Board of Directors

ALPFA is governed by an elected Board of Directors consisting of Officers and Directors 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 Officers

  • Yvonne Garcia - President
  • Gabriel Rodriguez, Jr., CPA - Vice President
  • Hector Perez, CPA - Immediate Past President
  • Adriana Rojas, Attorney at Law - Secretary
  • Nerelys Ortiz, CPA- Treasurer

Yvonne Garcia - President

Yvonne is a Senior Vice President at State Street Corporation on the Investment Manager Services team, part of the Global Services business. Yvonne has global responsibility for new client engagements and provides consulting services to existing State Street clients.

Prior to State Street, Yvonne served as Director in Marketing and Distribution Strategy for Liberty Mutual’s Agency Corporation where she led the development and deployment of initiatives within Liberty’s regional companies and the creation and implementation of integrated marketing strategies. Yvonne also served as Vice President for Bank of America’s China Construction Bank Strategic Assistance. In this role, Yvonne and her team were responsible for the creation and implementation of over 80 Wealth Management Centers throughout China. In between her travels to China, Yvonne also spent over 7 weeks in North Carolina acquiring her Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt Certifications and is now a Six Sigma Black Belt. Prior to joining Bank of America, Yvonne worked in the banking, insurance and investment industry for over 18 years in companies such as Merrill Lynch, John Hancock and Fleet Bank and is securities industry registered in Series 7, 66, and Life, Health, and Accident Insurance.

As part of her activities in the community, Yvonne is the National President of ALPFA, the largest Latino professional organization in the country. She is also the co-founder of Milagros para Niños, a board at Children’s Hospital in Boston, which has raised more than $3 million in funds for Hispanic children who can’t afford medical care. In addition, she served on Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s Latino-American Advisory Commission Board. She has been featured on the cover of the Boston Herald’s Women’s Business section as a “Woman to Watch in 2008”. Yvonne was also presented Boston Business Journal’s 40-under-40 Award for 2008 and was selected as a Top 25 Women for Hispanic Business Magazine for 2009. Most recently, Yvonne was selected as the Top 5 Latina Executive in the Country by Latina Style Magazine for 2012.

Yvonne holds an MBA from Boston University in Finance and Marketing and a BA from La Sorbonne in Paris, France where she lived studying Economics and Culture.

Gabriel Rodriguez, Jr., CPA - Vice President

Gabe is currently an Associate Director in the Americas Finance (Controller’s Group) organization of Ernst & Young LLP (EY) and has served in this role since 2008.  In this role, Gabe is responsible for planning, coordinating and executing finance related projects and initiatives, including financial due diligence for acquired businesses, business modeling, long-range forecasting, PCAOB reporting, integration of acquired businesses, and implementation of accounting controls and new organizational structures.  Gabe also oversees the finance and accounting operations for the EY Foundation, which is a registered charitable corporation administered by the Foundation’s Board of Directors. 

In his prior role, Gabe was a Senior Manager in EY’s assurance practice and spent twelve years providing accounting and auditing services to both publicly and privately held companies in the retail, consumer products, technology and manufacturing industries.  Gabe has extensive experience with US GAAP, IFRS, SEC and Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 compliance and reporting, and has assisted clients with mergers and acquisitions as well as filing registration statements in connection with initial public offerings. As a Senior Manager in the assurance practice, Gabe was primarily responsible for the planning, coordination and execution of multi-location integrated audits, which included SEC and SOX 404 compliance and reporting.  He also led the coordination efforts associated with auditor transition activities and the deployment of the EY audit approach in complex global organizations.  Gabe’s technical experience includes dealing with complex technical accounting and financial reporting matters, including revenue recognition, leases, business combinations, and financial statement presentation and disclosure. 
Gabe has been an active member of ALPFA since 2002 and he has served in various national and local board roles since 2005.  Prior to joining the ALPFA National Board in 2008, Gabe served three years as the President of the ALPFA New Jersey Chapter from 2006 to 2008.  As President, Gabe worked diligently and collaboratively with the ALPFA New Jersey Board to plan and coordinate quality programs and events focused on leadership, mentoring, networking, professional development and community service.  During his tenure as President, the ALPFA New Jersey Chapter experienced transformational change, which led to extraordinary growth in both association membership and annual corporate sponsorship. 

In 2011, Gabe was recognized by Junior Achievement of New Jersey with the 2011 JA Latino Leadership Award in recognition of his exemplary leadership and efforts in establishing the Latino Professional JA Community Initiative, which was developed to help narrow to the achievement gap by inspiring youth to dream big and reach their fullest potential.  In 2009, Gabe was recognized by the ALPFA National Board with the North Region Member of the Year Award in recognition of his leadership, contributions and devoted service to ALPFA.  In 2008, Gabe was recognized by the ALPFA New Jersey Chapter Board with the Exceptional Leadership and Devoted Service Award in recognition of his leadership, contributions and devoted service to the ALPFA New Jersey Chapter. 
Gabe is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in New Jersey and New York State, and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSCPA).  Gabe received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the School of Business at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. 

