Paul Francisco
2008 - 2010
President of ALPFA Boston
Managing Director and Co-Founder of Foster & Francisco

Prior to starting Foster & Francisco, Paul was Vice President for Veritude’s Workforce Consulting Group. Veritude, a Fidelity Investments Company, provides Strategic Human Resources Consulting and Recruitment Process Outsourcing Services to client companies. Prior to joining Veritude, Paul was a Senior Vice President for Bank of America’s Consumer Staffing Division. In that capacity he was responsible for talent acquisition for the Consumer Bank’s operations in New England, New York, Mid Atlantic, Southeast, Florida and Central Divisions. He has also held a number of HR positions at companies like Amica and Gillette.

Paul is a former NFL player, having been part of the New England Patriots team of ’94-95. Paul emigrated from Honduras as a teenager, attended Cathedral High School in the South End, and obtained a football scholarship to Boston University where he majored in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations. While a member of the Patriots, Paul returned to Boston U. to pursue a Master of Science in Administration. His football career ended in 1996 due to an injury while a member of the Baltimore Ravens.

Yvonne Garcia
2006 - 2008
National Vice President, Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALFPA) Managing Director, Affinity Marketing, Liberty Mutual Group

Yvonne is Managing Director for Liberty Mutual’s Partnership Programs in the Affinity Marketing department. In this role, Yvonne is responsible for the development and implementation of segmentation and marketing strategies for personal markets. In addition, Yvonne is responsible for the creation and implementation of product innovation strategies for Affinity Marketing within personal markets.

Prior to this role, Yvonne served as Vice President for Bank of America’s China Construction Bank Strategic Assistance. In this role, Yvonne and her team were responsible for the creation and implementation of sales and service processes within China Construction Bank’s Wealth Centers throughout China, including the creation and implementation of roles and responsibilities and tools for the sales force and management team. In between her travels to China, Yvonne also spent over 7 weeks in North Carolina acquiring her Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt Certifications and is now a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Yvonne also served as Vice President for Bank of America's Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM) marketing division where she was responsible for aligning GWIM's marketing strategy with the development and implementation of marketing programs within GWIM. Prior to joining Bank of America, Yvonne worked in the banking, insurance and investment industry for over 16 years in companies such as Merrill Lynch, John Hancock and Fleet Bank and is securities industry registered in Series 7, 66, and Life, Health, and Accident Insurance.  

As part of her activities in the community, Yvonne teaches undergraduate marketing and business management at Northeastern University in Boston, MA and is the National Vice President of the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA.) ALPFA is a national organization comprised of over 14000 members. Prior to becoming the National Vice President, Yvonne served as the Boston Chapter President from 2006-2008. In her current role as National Vice President, Yvonne helps drive the strategic direction for the organization, including membership acquisition, programming and branding and marketing efforts and has a deep passion for the Women of ALPFA program in particular. Yvonne also serves on Governor Patrick’s Latino-American Advisory Commission Board and on the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investments Board (MOITI). In addition, Yvonne serves on the board of La Alianza Hispana and Children’s Hospital – Milagros Para Niños.

Yvonne has appeared on Channel 7 in “Urban Update” and “La Revista Program”, Channel 4 on “CBS’s Centro” and Channel 66 on “Encuentro Latino” where she spoke about her secret to balancing her time between her personal and professional aspirations while being a mother of two children, Max, age 2 and Isabelle, age 7. She also spoke about her work in ALPFA and the community.  Yvonne was also featured on the cover of “Entre Amigos” a professional/social newspaper produced by the Hispanic News Press on June 2007 and was nominated as “One of the Most Influential Hispanics in MA” by El Planeta Magazine three years in a row (December of 2006, 2007 and 2008.)

In addition, Yvonne was featured on the cover of the Boston Herald’s Women’s Business section as a “Woman to Watch in 2008” for her leadership skills and her ability to act as a change agent in the community and at her workplace. Yvonne was also awarded the Promise of Greatness Leadership Award by the Partnership Inc., an organization focusing on the development and advancement of Professionals of Color. Most recently, Yvonne was presented Boston Business Journal’s 40-under-40 Award for 2008 and was selected as one of the Top 25 Women for Hispanic Business Magazine for 2009 and Boston Business Journal’s 20 on the Move for Hispanic Executives for 2009.

Yvonne holds an MBA from Boston University in Finance and Marketing and a BA from SUNY Albany and La Sorbonne in Paris, France where she lived for over a year studying Economics and Culture and acquired her Six Sigma Black Belt in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is also a graduate of the Partnership’s Fellows Program Class of 2008. Yvonne is fluent in Spanish and French and lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two young children. She is from the Dominican Republic and was raised in Queens, New York..

Rene Jarquin
2004 - 2006
Sr. Porfolio Manager

Rene is a Sr. Portfolio Manager for BNY-Mellon's Wealth Management group in Boston. He oversees close to $200 MM in client assets across the full range of equity, fixed income and alternative asset classes in both tax-exempt and taxable portfolios.

Rene joined BNY-Mellon from Merrill Lynch’s Private Client Group where he implemented tax-efficient diversification strategies on behalf of corporate CEOs and CFOs. Possessing over fifteen years of experience in the financial services industry, he was a Sr. Associate in GE Capital's corporate mergers and acquisition group and a research analyst for Springwell Capital Partners - a tech/media-focused Merchant Bank founded by GE Capital alumni.

