UPWARDLY GLOBAL - Key Persons


Abel Mucyo

Job Titles:
  • Manager

Au Nguyen

Job Titles:
  • Business Strategy Manager

Audra Brown

Job Titles:
  • Vice President of Development

Bethany Atkins

Job Titles:
  • Regional Program Senior Staff Member
  • Program Manager, Central

Caio Zapata Mateos - CEO

Job Titles:
  • CEO
  • Member of the Board
Caio Zapata Mateos is a serial entrepreneur with 14 years of previous experience in turnarounds in manufacturing industries that span through Mexico, Brazil, and Central America. He is the founder and CEO of ENESTAS, a company dedicated to Creating Competitive Access to raw materials and fuels, which has presence in 5 countries and continues to grow since its inception at a CAGR of +183%. Caio has served as a board member for different companies that are in the Food, Packaging, and Pharmaceutical Industries in Latin America. He is a person that takes action and has been able to find different creative solutions to accommodate resources, negotiate debt, and increase profit in turnarounds and hypergrowth companies in countries where talent and capital are not easily accessible. He has been a speaker and has been recognized in numerous publications including USA LNG Summit, Forbes, Expansion, El Reforma, Mexico Business Review, and Mexico Energy Review. Caio is certified as a Black Belt in Six Sigma, earned an Industrial Engineer degree from UIA in Mexico and has an MBA from IESE in Barcelona.

Christine Ginsburg

Job Titles:
  • Vice President of Finance and Administration
Christine has extensive experience helping non-profits achieve their financial and operational goals. As VP of Finance and Administration, she oversees the financial and human resources policies and procedures that protect UpGlo's resources; leads planning, budgeting, and forecasting; produces timely and accurate financial statements for strategic and operational decision making; and is the financial leader of the senior management team. Prior to joining UpGlo, she helped the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine establish its current position as a strong, stable industry leader. She also ran the Financial Services division of SmithBucklin, the world's largest association management company, and served KPMG as a senior manager in the financial services industry. She has a BA in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business and is a registered Certified Public Accountant in the state of Illinois.

Claudia Soares

Job Titles:
  • Partnership and Volunteer Program Lead, Western Region

Diane Shohet

Diane's decades-long experience in fundraising, marketing, and communications strategy, focused on the nonprofit sector will support Upwardly Global's rapid growth as we uplift refugees and other immigrants from over 150 countries. Prior to joining Upwardly Global, Diane served as the Senior Director of Development and Communications at the International Institute of New England, a nonprofit focused […]

Elizabeth Madjlesi

Job Titles:
  • Regional Program Senior Staff Member

Emily Hackerson

Job Titles:
  • National Program Staff Member

Fahad Al Nimah

Job Titles:
  • National Program Staff Member
  • Program Manager

Heather Reilly

Job Titles:
  • Co - Founder of Deloitte 's Immigration Community of Interest Network
  • Principal / Deloitte
  • Principal in Deloitte 's Government
Heather Reilly is a principal in Deloitte's Government and Public Services business. She has more than 20 years of professional experience and currently serves as the leader of Deloitte's Defense, Security & Justice Practice. Heather was elected to Deloitte's Board Council and currently serves on the Governance Committee. She is one of the firm's experts on immigration and border security work and previously has served clients for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In this capacity, she led delivery teams focused on enhancing border security, facilitating trade and travel, and improving lawful immigration to the United States through improved technology, processes, and strategy. Heather is the co-founder of Deloitte's Immigration Community of Interest Network (iCOIN), and Refugee Community of Interest (RCOI) designed to establish Deloitte as a leading advisor for forced migration communities, offering smart resettlement solutions across the refugee lifecycle for governments, NGOS, and companies. Together, these groups support various pro bono and eminence efforts in the immigration space with refugee resettlement and advocacy organizations providing services to include tech implementation, business process reengineering, strategic planning, and performance management. The solutions and eminence developed under these efforts, include "A new home at work: An employer's guide to fostering inclusion for refugees in the workplace," and "Smart Refugee Resettlement: using technology to transform the resettlement process," that have strengthened Deloitte's brand in the immigration ecosystem and have been leveraged by firm leadership to exemplify Deloitte's commitment to support these vulnerable populations. She serves as an advisor on the potential impact of immigration reform and other immigration related policies. Heather's passion for immigration was inspired by her Dad, a doctor in his home country of Iran who came to the US with less than $50 in his pocket and worked his way up from being a busboy to living the American dream. Years later, while volunteering in a local homeless shelter, Heather met a refugee from the Republic of Congo, a single mom of three children, and after hearing the story of trauma, war and rape that she faced in her home country, it sparked a need for Heather to not only help this specific family be successful in the U.S., but focus on finding ways to help other refugees. Heather holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and a B.A. from Loyola University in Maryland. She resides in Northern Virginia with her husband and their two children.

