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Latinas Unidas Board of Directors 2013-2014
| Board Chair | Joann Santos Director, Collegiate Science & Technology Enrichment Programs (CSTEP) at Monroe Community College, Division of Science, Health and Business |
| Vice Board Chair | Rosalie Rivera-Arzuaga Sr. Mortgage Loan Officer at Citizens Bank |
| Secretary | Berlin Bermudez Research Administrator at University of Rochester |
| Treasurer | Wanda Acevedo Chief Operations Officer at Wilson Commencement Park |
| At large Events |
Rosemarie Gutierrez Licensed Realtor President at XRAA Events |
| At large Marketing |
Melissa Rosario Product Marketing Manager at Alstom Transport - NA Signaling |
| At large | Arleen Rivera-Hyland Call Center Manager at City of Rochester |
| At large | Alicia Tejada Manager of Innovation and Product Development at Caribbean Liquid Sugar Global Services |
| At large | Belimar Velazquez Director of Marketing and Inside Sales, United States and Canada at Carestream |
Bios:
Name: Joann Santos
Board Position: Member At Large
Country of Heritage: Puerto Rico
Joann Santos is currently the director and principle investigator for several STEM projects at Monroe Community College including CSTEP, STEP and LSAMP. In this capacity, she focuses on increasing the number of professionals in the areas of science, technology, engineering, math and health. She began her career at MCC back in 1994 and has overseen various programs that focus on development. Ms. Santos has completed her PhD dissertation in higher education leadership
Name: Rosalie Rivera-Arzuaga
Board Position: Treasurer
Country of Heritage: Puerto Rico
Rosalie Rivera-Arzuaga has been in the banking industry for over 20 years. The last ten she has been a Community Development Mortgage Loan Officer at Citizens Bank.
Rosalie’s passion is to help people become homeowners and she has dedicated these last ten years to educating many low income first time homebuyers in the City of Rochester. She also serves on the board of NeighborWorks of Rochester and is the chair of their revolving loan Committee.
Rosalie lives in the town of Chili with her husband Robert Arzuaga of 15 years and their two daughters Lyanette and Leesa.
Name: Berlin Bermudez
Board Position: Secretary
Country of Heritage: Puerto Rico
Berlin Bermudez is currently a Research Administrator at the University of Rochester where she provides administrative oversight for sponsored research projects.
Ms. Bermudez earned a B.S. in Organizational Management from Roberts Wesleyan College and a MS in Business Administration with a concentration in Medical Management form the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester.
Berlin is a board member of the Ibero American Action League, board member of the Latino Professional Alliance at the University of Rochester and Soy Unica Soy Latina rally committee member. She is also a graduate of the 2007 United Way Latino Leadership Development Program.
Berlin lives in Brighton with her daughter.
Name: Wanda Acevedo
Board Position: Treasurer
Wanda Acevedo has over 15 years experience in the Human Service field. In 2003, she joined the ranks of management at the Puerto Rican Youth Development Program (PRYD) as a Program Manager, and later managed a homeless shelter for women and children for Catholic Family Center where she was responsible for daily operations, including 24-hour staffing, facilities and security.
Wanda received the 2011 G. Jean Howard Award and the 2010 Rochester Business Journal's 40 under 40 award. She is also a 2002 graduate of the United Way / Latino Leadership Development Program.
Wanda currently serves on the Board of Directors for Huther Doyle, DePaul Key Housing and is the Vice Chair of the Homeless Services Network.
Wanda is currently enrolled at the SUNY Empire State College. She joined WCP in August 2008 and in 2012, she was promoted to the Chief Operating Officer. Wanda is the first former resident of WCP to become a senior-level executive of the organization.
Name: Rosemarie Gutierrez
Board Position: Member At Large - Events
Country of Heritage: Puerto Rico/Nicaragua
Born in New York City, of Puerto Rican and Nicaraguan descent, Rosemarie Gutierrez moved to Rochester with the new millennium.
Ms. Gutierrez is a licensed Realtor with over 10 years experience. She is member of the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors and she currently works as an Licensed Real Estate Agent with J Vincent Real Estate. Her specialties are first time home buyers, investors and home sellers, especially within the Latino community.
Rosemarie Gutierrez is a natural entrepreneur. She graduated from the Emerging Entrepreneurial Program from Monroe Community College and in 2011 she started her second business, XRAA Events, which is an À la Carte concept offering event planning, coordinating and decorating services to individuals, businesses and non-profit agencies.
