Chairman of the Board

Board President

Edward James Olmos 
is an actor, director, and activist. Among his many memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined
Battlestar Galactica, Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in Miami Vice, teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver, patriarch Abraham Quintanilla, Jr. in the film Selena, Detective Gaff in Blade Runner, and the narrator El Pachuco in both the stage and film versions of Zoot Suit. In 1988, Eddie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the film Stand and Deliver. Eddie has 140+
acting credits, several movie and TV directing credits, and producing credits on 19 films. Just as important to him have been his efforts to facilitate meaningful changes within underserved communities. Over the past four decades, he has given more than 5,000 speeches before millions of people across the United States and around the world. He co-founded and chaired Empowering Latino Futures and The Los Angeles Latino Int’l Film Festival.

Kirk Whisler
Kirk has Changing Images & Creating Change as the driving forces for his career. On the nonprofit side he is President of Empowering Latino Futures whose programs include the Latino Book & Family Festivals, 74 produced since 1997; the International Latino Book Awards, one of the 10 largest book awards in the USA; the International Society of Latino Authors, the largest organization of Latino authors in the USA; Latino Books into Movies Awards; Education Begins in the Home, which has given away 250,000+ books to underserved kids; and North County Informador, the largest audited print publication in North San Diego County. On the corporate side, Kirk oversees WPR whose signature program is LatinoLYTICS which has surveyed over 70,000 Latinos and currently producing the National Latino Media Study. Over the decades Kirk has served on the boards of over a dozen key organizations including the National Association of Hispanic Publications (Founding President); National Association of Latino Independent Producers (co-chair); Los Angeles Int'l Latino Film Festival (co-founder); and National Latino Media Council (co-Founder). Also a founding member of the NAHJ, which was founded at the same time as the NAHP. Kirk lives in Fallbrook, CA, with his wife Magdalena, an educator.

---

​Vice President of Education  

Andres Tobar
Came to Washington, DC in 1976, to work in the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education. He worked in the TRIO Programs as a Program Officer, where he monitored programs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. These programs included Upward Bound, Talent Search, and Special Services for Disadvantaged Students, which helped minority students complete high school and get through college. He retired from the federal government in 1996, to accept the position of Executive Director of the National Association of Hispanic Publications, where he worked for five years. For the past eighteen years, he has been Executive Director of the Shirlington Employment and Education Center (SEEC) in Arlington, Virginia, a Latino immigrant organization that finds temporary employment and training for immigrants recently arrived from Central and South America. Andres has been a Latino activist in local, state, and national organizations, including the Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO), Virginia Latino Leaders Council, LULAC, and UnidosUS, formerly the National Council of La Raza. Andres is a Texas native, whose Mexican farmworker family moved to Fresno, California, as a child. He has a BA from CSU, Fresno and an MA from CSU, Sacramento.

Vice President of Authors​

Katharine A. Díaz, 
​Kathy is a writer, editor, and broadcaster. As a freelance writer, specializing in writing about Latino issues, music, food, culture and travel, her work has appeared in various AARP publications, Latino Magazine, VISTA, Aboard Magazine, South Florida Gourmet Magazine, Corporate and Incentive Travel Magazine, Hispanic Trends, the Encyclopedia Latina, and other publications. She was managing editor for Hispanic Magazine and edited six other national magazines, including the groundbreaking CAMINOS. Díaz published her cookbook entitled Sabores Yucatecos: A Culinary Tour of the Yucatán (WPR Books: Comida, 2012). The Spanish-language edition—Sabores Yucatecos: Un recorrido culinario a Yucatán—was published in 2014. Her broadcast experience includes producing and hosting two radio programs on KPFK-90.7
FM in Los Angeles—Canto Tropical (since 1986) and Global Village—that focus on Afro-Cuban and world music. The programs can be heard globally at www.kpfk.org. She has also hosted similar radio programs in Miami and Austin.

Board Secretary

​Lisa Montes
​Empowering youth has been a lifelong passion for Lisa Montes, a resident of La Colonia de Eden Gardens in Solana Beach. She trained in the Chicano Federation of San Diego County’s Leadership Training Institute (LTI) and majored in Spanish with a minor in Mexican-American Studies at San Diego State University. She has a background in financial aid, employment preparation, and résumé writing, and worked for Palomar College and MiraCosta College in Financial Aid and Career Services. She served MiraCosta Community College in the Office of School Relations & Diversity Outreach for several years. There, she was instrumental in helping increase the full-time Latino student enrollment to become a Hispanic Serving Institution by bringing thousands of middle and high school students to explore college as a real possibility, at events such as Encuentros Leadership conferences, GEAR UP conferences, and Latino Film Series. She has served as a statewide board member for the Latina Leadership Network of the California Community Colleges, an organization committed to empowering Latinas through education. Additionally, she served as the statewide conference co-chair for the Latina Leadership Network’s Annual Statewide Conference. She was responsible for establishing a student chapter of the Latina Leadership Network at MiraCosta College and served as the club advisor for several years. Because of her dedication to this organization, she was selected as a statewide Latina Leadership Network Madrina in 2000. In 2010, she joined the effort to form La Colonia de Eden Gardens, Inc. (LCEG), whose mission is to help youth and families achieve their dreams by facilitating unified community collaborations that create positive change. She has since served as the organization’s vice chair, as well as a co-coordinator for the organization’s Summer Youth Camp and the first annual Día de los Muertos steering committees.​
​

