Directors

ALPFA is governed by an elected Board of Directors consisting of Officers and Diectors At Large. The CEO has a non-voting seat on the Board. The national Board of Directors has exhibited passion, determination and dedication in managing ALPFA's current issues and planning for its promising future. 

2012 ALPFA National Directors

• Avec O'Brien
• Daniel Villao
• Erika Rodriguez
• Kaplan Mobray
• Patricia Ballesteros
• Paul Francisco
• Reynaldo Gonzalez
• Rick Cerda
• Russell Esquivel, Jr.
• Suzette Longfellow
• Victor Garcia

Avec O'Brien, CPA

U.S. Controller,
Mastronardi Produce

Avec G. O’Brien, is the U.S. Controller for Mastronardi Produce. In this role she is responsible for the financial affairs of the organization and focuses on a broad range of financial, operational, strategic and executive leadership issues impacting the organization. Avec is a Board Director of the Detroit chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI) and a National Board Director at ALPFA. She is a graduate of Leadership Detroit (LD XXXIII).

Previously, Avec was Chief Financial Officer of the Detroit Science Center. Before that, she was a manager in the assurance and enterprise risk services practice of Deloitte & Touche, LLP. Avec also worked as office manager at Heidrick and Struggles and as Senior Accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mexico City.  Simultaneously, Avec was an associate professor at the MBA program of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. Avec has served as board member and as a volunteer of several Detroit-area nonprofits.  She is the founding president of the Michigan chapter of ALPFA. 

Avec earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree with emphasis in Accounting from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México.  Additionally, she earned her Master in Business Administration with Distinction from the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business. Avec is a Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. She received the 2011 Woman of ALPFA award (Woman of the Year) from ALPFA, the largest organization building Latino business leaders. The award is given to an individual who enthusiastically promotes the advancement of Latinas and personifies the qualities prized in successful professionals.

Avec resides in Novi, Michigan, with her husband Joe and sons James and Michael.

Daniel Villao

State Director
California Construction Academy
UCLA Downtown Labor Center

Daniel is currently the Director of the California Construction Academy at the UCLA Labor Center where he is directing research and analysis of issues facing the construction industry in the new green economy. He has decades of experience in building alliances with building trades unions, local and municipal governments and workforce development agencies. Daniel previously served as a Council Representative for the Los Angeles and Orange Counties Building & Construction Trades Council. His expertise in negotiating large scale labor, health and pension agreements has resulted in innovative public sector agreements and advances in labor/management relations.

Since 2008 Daniel has served as President of Intelligent Partnerships a consulting group which specializes in green construction, negotiations and strategic planning in the public and private sector. He remains focused on bringing diverse interest groups together in order to create policy on innovative green construction as well as creating long-term opportunities around the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Daniel holds a BSBA and an M.B.A. and serves on a variety of boards and committees.

Erika Rodriguez, CPA

Senior Finance Manager
GRIFOLS

Erika Rodriguez is a Senior Finance Manager at Grifols Inc., a global healthcare company whose mission is to improve the health and well being of people around the world. In her role, Erika is responsible for managing several areas related to the integration of a recently acquired company, including systems, business processes, organizational realignments, and harmonization of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and Accounting Policies & Procedures.

Previously, Erika worked in the Corporate Controllership Group of The Walt Disney Company primarily focusing on interpreting and assessing the financial impact of new accounting guidance, particularly for significant non-recurring transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, and corporate restructurings. Prior to joining Disney, Erika was primarily responsible for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance at Toyota Motor Sales. While at Toyota, Erika also served as a Diversity and Inclusion Champion for the Finance group. As an Internal Audit Manager at Avery Dennison, Erika managed the planning and execution of global Sarbanes-Oxley compliance implementation. As the only Spanish speaker on Avery's Internal Audit team, she provided support and traveled extensively to Latin America. Erika also worked at DirecTV as an accounting analyst and began her career in PricewaterhouseCooper's Assurance practice, providing assurance services to clients in the consumer and industrial products and services industry.