Ms. Gutierrez is a graduate of the United Way Latino Leadership Development Program (LLDP), and is committed to serve her community. For over a year she donated her time, social networking and marketing talents to La Nueva Era radio program, every Friday and Saturday, on Jazz 90.1 FM. She is one of the judges for the 2012 Puerto Rican Pageant. Ms. Gutierrez is also a founding member of the Latino Rotary Club.
Ms. Gutierrez joined the Latinas Unidas organization in 2008 an since then, she has been an active contributor. She joined their Board of Directors in 2010. Among her duties within the board, she oversees the Latinas Unidas events program, including the Cafe con Leche series and other networking events. She was Chairwoman of the 2010 Reconocimiento Awards Luncheon. In 2012 she is back as the awards chairwoman and will officially continue holding this post in the future.
Ms. Gutierrez lives in East Irondequoit with her husband, Angel, their two children, Xena and Angel Jr, and their family pet dogs Tootie and Shadow.
Name: Melissa Rosario Bailey
Board Position: Member At Large - Marketing
Country of Heritage: Dominican Republic
Melissa Rosario Bailey is currently the North America Market Communications Manager at Alstom Transport.
She earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, as well as a BS International Business and a MS Service Management from Rochester Institute of Technology
Besides having a passion for her culture and helping the community Melissa is a food lover and a natural cook. She shares her passion for everything culinary through her personal blog Hungry Food Love. Through this blog Melissa wants not to only show her side as a cook but also as a mom, wife and community advocate as she tries to raise funds for kids in hunger in the Dominican Republic. Melissa also blogs for the Democrat and Chronicle food section ROCFlavors.
Ms. Rosario Bailey is the Chair of the Latinas Unidas Marketing Committee.
Melissa lives in Brighton with her husband, Aaron and her daughter Lucía.
Name: Arleen Rivera-Hyland
Board Position: Member At Large
Country of Heritage: Puerto Rico
Arleen Rivera-Hyland is the 311 Call Center Manager for the City of Rochester, where she has worked for over 18 years. In her capacity with the City, she has performed the duties of Asst. NET Administrator, Code Enforcement Coordinator, Neighborhood Conservation Officer and Finance Agent. Prior to working for the City, Ms. Hyland worked for Eastman Kodak as a Purchasing Agent, a Computer Tech and an Asst. Machinist.
Ms. Hyland holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Empire State College and is in the process of completing a Master in Public Administration from the college of SUNY Brockport.
Ms. Hyland is currently the Vice President of the Crescent Beach Association and has served on several boards and committees, including co-chairing the City’s Hispanic Heritage Committee and the UW Hispanic Leadership Development Program. She has been the recipient of two Rochester’s Mayor Superstar of Service Awards for her dedication and commitment in servicing the community.
Name: Alicia Tejada-Abreu
Board Position: Member At Large
Country of Heritage: Dominican Republic
Ms. Alicia Tejada is currently Manager of Innovation and Product Development at Caribbean Liquid Sugar Global Services. Alicia earned her BS in Industrial Engineering at the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) and a MS in Sustainable Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
Alicia has extensive knowledge and hands-on experience in product and brand design and development, the supply chain of food production systems, and the natural and organic food and ingredients industry.
Alicia loves culture, food, outdoor activities, photography, yoga, and traveling. She is passionate about supporting and affiliating with non-for profit organizations that promote literacy for all, protection and awareness for our natural resources and social entrepreneurship.
Name: Belimar Velazquez
Board Position: Member At Large
Country of Heritage: Puerto Rico
Belimar Velazquez is the Director for Marketing and Inside Sales at Carestream Health, Inc. covering the United States and Canada. Prior to joining the Health Group, she worked as a Senior Engineer responsible for leading teams in the development and testing of image processing algorithms. Belimar joined Kodak’s Commercial and Government Systems (C&GS) Division (now ITT) in 1995. During her employment at C&GS, she held various positions as project lead, group leader and proposal coordinator for government contracts.
Belimar holds a Bachelor’s degree in Optics and an MBA from the University of Rochester. She is a certified Six-Sigma Black Belt practitioner. She served as the President-elect and President for the Women’s Forum of Kodak Employees (WFKE) during 2005-06.
In 2005, she was elected by the Rochester Women’s Network as one of the Up & Coming Businesswomen in the Rochester area. Both the Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Advancement (HOLA) and WFKE have recognized her for her volunteer contributions with the 2005 Cholo Award and 2004 Mary Jo Spears Award respectively.