Dr. Alex Gonzalez is the president of the Cien Amigos Education Fund. A native Californian and the first person in his family to graduate from college, Dr. Gonzalez has devoted his career to ensuring greater opportunities for all students. A psychologist, he served over four decades as a professor and education leader and is now President Emeritus of California State University, Sacramento, one of the largest universities in the California State University system. Prior to his appointment to California State University, Sacramento, Dr. Gonzalez served as president of California State University, San Marcos and as the provost at Fresno State.

Dr. Gonzalez holds a doctorate and master’s degree in psychology from UC Santa Cruz. He received his bachelor’s degree in history from Pomona College, where he graduated with honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He spent a year conducting research at Stanford University as a postdoctoral fellow of the Ford Foundation and the National Research Council. He also attended Harvard Law School and served in the United States Air Force.

Following his belief that universities and communities must work together to improve lives and opportunities, Dr. Gonzalez served as a board member of a number of organizations committed to improving the Sacramento Region.

These include the boards of directors of Valley Vision, Sutter Health, the Crocker Art Museum and Cristo Rey High School.

At the state and national level he served as a member of the Board of Pomona College, chaired the Governing Board of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) and was appointment by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Student Aid Commission. He spent six years as a commissioner for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges – the accrediting agency for higher education institutions in California and Hawaii – and was appointed by George W. Bush as a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. Dr. Gonzalez also served on the board of the American Council On Education (ACE) and the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) as a member and Chair.

Dr. Gonzalez has been recognized both at the local and national levels. In 2009 he was selected as Business Man of the Year by the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and in 2008, he was the Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce Community Honoree. He also received the Social Equity Leader Award from Valley Vision in 2015 and was inducted into the National Association of Hispanic Colleges and Universities Hall of Champions in 2014. In addition, the Mexican government recognized Dr. Gonzalez by presenting him with one of its highest awards, the Ohtli Prize, in recognition of his work in higher education with students and families of Mexican descent.

Since his retirement in 2015, he has continued to serve the university as President Emeritus and teaches a course in the university’s Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. He currently serves on the board of the National Board of Advisors for the University of California Davis School of Medicine, Cien Amigos and the U.C. Berkeley Executive Leadership Academy.

Carolina Rojas-Gore is the owner of Gore Public Relations, specializing in promotions, Spanish translations, Voice Overs and event planning. She served as Director of Community Empowerment of Univision Channel 19 for thirteen years. Prior to joining Univision in 2004, Carolina successfully worked in the area of Human Resources for several years and was certified in Human Resources Management by U.C. Davis Extension.

In addition to her expertise in media and fundraising, she is passionate about education and promoting the traditions and culture of Mexico. Toward that end, she has served on the Board of Directors and is two-term President of the Mexican Cultural Center of Northern California. She is still a very active member and continues to provide leadership for the organization.

Carolina has clearly demonstrated her commitment and willingness to serve the Sacramento community. Throughout the years she has embraced and been actively engaged in several organizations. These include: Anchor and Co-Producer of Vistas Community Program; Board of Directors of the Sacramento YMCA; Board of Directors of Bishop Gallegos Memorial; and, Member of the Parish Council of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. Carolina also served several terms on the Board of the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. During her tenure, she chaired the 23rd Annual Installation Dinner as well as the Cultural Arts Committee.

While working at Univision, Carolina was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the Sacramento County Fair Board of Directors. She also served on California Senator Darryl Steinberg’s Hispanic Advisory Committee and the Center for Aids Research Education and Services (CARES) Hispanic Advisory Board. She is also one of the original members of the Community Engagement Committee of UC Davis’ Center for Reducing Health Disparities.

Carolina’s talent and work have been recognized by the community and her peers. She was awarded the coveted 2015-2016 Northern California Area Emmy® Award for Outstanding Achievement as Executive Producer of her Community/Public Service PSA. She received the 2007 Outstanding Woman Leader from the National Association of Women Business Owners. In 2011 she received the Molina Champions Award, and in 2013 the Leadership in Advocacy Award. She was recognized with The Spirit of Latina Award from the Latino Journal and Café de California in 2016. Finally, she was recognized by the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in 2019 and identified as an ”Estrella” for truly being a “star” in the community.

Her outstanding work and tireless efforts for the community have been memorialized by Resolutions from both the California State Senate and the California Assembly.

Gloria serves as the Treasurer of the Cien Amigos Education Fund. Her early training and business experience began as the business manager of a business school and later as a full-charge bookkeeper for a large pizza franchise company in Los Angeles. Over the years, she worked in higher education at Harvard University, the University of California, Santa Cruz as well as other organizations. Her experience and financial expertise provide a strong foundation for one of the important roles she plays for the organization.

Gloria graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from California State University Fresno. Originally a business major with an emphasis in accounting, she nearly completed her degree in Business Administration but in the end, decided to follow her interest in Psychology and counseling instead. After graduation, she worked as a counselor working with drug addicts, battered women, and survivors of sexual abuse. Although it was demanding and often frustrating work, she also found it very rewarding.

Being involved and providing service to the community have always been part of Gloria’s core values. During her time in Santa Cruz she was a preceptor at Crown College where she and her husband lived in the dorm with students and provided assistance, counseling and other services. That experience is part of what has motivated her to help students over the years. Besides working with young people, she was also a volunteer and provided both transportation and companionship for the elderly. While in Fresno, she volunteered her time with Radio Bilingue, a nonprofit, bilingual radio station. There, she helped set up the accounting system and maintained it for several years. She also provided her expertise for the auditing function. In addition, at Fresno State she worked to provide scholarships for re-entry students.

