Luis Avila
Luis Avila was an advisor with 270 Strategies. Most recently he was the national program director at Stand for Children, a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization dedicated to improving public school education, where he worked with immigrant parents to mobilize thousands of voters to protect funding for their children's schools. While at Stand, he was awarded its National Leadership Award for his work supporting, coaching, and developing organizers around the country.
Born in Culiacan Sinaloa, Mexico, Luis founded a youth publication in Queretaro at the age of 16 to give students a chance to voice their opinions on social and political issues. His passion for giving others a voice eventually brought him to the United States, where he has spent the better part of his career working to improve the quality of life for people in his community by expanding access to quality education.
Luis has worked as a writer, director, and actor in both theater and film, and hosted radio shows in Phoenix, AZ including the Spanish-language Sin Mordaza on 1190 AM and the bilingual youth show El Break on 95.1 FM. He enjoys volunteering at his local library in his free time and can be found on the weekends exploring his new neighborhood in Phoenix.
Jenny Poon
Jenny Poon is an entrepreneur and founder of CO+HOOTS. Ranked #4 coworking space in the nation by Inc.com, CO+HOOTS currently houses 280+ scaling entrepreneurs and small businesses and has been an integral role in creating hundreds of jobs locally. She has led CO+HOOTS from its inception in 2010 to be the #1 most innovative coworking space in the world. Her background in business, design and marketing led her to build a place where she could connect with like-minded folks that believe business growth comes from collaboration between different industries. She speaks regularly on leadership as a millenial, the importance of nurturing innovation in the workspace and works tirelessly to bring visibility to coworking as an economic development tool for building vibrant and equitable cities.
Her background as an award-winning designer and strategist led her to build a shared work space where she could connect with like-minded, talented folks who believe collaboration between industries is where innovation flourishes. Jenny serves as an advisor for several startups, Chair of the CO+HOOTS Foundation, and mentors young entrepreneurs weekly.
Jenny was named Phoenix Business Journal’s 2016 Phoenix Businessperson of the Year. The first minority and the first woman to receive the honor.
Irasema Coronado
Irasema Coronado received her bachelor's degree in political science and a certificate of Latin American Studies from the University of South Florida. She has an M.A. in Latin American Studies and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Arizona. Her area of specialization is comparative politics. She is the Director of the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University. Previously, she was a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), where she held the Kruszewski Family Endowed Professorship.
President Barack Obama appointed her to serve on the Joint Public Advisory Committee of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation in North America in 2010.
Irasema Coronado served as the executive director of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America 2012-2016. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation facilitates collaboration and public participation to foster conservation, protection and enhancement of the North American environment for the benefit of present and future generations, in the context of increasing economic, trade, and social links among Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Hispanic Business Magazine named her one of the Top 100 Influential Hispanics in the United States in October of 2010.
She serves on the MS Magazine academic advisory board and is co-chair of the Coalition Against Violence Toward Women and Families on the US-Mexico border.
Her present research includes the impact of the deportation process on families and children, women in politics, environmental cooperation, and U.S.-Mexico border politics.
She grew up in Nogales, Arizona and served as an intern for then Governor Bruce Babbitt in the 1980s.
Will Rutt
Will Rutt is the Executive Director of the Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center (IPJC) in Seattle, WA and formerly served as the Director of Justice Formation & Advocacy at Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix, Arizona. He holds undergraduate degrees in economics and theology from Creighton University and a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of San Francisco. Since college Will has been an accomplice of the undocumented community, when he first worked as a student organizer helping resist SB1070 in Arizona. Will began working closely with Aliento during his time at Brophy, as partners in support of the student-led DreamOn campaign, an undocumented-led, narrative-based campaign that leverages Catholic identity to create change for those who are undocumented in the United States. The DreamOn campaign has been some of the most life-giving work that he has done, especially witnessing the impact that the campaign has had on undocumented student experience at Brophy. Now at IPJC, Will continues his work through education, advocacy, and community organizing. When Will is not working, he can be found spending time with his partner Elizabeth and pup Autumn, always trying to get outside in the mountains.