Los Angeles, CA – After a thorough search by a nonprofit board member recruitment & placement firm to identify candidates with experience complementary to the existing Board of Directors, SHPE has filled two previously vacant seats and three seats becoming vacant at the end of the current fiscal year.
Effective immediately, Carista Ragan of StackPath and Nicolas Tempestini of Accenture, are the newest members of the SHPE Board of Directors.
Carista Ragan is the General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer at StackPath in Dallas, Texas. She has leadership experience in corporate start-up, FTSE 100, and Fortune 500 global companies, including the role of general counsel for North America and Latin America at The Weir Group based in Scotland, and leading a global commercial operations counsel team at Flowserve Corporation. Throughout her career, Carista has managed teams of attorneys in Asia, Latin America, Europe, the UK, and North America. She has traveled to 15+ countries training more than 25,000 executives and sales teams on Ethics and Compliance, FCPA and global anti-corruption and anti-bribery law, privacy law, risk management, anti-trust, privacy, employment law, and commercial contracts. She is passionate about positioning underrepresented groups for leadership and success and is frequently asked to speak on the topic.
Nicolas Tempestini is a Managing Director with 23+ years of experience at Accenture. He is currently the Google Business Group lead in the South Market Unit and leads the global talent development of Google Cloud. Nicolas is currently the Executive Sponsor at Accenture for both SHPE and Puerto Rico Universities Campus Recruiting. As the SHPE Executive Sponsor, he led the team to the 2019 STAR Company of the Year award and has launched two (2) virtual communities at Accenture –SHPE Alumni and Puerto Rico University Alumni groups – with a membership of about 200+ and 250+ respectively. Nicolas is a SHPE Lifetime Member and has been involved with SHPE since he was a freshman and eventual board member at the University of Michigan where he majored in Civil & Environmental Engineering.
Effective July 1, 2021, three additional executives will also join the SHPE Board of Directors – Steve Bermudez of Redline Ventures, Joaquin Gamboa of PWNHealth, and Fernando Paz of Cox Automotive.
Steve Bermudez is currently the CEO of a corporate development firm, Redline Ventures, where he supports emerging technology, real estate, and consumer product businesses in driving revenues, growth, and corporate initiatives. He also currently leads the mergers and acquisitions division of a commercial real estate and business brokerage, Alternative Real Estate Investments, Inc. In the past, Steve has managed and overseen the acquisition, construction, and development of global projects and developments with combined budgets in excess of over $1B+. He has held senior engineering positions at top ENR ranked firms McCarthy Building Companies and Clark Construction. He led global real estate project management for Citrix Systems, Inc. and held senior executive positions at technology startups, Impact and BioIQ. Steve earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
Joaquin Gamboa is the Chief Legal Officer at PWNHealth. Prior to PWNHealth, Joaquin was Chief Business Development and Legal Officer at Spring Health. He helped lead Zocdoc for six years as Chief Legal Officer, Head of New Business and Government Affairs, and Chief People Officer; and he was a partner at a telecom and technology law firm in Washington, DC. Joaquin began his career in Silicon Valley where he ran international business development at a fintech startup, founded a venture fund, and worked as a corporate lawyer. Born in Mexico City, Joaquin now lives in New York City with his wife and three children.
Fernando Paz is Senior Director of Software Engineering at Cox Automotive. In his role, Fernando leads global teams responsible for innovative SaaS software and advanced analytics that offer automotive dealers key market insights and business intelligence. Previously, he held progressively senior positions at both Dell and Motorola. As Vice President, Software at Dell, Fernando was responsible for all software in support of ~$40B PC business. He joined Dell from Motorola where, as Software Director, he scaled engineering to grow the business to $5B. In addition, he served abroad and established a Software R&D Center of Excellence in Malaysia. Fernando holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, and a Master of Science in Engineering Management/MBA from the University of Florida. Fernando now lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three children.
Governance Committee Chair Diana Gomez said about the search, “We were specifically looking for leading executives who are passionate about the mission of SHPE, but who also round out the competencies of our Board of Directors. These appointments bring knowledge and experience that will be invaluable as SHPE continues to grow its impact on leading Hispanics in STEM.”
As of June 30, three longtime SHPE Board members will step down – Founder Rod Garcia, Governance Committee Chair Diana Gomez, and Board Chair Miguel Alemany, though Miguel will remain as Board Chair temporarily to facilitate a smooth transition to the new Board Chair. All three individuals are very active, Lifetime members of SHPE who have played critical roles in the creation and evolution of SHPE over the years. Each of them will continue to be involved in volunteer positions and as mentors and role models to the next generation of SHPE members. The SHPE Familia owes a debt of gratitude to each of them and looks forward to their continued engagement.
ABOUT SHPE
SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers) is a nonprofit organization serving and advancing Hispanics in STEM. With more than 13,000 student and professional members, SHPE’s mission is to change lives by empowering the Hispanic community to realize its fullest potential and to impact the world through STEM awareness, access, support, and development. To accomplish this, SHPE provides a variety of programming, services, resources, and events, including hosting the largest Hispanic STEM convention in the nation. For more information, visit http://shpe.org.