Erika received her B.S. in Accounting from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in California. She was an ALPFA Los Angeles Chapter Scholarship recipient in 1997 and served on the Los Angeles Chapter Board for several years as Director of Scholarships, Vice President and President. Erika serves on the ALPFA National Board and is active in other charitable and civic organizations in Los Angeles. Recently, Erika has been collaborating with colleagues to establish the non-profit organization Angels Advocate, which will focus on encouraging volunteerism by honoring volunteers who inspire the gift of giving and are making an extraordinary difference in the lives of others. In her spare time, Erika enjoys the outdoors, attending social events, and spending time with friends, family and her two beautiful dogs.

Kaplan Mobray

Kaplan Mobray, Inc.

Kaplan Mobray is the U.S. Diversity Programs Leader at Deloitte LLP and author of the best-selling book “The 10Ks of Personal Branding”.  At Deloitte, he works in the Office of Diversity to lead the execution of programs designed to attract, retain and develop high caliber diverse talent and serves as a strategic advisor on issues of Diversity & Inclusion, Recruiting, and Branding.  As one of the organizations’ designated spokespeople on Diversity & Inclusion, Kaplan has been widely quoted in the media and is a frequent speaker at professional conferences.   

In his personal pursuits, Kaplan is an acclaimed author, career coach, motivational speaker and professional saxophone player.   He has been featured on CNN, CBS, NBC, BET and is a frequent content contributor to the national media.  A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and College of Arts & Sciences, Kaplan was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 by the Network Journal Magazine and received the 2008 Rising Star Award by the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR).  He serves on the national board of ALPFA and is active in charitable and civic organizations. Kaplan resides in West Nyack, NY with his family.

Patricia Ballesteros, CISA

Certified Internal Systems Auditor (CISA) Manager,
Aon Corporation

Patricia is a Manager in Aon Corporation's Internal Audit Department and currently oversees the audit activities to assess the information technology control environment for the Americas and United Kingdom regions and is a valued leader within the department.

Patricia has extensive experience with understanding a company's internal controls and recommending ways for management to mitigate their business risks. She began her career with First Chicago NBD/Bank One, which before then she had served three internships within the financial services industry. Patricia served many roles in the Bank's Corporate Audit & Security department, from leading application and data center audits to managing the implementation of a fraud recovery application as part of a rotation program. Patricia later moved into the Information Technology Risk Management function within the Corporate Systems Line of Business, supporting the Finance & Human Resources functions. She made significant contributions to the Finance system development process and was asked to lead the SAP Change Management Program to ensure controls were appropriately implemented. Patricia continued her career at Deloitte & Touche LLP as a Senior Consultant in the Enterprise Risk Services practice and was quickly promoted to Manager. She now is a key member of the Aon Internal Audit Department and works with Senior IT Management as a trusted business partner in mitigating their information technology risks.

Patricia holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting with honors from the University of Illinois at Chicago and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology from DeVry University. She is a Certified Information Systems Auditor licensed in Illinois.

Paul Francisco

VP, Global Inclusion & Head of University Relations North America
Global Human Resources, State Street Corporation

Prior to starting Foster & Francisco, Paul was Vice President for Veritude’s Workforce Consulting Group. Veritude, a Fidelity Investments Company, provides Strategic Human Resources Consulting and Recruitment Process Outsourcing Services to client companies. Prior to joining Veritude, Paul was a Senior Vice President for Bank of America’s Consumer Staffing Division. In that capacity he was responsible for talent acquisition for the Consumer Bank’s operations in New England, New York, Mid Atlantic, Southeast, Florida and Central Divisions. He has also held a number of HR positions at companies like Amica and Gillette.

Paul is a former NFL player, having been part of the New England Patriots team of ’94-95. Paul emigrated from Honduras as a teenager, attended Cathedral High School in the South End, and obtained a football scholarship to Boston University where he majored in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations. While a member of the Patriots, Paul returned to Boston U. to pursue a Master of Science in Administration. His football career ended in 1996 due to an injury while a member of the Baltimore Ravens.

