BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mario Hernandez
Board Chair
Propel Nonprofits
Mario Hernandez is the Director of Strategic Services for Propel Nonprofits, an organization which helps build the capacity of nonprofits in Minnesota in the areas of finance, governance, and strategy. Mario’s nonprofit experience includes two past executive leadership roles in two local Latino-led nonprofits. His nonprofit savvy complements his community and legislative affairs experience with the State of Minnesota. Mario has a long-standing commitment to Latino community empowerment. He believes healthy youth development and ongoing leadership and personal development position Latinos to exercise agency in their personal and professional lives. He currently serves on two board of directors for local Twin Cities organizations, one of them Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER).
Mario is a second generation Mexican-American, with roots in Texas, and a present firmly anchored in Minnesota.
Rodolfo Batres
Vice Chair
SoLaHmo / University of Minnesota
Rodolfo received his medical degree in El Salvador in 2002, and for over ten years worked first as a general practitioner and then as a family physician in both rural and urban settings. Since moving to Minnesota, he has worked as a community researcher with SoLaHmo, a partnership for health and wellness focused on conducting culturally-appropriate research with communities of color. In this position, he is participating in various community-based participatory action research projects. Rodolfo has a lifelong commitment to improving patients’ health. His research interests are broad, but have the common goal of improving the health outcomes of Minnesotans, particularly within the Latino community.
Luis Posas
Board Member
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Luis Posas is Professor of Sociology and is currently serving as Chairperson of the Department of Sociology at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He teaches courses in the areas of Social Change, Race and Ethnicity, Urban Sociology, Social Demography, Methods and others. His research covers several subjects including urban studies, community integration of immigrant and refugee populations, immigration and ethnic conflict, masculinity and others. He also has many years serving in the implementation of over seven projects for the Honduran government and served as Population and Development official for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the Honduran field office. Currently, he is conducting research in the area of emotional intelligence using a sociological approach and testing hypotheses using comparative case studies of Honduras and the United States. In addition to the position of Department Chair he also serves as Past-Chair of the President’s Commission on Diversity in MSU. Other noteworthy leadership positions in which he has served include the College of SBS Leadership Council, the University’s Meet and Confer Council, the Honors Program Curriculum Committee, the Diversity Curriculum Evaluation Committee, and the Faculty Association Executive Board among others.
Carla Manzoni
Board Member
LatinoLEAD
Dr. Carla Manzoni, PhD, MA, is an equity-centered strategist and community-based researcher and educator with the goal to create the infrastructure needed to expand the success, influence, and power of marginalized communities. An immigrant and scholar with transnational lived experiences and global connections; Dr. Manzoni’s research has delved into memory, representation, gender, human rights, narratives of community and inclusive pedagogies. Dr. Manzoni currently serves as the Director of Leadership Development at LatinoLEAD where she is cocreating a pipeline to have more Latinx leaders in MN via a leadership program, monthly events, partnerships and coalition building. A leader of her community, Dr. Manzoni has participated in a variety of projects with Latinx-serving organizations and volunteered to increase the representation and success of BIPOC, immigrant, multilanguage and multicultural populations.
Patricia Conde-Brooks Ed.D.
Board Member
University of St. Thomas
Dynamic and intuitive culture/people leader with a proven track record of helping individuals, teams, and organizations not only build & maintain diverse, culturally competent teams, but think critically about the systemic barriers that limit the success of marginalized populations. Her organizational development focus is on the simultaneity of race, ethnicity, gender, and class, and the opportunities and challenges these differences create in organizations.
Strong background in diversity initiatives and programming in the area of advocacy, advising, mentoring, instructing, program development, multicultural leadership development, recruitment, and career development. Expertise in systems change, change management, community organizing, coaching, intercultural conflict, mediation, assessment, and action learning. Qualified administrator of the Intercultural Developmental Inventory (IDI), Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory ICS certified, the Meyers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI), and other assessment tools.
She has provided international OD consultation in India, Mexico and the US. Her academic research focuses on career and leadership development for Latinas and women of color in organizations.
She is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and feels a responsibility for doing her own identity development work to build her own cultural competency so that she can lead others and conduct her work in a way that fosters inclusion and equity.