This is the third of a five-part series. Part one is here, part two is here and part three is here.
Amy Lindner is president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County, which has raised $350 million for the community since she took the helm in 2018. Previously, Amy served as the president and CEO of Meta House, a Milwaukee-based nonprofit (and United Way partner agency) whose mission is to end the generational cycle of addiction by healing women and strengthening families, and Amy was a partner at the law firm of Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren. Amy has been recognized as a 2015 Milwaukee Business Journal 40 under 40 award winner, a Fellow by the Wisconsin Law Foundation, a 2014 Community Leader by the Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee, a 2020 and 2024 Power Broker by the Milwaukee Business Journal, and in 2020 by Milwaukee Magazine with a Betty Award. She holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Notre Dame Law School.
Dr. Louis Macias serves as Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) at UW-Madison, where he leads efforts to maximize positive outcomes by aligning the College’s actions with its values, needs, and goals. Dr. Macias has spent his entire career as an educator. He began as a middle and high school social studies teacher and, for the last 15 years, has served in higher education leadership roles at universities in Florida and at UW-Madison, where he has been since 2015. Prior to his current role, Louis served as the inaugural Executive Director of Recruitment, Diversity and Inclusion for the UW-Madison Police Department, and has held other professional roles in areas such as academic advising, pre-college programs, student affairs, enrollment management and fundraising. Dr. Macias earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Florida State University.
Julio Rios is vice president of mortgage lending at UW Credit Union, where he has worked his way up over the course of 19 years, all in the credit union’s mortgage lending department. He has played a strategic role in starting up the credit union’s Multifamily Residential Business lending practice, and has been instrumental in implementing the ITIN mortgage lending program, which broadens access to home financing for credit union members without a Social Security Number. Prior to joining UWCU, he worked for 11 years as a regional sales manager and assistant vice president for sales and business development at CUNA Mutual Mortgage (now part of TruStage).
Nancy Gomez is director of the Salud Mental Program at Anesis Family Therapy, a program launched in 2022 to focus on eliminating barriers for accessing mental health services for the Latino community. It provides a mental health drop-in clinic, offers bilingual clinicians, and provides culturally relevant training. She has over 10 years of experience working with youth, families and individuals in community settings that provide wrap-around services. She received her Master’s from Edgewood College in Marriage and Family Therapy and her Bachelors in Human Development and Family Studies from UW-Madison. She is currently enrolled in her PhD in Clinical Psychology program with a concentration in Social Justice and Diversity at UW-Madison.
Paulo Garcia is founder and director of Ballet Folklórico Xanharati, a group dedicated to the promotion and strengthening of music and dance in folk, contemporary, and ballroom dance. The studio provides dance and cultural education and has a mainstage dance company that performs at events and festivals around the Milwaukee area. Originally founded in 2014, the company was dormant for a time until he relaunched it in 2020 as a response to the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2023 he created the Great Lakes Folklore Association which organizes conferences and activities such as competitions and fandangos on Mexican folklore. He also works as traffic manager and office administrator at La Radio de Milwaukee. He studied Mexican regional dance at the Instituto de Iniciación Artística de Nayarit and graphic communication design at Universidad Latina de América in Morelia, Mexico.
Paula Arango-Tavera is associate principal at Badger Ridge Middle School in Verona. She stared her education career as a fourth grade math and science teacher in Florida, moving to Maidson in 2018 to take on a classroom at Sherman Middle School. She moved toward the administrative as an institutional coach and then dean of students at Blackhawk Middle School before taking on her current role at Badger Ridge. He graduated from Florida Atlantic University in 2015 and earned a master’s degree in education leadership and policy analysis at UW-Madison in 2021.
Part Five coming tomorrow!