Isabelle Darling

Job Titles:
  • Regional Program Senior Staff Member
  • Program Director, Western Region

Jane Leu

Job Titles:
  • Trustee

Jennie Murray

Job Titles:
  • Vice President of Programs

Jina Krause-Vilmar - CEO, President

Job Titles:
  • CEO
  • President
Jina brings 15 years of experience in the for-profit and non-profit sectors, including two years as President and CEO of Upwardly Global, where she oversees the agency's workforce operations in four cities. Under Jina's leadership, Upwardly Global has expanded to skill a growing number of immigrant and refugee professionals. The organization is implementing an ambitious […]

Joshua Garner

Job Titles:
  • Communications
  • Director of Strategic Communications
  • Strategic Director of Communications
Joshua Garner is the Director of Strategic Communications for Upwardly Global. In that role, he oversees branding, communications, storytelling and media engagement for the organization and its network of jobseekers and alumni. Joshua is a 15-year veteran of news media and communications. As a reporter and news editor, Joshua has worked for The Washington Post. […]

Joshua Winter

Job Titles:
  • Secretary & Governance Committee Chair

Kathy Taylor

Job Titles:
  • Executive Recruiting

Kayla Stevenson

Job Titles:
  • National Program Staff Member
  • National Volunteer Program Lead

Khalid Osman

Job Titles:
  • Vice President of Technology

Kimberly Cohen

Job Titles:
  • National Program Staff Member
  • Director of Employer Engagement

Lily Bukshpan

Job Titles:
  • Institutional Giving Manager

Lucy Walton

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director / Goldman Sachs

Maha Ali

Job Titles:
  • Director of Human Resources / Development and Strategic Partnerships
  • Head of Culture
Maha Ali has over 15 years of experience in the field of human resources. In her current role, Maha provides executive-level leadership and guidance to the organization's HR operations and serves as the lead on all issues related to human resources. As the head of People, Maha takes a lead role in developing strategic human resources goals on […]

Martha Gallo

Job Titles:
  • Trustee

Philipp Schumacher

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Audit Committee
  • Audit Committee Chair / Partner, Technology Consulting

Rebecca Neuwirth - EVP

Job Titles:
  • Executive Vice President
Rebecca builds partnerships that enable outstanding nonprofits to grow and deepen their impact, and that allow individuals and organizations to learn about communities and issues that matter and act as ambassadors and advocates for the work they support. Rebecca comes to Upwardly Global from the Center for Popular Democracy, where she served as Director of […]

Robert A. Garechana - CFO, EVP

Job Titles:
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • Executive Vice President
  • Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Equity Residential
  • Treasurer & Finance Committee Chair / Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Robert A. Garechana is the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Equity Residential ("EQR"), an S&P 500 company that owns over 300 properties and is committed to creating communities where people thrive. EQR is focused on the acquisition, development and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract high quality long-term renters. Mr. Garechana has been Chief Financial Officer of EQR since 2018 where he is responsible for all aspects of finance including accounting, planning and analysis, investor relations, treasury and tax. He joined Equity Residential in 2004 and previously held various roles of increasing responsibility within the finance organization. Prior to EQR, Mr. Garechana began his career at Cardinal Health. The son of Basque immigrants, Mr. Garechana recognises and champions the difference that Upwardly Global brings for jobseekers, their families and their future. A native of Boise, Idaho, he attended The University of Texas at Austin where he received a B.B.A in Business Honors and Finance.

Rosalyn Chen

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Development Committee

Shaun E. Smith - CHRO, SVP

Job Titles:
  • Chief People Officer
  • Senior Vice President

Stephanie Alman

Job Titles:
  • Regional Program Senior Staff Member
  • Program Director, New York Region

Steve Ostler - Founder

Job Titles:
  • Founder
  • Vice Chair

Tammi Ling

Job Titles:
  • Chairman / Managing Vice President, Operational Risk Management

Todd A. Harding

Job Titles:
  • Trustee Emeritus / Retired Executive Managing Director

Vivek Vaidya - Founder

Job Titles:
  • Co - Founder
  • General Partner