Rene has a Masters in Business Administration degree from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Rene is originally from Nicaragua and is an active Board member of the Boston Chapter of ALPFA – Association of Latino Professionals in Finance & Accounting.

Eduardo Tobon
Managing Director
Cards Division USA
Sovereign Bank │Banco Santander

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Eduardo Tobon was named Managing Director of the company’s U.S. Cards division in 2009. Based in Boston, Tobon oversees a team providing debit and credit card solutions, and merchant acquiring for individuals, businesses, and corporate clients.

Previously, Tobon was the director of Sovereign Bank’s Strategic Alliances and International Cash Management group. Under his leadership, Sovereign developed multiple strategic alliances and a portfolio of more than 60,000 clients that included multinational and international companies. He joined Sovereign in January of 2001.

Prior to joining Sovereign Bank, Tobon was a senior strategic consultant at two McKinsey legacy firms --Mitchell Madison Group and AT Kearney. His experience also includes senior management positions in planning and strategy at Procter & Gamble and Lithonia Lighting in Latin America.

Tobon has long been committed to the community, children, and education. He currently serves on several boards including the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO) as President, the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), and the Advisory Board of Cambridge College. He is also involved in the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA) of which he is a past President as well as founder its local Corporate Advisory Board in Boston.

Tobon had been recognized twice by The White House and The Embassy of Colombia in Washington, D.C. as one of the key Colombians in the United States; by The Boston Business Journal as one of the Top 20 Hispanic executives making a difference in Boston in 2008; and by El Planeta Magazine as “One of the Most Influential Hispanics in Massachusetts” for three consecutive years.

A native of Medellin, Colombia, Tobon holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) and a bachelor of engineering from EAFIT Colombia. He resides in Needham, Mass. with his wife and their three children.

Juan Carlos Morales
2000 - 2002

Chief Financial Officer Private Wealth Management Diversity Council Member. He joinned Mellon in August 2004 as chief financial officer of Mellon Private Wealth Management. Prior to joining Mellon, Mr. Morales worked at FleetBoston Financial as senior vice president and division chief financial officer of Fleet Bank's Merchant Services, where he led the segment through double-digit revenue and profit growth and managed the finance, strategic planning, sales administration and quality assurance functions.

Prior to Fleet, Mr. Morales served as assurance senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers' Financial Service Industry Practice and specialized in providing attestation and consulting services to Fortune 500 clients. Juan Carlos Morales graduated cum laude from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1993.

Personal Statement: Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, I immigrated to this great country, the United States, 15 years ago and was lucky enough to be surrounded by people from all walks of life. This ethnic "smorgasbord" provided me with numerous role models and success stories that have sharpened my commitment to embrace diversity in my day-to-day life. I am proud to be a member of the Diversity Council and part of a visionary organization that sees diversity as a business imperative and a key driver of value for our shareholders, our customers and our people.

Carol Sanchez
1998 - 2000

Carol I. Sanchez is a founder and Partner of Sanchez & Santiago, CPAs of Boston and Marlboro. Durin her career, she was employed by several multinationals such as Global Resources, Staples, Inc., The Timberland Company, Verizon, Stride Rite International, and KPMG. Her experiences include Accounting, Internal Audit, Merchandising, Audit and International Operations.

In 2007, she became a founding investor and Board Member of Veritas Bank in Lawrence, MA. In 2007, she was the Vice-President of the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, and has held various Board and Committee posts. Since 2000, she has been a proud founder and past President of ALPFA’s (Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting) Boston chapter. She is also a current Board member of the Center for Women & Enterprise helping women to achieve economic independence through entrepreneurship.

In 2008, Carol was voted “20 On the Move” Hispanic Executives by the Boston Business Journal. In 2006, she won the Entrepreneur of the Year by LatinaStyle Magazine and the National Hispanic Chamber and earned the “Excellence in Contribution to the Hispanic Community Award” from ALPFA. She has been voted “100 Most Influential People in Boston by Phoenix’s El Planeta Newspaper.

Carol Sanchez has been an advocate for the economic, cultural and educational interests of the Latino community throughout her career. Carol mentions that not only has the Latino Professional community grown in the past decade, it has become more organized and united. Latino children and young adults of immigrant families now have role models who have attained success in business, politics, or community endeavors. When she arrived to the U.S. from Peru in 1971, her role models were from many cultures and walks of life. She earned scholarships, and was awarded many opportunities by those that believed in her. She continues to “Pay It Forward”.

Her community involvement includes the Governor’s Diversity Council. She has been active member since 2000 in the Metrowest ESL Fund, which provides free English as a Second Language classes to immigrant adults. Also, in 2003, she was the recipient of Northeastern University’s Latino Center Annual Award for her commitment to Latino students. She is a past Board Member of the Metrowest Latin American Center. Carol was an Advisor to the Breaking Barriers Program in Waltham which assists Latinas in becoming home-owners and financially independent. As a mother of three, she is concerned with Education and was the Treasurer of the PTO and was a past member of the Massachusetts Educational Initiative for Latino Students (MEILS). She is also an active member of LULAC’s Metrowest Chapter since 2003.

She lives in Framingham with her husband, Gene Novak, and their three children: Liam, Kailee, and Nikolai.