Prior to her current position, she served as CEO of the Solidago Foundation and held key roles at The Pew Charitable Trusts and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. Elizabeth is active in several advisory boards, including the Ida B. Wells Society. She was appointed by the Massachusetts Treasurer to the state’s Economic Empowerment Trust Fund Board and the Advisory Board on Wage Equality. An alumnus and Trustee of Oberlin College, she also holds a master’s degree in international policy from Harvard University. Elizabeth was named one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in U.S. Philanthropy,” by Inside Philanthropy, a leading publication in the nonprofit sector. Her insights have also appeared in U.S. and global publications including USA Today, The Hill, Marie Claire, Health Affairs, Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Nonprofit Quarterly, Inside Philanthropy, and Alliance Magazine.

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Verónica started her career in the healthcare industry at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) after earning a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras. Later, she pursued a master’s degree in Latin American Studies and Democracy from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. 

After completing her degree at Georgetown, Veronica joined the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Latin American Program. In this role, she oversaw different regional projects and research. In 2016, she joined the National Science Foundation as a Social Scientist for the Social and Economic Sciences Directorate.  

After returning to Puerto Rico in 2018, she became a Program Manager at Grupo Guayacán Inc., joining the island’s thriving start-up ecosystem. Later, she teamed up with two local investors to establish Holberton Puerto Rico, a software development school, where she served as the Director for a year. In this capacity, she played a crucial role in strengthening the technology sector and promoting economic mobility among young students by forging partnerships and connecting them with high-profile companies. 

Verónica is a board member for True Self, a non-profit organization in Puerto Rico that works with the trans communities, providing them with education and economic mobility. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the Haitian Women’s Collective and Mentes Puertorriqueñas en Acción.  

In addition to her work at the Fundación de Mujeres in Puerto Rico, Verónica is a SOAR Fellow at the Aspen Institute. This fellowship allows her to collaborate with other visionary leaders committed to transforming the systems and structures that affect the lives of women and girls worldwide. Recently, she joined the vibrant community of Hispanics in Philanthropy as a Líderes fellow. 

Verónica is a native of San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, close to the communities she now serves. She is an outdoor enthusiast, ecofeminist, dog mom, and plant collector. 

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Dr. Luxardo has her PhD from Nova Southeastern University. Before joining WREN, Dr. Luxardo served as the CEO of the Women’s Foundation for the State of Arizona and has been recognized as Arizona’s Top 40 under 40, Top 20 Women in Arizona, Capital Times Achiever of the Year, Cox Hispanic Heritage Leader, and one of Arizona’s Women of Influence.

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Adriana’s lived experience within a Latino immigrant family with transnational connections and growing up on the most transited land border in the world, along with her work, led her to discover giving circles as a form of collective philanthropy in service of the groups’ well being, particularly for women. It led her back to school and to focus her research on people-powered philanthropic movements. Over the last decade, Adriana has pursued graduate degrees in human rights and leadership studies, while conducting research on philanthropy and social movements among Latinos throughout the U.S., as well as Latin America and the Caribbean. She recently defended her doctoral dissertation. The dissertation focuses on how members of Latino giving circles make sense of their philanthropic engagement, and how participation affects their well-being, civic engagement, and philanthropic giving. The dissertation uses an emancipatory research paradigm with a Latino-focused critical race theory, LatCrit, to study the LGCN based in California and hosted by the LCF. 

Adriana volunteers by serving on two global philanthropy boards, the Women’s Funding Network and Social Venture Partners International. Born in Mexico, raised in Chula Vista California, Adriana resides on the US-Mexico border.

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Ashlei’s impact is evident in the movements she launched including I Be Black Girl (IBBG). IBBG, where she serves as founder and Executive Director, is a collective that supports Black women, femmes, and girls to live wholly, has had outsized impact since inception, like investing over $3M back into community. She proudly serves on the ACLU of Nebraska board of directors as the Board President, the Women’s Funding Network as a board member and is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. In 2022, she was chosen as an MIT REAP participant to work on regional entrepreneurial ecosystem building with a select team from Omaha, and in 2023 was chosen as a J.M. Kaplan Innovation Prize Awardee, where she is one of 10 leaders selected out of 3200 for her innovative approach around reproductive wellbeing and justice.

Her work has been acknowledged by receiving the Midlands Business Journal 40 under 40, The Chamber YP Changemaker, Urban League YP Leadership Award, Ten Outstanding Young Omahan, WCA’s Tribute to Women, Nebraska Public Health Defender, and NAACP Community Partner awards. She has also been featured in both Forbes and Essence magazines.

Most importantly she is a mother, friend, daughter, and neighbor.

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