During her time in San Marcos in San Diego County, she was on the board of the North County Latinas Association as Treasurer. The organization’s mission was to empower young Latinas through education by mentoring, providing scholarships, workshops and being positive role models for Latinas from fourth grade through high school. In addition, she was a case manager for a mentoring program serving at-risk middle school students.

In Sacramento, Gloria has been much more than a community volunteer. While her role at California State University Sacramento included the full range of community, student, faculty and development activities, one of her major activities was mentoring and securing scholarships for needy students. With the assistance of staff and students, she began the Women’s Mentoring Conference to bring female students and professional women together. Currently she serves on the board of the Mexican Cultural Center of Northern California where she is the Treasurer and an active participant in the organization’s activities.

Gloria’s service and impact to the communities where she has lived has garnered much recognition and many awards; even a proclamation from the US House of Representatives for her leadership and work with young Latinas. In her words: “My community service experience has been gratifying and has given me the opportunity to meet many remarkable and altruistic people.”

Jim Gonzalez is a public policy consultant and political strategist for elected and appointed policymakers, private sector leaders, international companies, and nonprofit organizations,

He has managed California statewide citizen ballot initiatives on drug reform (Propositions 215 and 36), expanding mental health services (Proposition 63), renewable energy (Proposition 7), and was a senior adviser on health insurance reform (Proposition 45).

Previously, Jim Gonzalez was a Special Assistant to San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, and later was elected citywide as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Supervisor Gonzalez (retired) served as Chairman of the Finance Committee. as a board member of the San Francisco Health Services System, the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and the Association of Bay Area Governments. In 1994, President Clinton offered him the position of Regional Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Jim was the first elected official in the nation to author a City of Sanctuary ordinance. Since then, sixty cities in the United States have passed sanctuary legislation to protect the human rights of undocumented immigrants. Another piece of his legislation granted prime City land to build the Mexican Museum of San Francisco.

His firm has expertise in winning and expanding Democratic majorities in Congress and state legislatures. For several election cycles, Jim led the team for the New House PAC that conducted nationally recognized training programs for many successful congressional candidates.

Since 2004, his political consulting firm has mobilized, with teams of community organizers, Latino voters in the states of California, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.

Jim Gonzalez was the Chair and founding member of Cien Amigos-Working for California and Mexico. He is a recipient of the Mexican Government’s highest honor, The Ohtli Award, bestowed on an individual for service to Mexicans living abroad.

Jim holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco, a Bachelors Degree in Government from Saint Mary’s College of California, and was a Kellogg Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, MD, PhD is Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Davis. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Reducing Health Disparities at UC Davis Health and the Director of the Community Engagement Program of the UCD Clinical Translational Science Center (CTSC). He is a past member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council (NAMHC), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). He is Past Chair of the Board of Directors of Mental Health America (MHA; formerly the National Mental Health Association) and Past Chair of the Board of NAMI California. He is currently a Member of the National Advisory Council of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services since 2019, board member of the California Health Care Foundation, a member of the board of Physicians for a Health California and a board member of the national board of Peer Health Exchange. He is a national and international expert on health and mental health comorbidities on diverse populations. He has held several World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) advisory board and consulting appointments and is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health Survey Consortium (WMH) and its Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean, overseeing population-based national/regional surveys in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, México and Peru.

Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola’s applied research program has focused on identifying unmet mental health needs and associated risk and protective factors to better understand and meet population mental health needs and achieve equity in health and mental health disparities in underserved populations.

Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola is the recipient of multiple awards including the Vanderbilt University Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Medal of Congress (“Medalla de la Cámara de Diputados”) of Chile for work related to mental health research, the DHHS’ Office of Minority Health’s 2005 National Minority Health Community Leader Award (Hispanic Community), Washington, DC, the 2007 UC Davis Academic Senate Scholarly Distinguished Service Award, the 2008 Latino Mental Health Conference Excellence in Science and Research Award from NYU Univ., the 2009 National Award of Excellence in Blending Research and Practice from the National Hispanic Science Network, the 2012-2013 UC Davis Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Diversity and Community in the Academic Senate category, the 2014 National Award of Excellence in Public Service by the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse, the 2016 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Community Engagement, UC Davis School of Medicine and was named a distinguished member of the Top 10 U.S. Latino Physicians in the May, 2016 issue of Latino Leaders Magazine. More recently, he received the 2018 UC Davis Health Dean’s Team Award for Inclusion Excellence, along with the Center for Reducing Health Disparities Team for outstanding multidisciplinary team contributions in the area of community engagement, the 2018 NAMI California Multicultural Outreach Excellence Award, the 2018 Mental Health California’s Research and Health Disparities Award, and the 2018 Mental Health California’s Research and Health Disparities Award. Dr. Aguilar-Gaxiola was a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM/NRC) Committee on Depression, Parenting Practices, and the Health Development of Young Children (2007-2009) report and a member of the IOM/NRC Women’s Health Research: Progress, Pitfalls, and Promise (2010) report. He is currently serving as co-chair of the Steering Committee of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Assessing Meaningful Community Engagement in Health and Health Care, a project of the NAM Leadership Consortium and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Marco Rodriguez is a Senior Financial Advisor with Principal Financial Group. His primary practice includes creating financial investment strategies for individual clients and small to midsize businesses to assist them with asset accumulation and wealth preservation.

He served 6 years as a Presidential Appointee from President George W. Bush to The National Council on Disability; he has also served appointments by Governor Schwarzenegger as a Council member to the State Independent Living Centers.

Marco has dedicated himself to contributing to his community through various non-profit organizations. He currently serves as President of the Board for the Mexican Cultural Center of Northern California and Board member to American Leadership Forum.

Marco is a recipient of the Ohtli Award, the Mexican Government’s highest honor bestowed on an individual for service to Mexicans, Mexican Americans and Latino families living in the US.

Marco holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Finance from California State University, Sacramento.