organization. Under her leadership, POV has been honored with a Special Emmy Award for Excellence in Television Documentary Filmmaking, four Emmy Awards, four Academy Award nominations, two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, a Peabody Award and an International Documentary Association Award for Best Continuing Series. Cynthia has crafted national public- awareness campaigns for more than 150 documentary films on POV, and has forged strategic partnerships with The New York Times, Harpo Studios, Netflix, ABC News/Nightline, WNYC New York Public Radio, Discovery Channel and Ms. magazine. She was honored with the coveted EPPSilon Award for her direction of the promotional campaign for the POV film Farmingville. In 2007, she received the Woman of the Year Award from El Diario/La Prensa. She was the NALIP founding board chairperson, and is on the Board of Trustees. |
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| GERARDO GERRY LOPEZ |
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SUZANA SANTOS |
 Chief Executive Officer and President
AMC Entertainment Inc.
Gerardo Gerry Lopez is chief executive officer and president of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc., Marquee Holdings Inc., and AMC Entertainment Inc. (AMC). He has served as CEO and president since March 2009, when he was also elected to the Companys Board of Directors. Lopez is only the fourth CEO in the company's more than 90-year history.
Prior to joining AMC, Lopez served as executive vice president of Starbucks Coffee Company and president of its Global Consumer Products, Seattles Best Coffee and Foodservice divisions. In these roles, Lopez led the strategy to support Starbucks growth and expansion of consumer product offerings worldwide. As he describes it, Gerry was responsible for extending the Starbucks Experience and taking care of the customer everywhere and anytime they are not in a Starbucks store.
Lopezs understanding of brands, guests and their experiences and interaction, combined with his ability to work collaboratively with various strategic partners were paramount in his decision to join AMC. He sees countless future opportunities for the exhibition business, and firmly believes AMC will play a leadership role in the entertainment arena. Lopezs management philosophy is simple: hire good people, agree on a direction, provide the tools and reward results. His mantra, as he puts it, is to listen, learn, discuss, decide, execute, measure and repeat.
Lopez has been active on several public and private company boards, including TXU Corporation, Safeco Insurance and the supply chain startup SilkRoute Global. Additionally, he has recently been appointed to the board of the National Association of Theatre Owners; National CineMedia, Inc., (NASDAQ: NCMI) a cinema advertising company; Digital Cinema Implementation Partners, LLC., a partnership implementing digital cinema deployment in theatres; and Midland Empire Partners, LLC, organized to design, develop and own Kansas City venues The Midland by AMC and AMC Mainstreet in partnership with the Cordish Co. and Anschutz Entertainment Group. He was a member of the Cranbrook Institute of Science Board of Governors in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and has been recognized by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the Top 100 Hispanic Business Leaders.
Lopez was previously part of the entertainment industry during 2000-2004, when he served as president at Handleman Entertainment Resources, which provided category management and pre-recorded music distribution services to Wal-Mart, Best Buy and other major retailers in the US and abroad. In his more than 25-year career he also has served in a variety of executive management positions with International Home Foods, Frito-Lay, Pepsi-Cola and the Procter & Gamble Company.
A native of Oriente, Cuba and a current resident of Kansas City, Mo., Lopez earned his Bachelor of Science in business administration from George Washington University and his MBA from Harvard Business School. He and his wife, Elaine, have been married for more than 25 years and have two teenage sons. In their spare time, they enjoy golfing and sailing as a family; and on occasion his sons enjoy accompanying him to an action-packed movie. |
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 Financial Advisor
Merrill Lynch - Santos Sitrin Group
Suzana Santos is a Merrill Lynch financial advisor for the Santos Sitrin Group. She provides wealth management services to high net worth individuals, families, sports and entertainment personalities and non-profit organizations. Her Merrill Lynch qualification as a Certified Special Needs Financial Planner further assists her clients and charitable endeavors. A former tennis professional, Suzana is the founder and chairwoman of Projeto WimBelemDon, an international tennis based education program for underprivileged youth. She is a native of Brazil, where she received her post graduate degree from the Universidade Porto Alegre. |
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| JOSIE J. THOMAS |
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DAVID VALDES |
Senior Vice President, Diversity
CBS Television
Josie J. Thomas is senior vice president of diversity at CBS Television. She creates initiatives designed to improve outreach and recruitment, hiring, promotion, and mentoring practices, as well as develop new ways of increasing minority representation in management and non-management positions. She also works with minority vendors and advertising agencies to ensure CBS’ diversity initiatives include those who provide services to the company. Josie launched the CBS Diversity Institute in 2003 adding a diversity Writers Mentoring Program and Directing Initiative to the previously launched diversity focused Actor Showcases and Workshops. Previously, she was vice president of business affairs at CBS News, director of legal affairs for Trans World International, and broadcast counsel for CBS Inc.’s law department. |
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Producer
David Valdes is a veteran film and television producer. He has collaborated on seventeen films with Clint Eastwood (Pale Rider, The Dead Pool, Pink Cadillac, White Hunter Black Heart, and Unforgiven) and four with Francis Ford Coppola, as well as with noted filmmakers Kevin Costner, the Hughes brothers, and Frank Darabont. David has received four Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture for The Green Mile, and two for the western The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. His newest film, I Am Number Four, is based on a novel of the same name. Other credits include the science fiction films Babylon A.D. and The Time Machine. |
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| JEFF VALDEZ |
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VICTORIA WESTOVER |
Founder, Co-chair
SiTV
Jeff Valdez is founder of Sí TV, America’s first English language Latino themed cable network, and co-chairman of Maya Entertainment, a Latino media content company providing full service motion picture distribution and production. Along with legendary filmmaker David Zucker of Zucker Brothers Productions (Airplane, Naked Gun, Scary Movie), he launched Sandbox Entertainment, which is producing a series of G and PG-rated Latino-themed family movies. He was recently named chairman of Quepasa Corp./Quepasa.com, a bi-lingual social network aimed at U.S. and Latin American markets. Among his many awards, CNN named Jeff one of the “Top 50 People Who Matter.” |
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Program Director
Hanson Film Institute
University of Arizona
Vicky Westover is the program director of the Hanson Film Institute at the University of Arizona where she is also an adjunct faculty member in the School of Media Arts. She develops and coordinates diverse local and nationally affiliated media programs, including Native Eyes Film Showcase, in collaboration with the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian, and Tucson Cine Mexico. Previously, Vicky produced radio programs, was the founding producer of Independent Eye on Maryland Public Television, and the executive director of the Baltimore Film Forum where she directed numerous repertory seasons of cinema at The Baltimore Museum of Art. She graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art. |
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