Treasurer

Dennis Garcia
is a retired attorney (35 years active) and teacher (16 years in public high school) and served as a Magistrate Judge Pro-tempore (7 years). His legal career included representation for indigent clients and management of Legal Services Offices. He also served as a Prosecutor, Public Defender, and Tribal Attorney. He taught government and law at a Law Magnet high school. Dennis is currently writing in the Family History and Biography categories. He is an award-winning author at International Latino Book Awards for his biography, "Marine, Public Servant, Kansan: The Life of Ernest Garcia." Dennis believes the widespread sharing of stories about the Latinx history and experience in the U.S. is crucial to the advancement of the Latinx community and the country as a whole.

Board Member

Edward Becerra
​has been married for 50 years, has 4 daughters, 1 son and 3 grandsons. After a 26-year career with Pacific Bell, he utilized his Sociology degree from UC Riverside (1974) and worked for the County of San Diego as a CPS Social Worker. Upon retiring at the age of 60, he volunteered for the City of Oceanside Crown Heights Resource Center from 2012-2017. He founded Education Begins in the Home in 2015, providing FREE books to the families of North County San Diego, joined Empowering Latino Futures in 2016, became a Board Member in 2018, also joining the San Diego Council on Literacy that year. He has been active and instrumental in each of the 4 active programs under the Empowering Latino Futures nonprofit.​

Board Member 

Julia Abrantes 
​a lover of Latino literature, has been an integral part of the Las Comadres Book Club since she joined in 2009. For over 7 years, she was one of the book club discussion leaders in New York City. Since 2012, she has been a judge in the International Latino Book Awards. She has also been a part of the backstage production in the presentation of the ILBAs since 2010. Julia lives in Loganville, GA, and is the Submissions Coordinator for the Las Comadres & Friends National Latino Book Club.

Board Member 

Norma Jasso
is a higher-education champion focused on serving low-income and first-generation students, English-language learners, and students of color. Her community work with MANA de San Diego includes scholarship funding, youth mentorship, creation of the college success program, and work on the TIAS committee. In six years since inception, the college success program has championed 32 graduates who have earned Bachelors degrees in underrepresented fields like engineering, political science, and chemistry. Norma is retired from a successful career in the energy industry.

Board Member ​

Esther Reyes Jones
was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, a first-generation Mexican born in the United States. Esther graduated from Cal State University Los Angeles where she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She served as a Special Education teacher K–12, a high school counselor, a Dean of Students, an Activities Director, Title 1 Coordinator, Assistant Principal, and Principal. After serving 30 years as a public school educator, Esther retired in 2008. She then sold life insurance and annuities to fellow educators for about four years. Next, she became an author of children’s books, winning awards for "La Senora with the Blue Lipstick" and its sequel, "Senora Felice Returns Home". She is curently working on the third and final sequel to her first book, "La Senora with the Blue Lipstick."

Board Member ​​

​Leticia Ordaz
​ is a Publisher, Award-Winning Bilingual Children’s Book Author, Literacy Advocate, and Television News Anchor/Reporter. Leticia is the founder of the bilingual publishing house Cielito Lindo Books and a ten-time award-winning children’s book author at the International Latino Book Awards, the largest Latino Book Awards in the world.  A proud Mexican-American, Leticia is an Emmy Award-winning anchor/reporter in Sacramento, California, where she’s covered some of the biggest stories in the country.  Leticia is the author of The Adventures of Mr. Macaw, That Girl on TV Could Be Me! The Journey of a Latina News Anchor, Mr. Macaw’s Paleta Adventure, The Carousel King and the Space Mission, Mr. Macaw Lost in the Big City, and 2024 release Super Peanut and the Big Bully: The Power of Kindness. 
She is excited to share bilingual stories with children worldwide as a literacy ambassador.

ELF Emeritus Board Members
Nora de Hoyos Comstock, PhD
Dennis Hernandez
Zeke Montes
Ambassador Julian Nava, PhD
Jesus Nieto, PhD
Martin Valdez