NCLR New Board Members.

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and the Chairman of its Board, Jose Villarreal, announced the election of nine new members to the NCLR Board. The Board is a 32-member group made up of representatives of community-based organizations, the corporate sector, academia, and elected officials. The NCLR Board’s 32 members represent the major Hispanic nationality groups and reflect the geographic distribution of the Hispanic population and, by mandate, must be composed equally of men and women.

The new Board members are:

Salvador Balcorta is one of El Paso’s most recognized community leaders and Executive Director of the Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe in El Paso, Texas. La Fe is the largest service organization for the Hispanic community in El Paso providing a host of health, housing, educational, and cultural services including a multimillion dollar Child and Adolescent Wellness Center. La Fe is also an NCLR affiliate.

Andrea Bazon Mason is a health care and social work expert and long-time community activist who serves as Executive Director of El Pueblo, Inc., in Raleigh, North Carolina El Pueblo is North Carolina’s leading Latino advocacy and public organization focusing on advocacy, civic participation, youth leadership, and education efforts. El Pueblo, Inc. is also an NCLR affiliate.

Horace Deets spent over 25 years at, and served as Executive Director of AARP, the largest and most influential national membership organization for people 50 and over with a budget of over $500 million, until his retirement in 2001. During his tenure, Deets increased the number of AARP members by six million to its current 33 million and has been honored on numerous occasions for his humanitarian and civic work.

W. Roger Haughton is the Chairman of the Board and CEO of the PMI Group, Inc. and its subsidiary, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., one of the largest private mortgage insurers in the United States. Mr. Haughton also has a long history of active volunteerism with various affordable housing organizations and serves on the Board of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Rafael Ortega has served as the County Commissioner for District 5 in St. Paul, Minnesota since 1995 and was the Chair of the County Board from 1999-2001. A long-time community and civic leader in the Twin Cities, Ortega was the first member of a minority group elected to a county board in Minnesota. Previously, he served as Executive Director of CLUES, a Twin Cities mental health agency that provide culturally appropriate services to the Latino community and an NCLR affiliate.

Elba Montalvo is the Executive Director of Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, Inc. located in New York City. A former teacher, she helped co-found the Committee, a nonprofit agency that offers programs that nurture children and advocates on their behalf and which is the only Latino child care resource and referral service in the city. The Committee is an NCLR affiliate.

Janet Murguia is Executive Vice Chancellor for University Relations at the University of Kansas. She oversees the university’s internal and external public relations, including governmental and public affairs. Previously, Murguia was deputy campaign manager for the Gore/Lieberman campaign and served in the Clinton White House as deputy assistant to the President and deputy director of legislative affairs.

An accomplished journalist and businesswoman, Robin Read is the President and CEO of the National Foundation for Women Legislators (NFWL), an organization established to promote initiatives and exceptional programs for women legislators of today and tomorrow. She is also the Executive Director of The National Order of Women Legislators, a nonpartisan organization whose membership is made up of women serving as current state legislators and former state legislators and whose mission is to promote election and appointment of women to public office.

Arturo Rodriguez has served as President of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO since the passing of its founder and first president Cesar Chavez in 1993. He has been involved in the work of the Union for over 30 years as an renowned organizer and contract negotiator. In just his first year as President, he recruited 10,000 new union members and led a 343-mile march from Delano to Sacramento to commemorate the historic 1966 trek to the State Capitol led by Chavez.

“We are truly honored and pleased to have such a distinguished group join our Board of Directors. These are persons who have served in the highest echelons of government, business, and the nonprofit sector, and they will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the work of the National Council of La Raza,” noted Raul Yzaguirre, NCLR President.

Skip to content