Reynaldo (Ray) C. Gonzalez

Director, Enterprise Risk Services Governance, Risk and Regulatory Strategies, Deloitte

Richard Cerda

Senior Manager Assurance
Ernst & Young LLP

Rick holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy from the University of Illinois and resides in Bolingbrook, Illinois with his wife, daughter, and son.

Russell Esquivel, Jr.

Vice President,
Workforce Solutions,
Apollo Group/University of Phoenix

Russell Esquivel currently serves as the Vice President, Workforce Solutions, for Apollo Group/University of Phoenix. He currently leads all external Diversity efforts for University of Phoenix and focuses on Fortune 1000 partnership development. He oversees all strategic development for the University's diversity-orientated partnerships, including ALPFA, NAACP, Hispanic Heritage Foundation, United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, The 100 Black Men of American, etc. He advises senior leadership in regards to diversity related business opportunity and represents one of the most diverse university student populations in the nation. Russell started his career at Apollo Group in 2004 as an Admissions counselor for University of Phoenix's College of Education. Russell was instrumental in designing and implementing University of Phoenix's first campaign that targeted the Millennial Generation. He was successful in building profitable relationships with principals, superintendants, and school districts across the nation for the University of Phoenix. Additionally, Russell served as a major catalyst and visionary leader in establishing Apollo Group's first Latino Affairs Office and served as the National Director of Latino Student Affairs. Before joining Apollo Group, Russell served as a Director for the Tungland Corporation, a service agency that supports individuals with developmental disabilities. Russell currently serves on the Board for Greater Phoenix Youth At-Risk, where he serves on the fund development committee and leads the Annual Giving Campaign that benefits and supports youth at risk programming. Russell was recently honored as a 40 Under 40 professional by Chicanos Por La Causa. Russell received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Arizona and lives in Phoenix, AZ with his wife and 3yr old twins.

Suzette Longfellow, CPA

Audit Senior Manager,
KPMG

Suzette Longfellow is a certified public accountant and an audit Senior Manager with KPMG LLP in Albuquerque New Mexico. Suzette has over 13 years of experience providing audit and accounting services to a variety of clients but specializes in serving governments and not for profit entities. In addition to her client responsibilities, she also oversees KPMG’s recruiting activities at the University of New Mexico and in that capacity serves as a professional technical advisor to UNM’s Beta Alfa Psi chapter as well as UNM’s ALPFA chapter. Suzette also serves as a KPMG national instructor and is responsible for delivering the KPMG curriculum at annual training sessions.

Suzette was formerly the regional director for ALPFA’s central region and served in that capacity for 4 years.  She was elected national treasurer in 2008. Suzette also serves as a board of director for the local New Mexico ALPFA chapter and was an ALPFA scholarship recipient back in 1989. Aside from ALPFA, Suzette also serves on the board of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History Foundation and actively participates in various other community activities.

Suzette is a native New Mexican and graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1991.

Victor Garcia

President & CEO,
VHG Consulsting Group

Victor Garcia is the president of VHG Consulting, a global professional consulting services firm that focuses on Internal Audit, Business Risk, Corporate Governance, Internal Controls and Professional Business advice as well as outsourcing of executive management services for associations and organizations nonprofit.

In this role Victor provides leadership, vision and strategic direction to ensure that VHG Consulting remains a leader in its areas of expertise. He directs the development and implementation of new programs and services that meet the needs of a diverse clientele, attracting new customers to enjoy products and services offered by the Firm and evaluates and reinforces the business model of the organization to align with current economic realities and find new global markets.

Victor has 15 years experience both in public and private accounting as well as internal and external auditing with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Moore Stephens Lovelace and The Institute of Internal Auditors.

Victor holds an M.B.A. from Webster University and received his bachelors' degree in Business Administration from the Army Polytechnic in Quito, Ecuador, where he is originally from.

Victor was also the Treasurer of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando; a member of the Technical Assistance Committee for the Hispanic Business Initiative Fund (HBIF) and the Founder of the ALPFA chapter in 2002.

Victor is a member of The Institute of Internal Auditors; the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA); and the ASAE, the Center for Association Leadership, where he is a current Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP) Scholar.