Gabe is very passionate about giving back to his community and has been instrumental in the development of students and young professionals. In his free time, Gabe enjoys playing golf, salsa dancing, traveling, watching the New York Yankees and spending quality time with family and friends. 

Hector Perez, CPA - Immediate Past President

Hector Perez is a Director at Tatum, a division of SFN Group, Inc., the largest Executive Services firm in the U.S., with services that include interim executives, financial and technology consulting and executive search. In his role Hector is responsible for growing the New York market and leading the financial services industry group. Prior to joining Tatum, Hector had a long and diverse career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) where he spent fourteen years. Hector left PwC as an Assurance Senior Manager in the Private Company Services Practice (PCS) where he focused on providing assurance and consulting services to private companies who are pursuing growth opportunities and had complex business issues. Prior to his time in PCS, Hector was a member of PwC's Transaction Services Group (TS) where he provided financial due diligence services for private equity firms and corporations both domestically and internationally. In addition, Hector did a national rotation in the Office of the CFO and Vice Chairman, focused on driving strategic and operational initiatives for PwC. Hector began his career in PwC's Assurance practice, providing assurance services to clients in the Capital Markets Group, primarily focused on clients in the alternative investment and brokerage/ dealer space.

Hector is a former Trustee at the Health Care Chaplaincy, a not-for-profit organization, where he served as Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee. In 2009, Hector was recognized by the AICPA for his contributions to the accounting profession.

Hector received his B.B.A. in Public Accounting from Pace University in New York. He is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in New York State and is a member of the AICPA and the New York State Society of CPAs.


Adriana Rojas Garzon, Attorney at Law  - Secretary

Adriana Rojas Garzón is Counsel for Absolute Return Capital, LLC, Brookside Capital, LLC, and Sankaty Advisors, LLC, the trading affiliates of Bain Capital, LLC. Prior to this role, Adriana worked with the Neighborhood of Affordable Housing’s Foreclosure Prevention department, where she worked with the housing counselors to negotiate loan modifications for numerous low- to moderate-income clients. She was also an Associate in the Corporate Department of the law firm of Sullivan & Worcester LLP, where her practice focused on credit transactions, corporate, securities and mid-sized private equity transactions.

Adriana holds an LL.M. from Boston University School of Law with concentrations in Securities and Financial Services Transactions, a JD from Boston College Law School and a B.S. degree in Economics and Marketing from Boston College. She has been admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and New York and is a member of the Massachusetts and Boston Bar Associations. Adriana also serves as a Director on the Boards of the Neighborhood of Affordable Housing and the Jose Mateo Ballet Theater.

Adriana was admitted to the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of New York in 2006. Most recently, Adriana was chosen as an honoree for the 2013 In-House Leaders in the Law by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Aside from her non-profit work, Adriana is an avid runner. She is first-generation American, her parents are both Colombian. Adriana is fluent in Spanish and lives in Massachusetts.

Nerelys Ortiz, CPA - Treasurer

Nerelys Ortiz is a senior finance manager within the WW Services Finance organization at Microsoft. In this role, Nerelys supports her business partners within the Premier business in analyzing the financial opportunity and related risks for new product and service offerings. Previously, she spent three years within the Online Services Division leading the division-wide controls, risk, and compliance efforts under Sarbanes-Oxley. In addition, she provided accounting subject matter expertise to senior leadership on high profile strategic business deals and managed various special projects, including intangible asset valuations, integration control reviews for newly acquired entities, and developed technical accounting trainings for the division. Nerelys began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers within their assurance practice, serving a variety of SEC clients in the technology, information/communication, and real estate industries.

She is the Founding President of the Seattle Chapter of ALPFA. Since the inception of the Seattle Chapter in March 2005, Nerelys helped create the framework for the local Board and each of the five committees within the chapter. She has participated in various National committees, including the Nominations and ALPFA One Committees.

Nerelys currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Washington State Society of CPAs and is actively involved in Microsoft's Finance diversity and recruiting initiatives. She was the recipient of the Microsoft Global Impact Award for her active leadership and involvement in driving diversity and inclusion initiatives across the organization and the 2006 'ALPFA Most Promising Business Professional of the Year' Award.

Nerelys received her Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration degree and a Master of Professional Accounting degree from the University of Washington. She is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in Washington State and is a member of the AICPA and Washington State Society of CPAs.

Nerelys is passionate, dedicated, and committed to the values and mission of ALPFA.