Board of Directors

Veronica Alanis
Chairperson
 

Ms Alanis is currently Director of Strategic Initiatives, President’s Office at the Chicago Transit Authority (“CTA”). Previous positions at the CTA include Chief of Staff, President’s office and Vice President, Government and Community Relations and Real Estate. Prior to joining the CTA, she was the Assistant Director of Operations / Administration for the Chicago Housing Authority (“CHA”). Ms. Alanis was the first Hispanic woman to form part of the CHA’s executive team. Before joining the CHA, Ms. Alanis worked as a Project Manager and Communications Director for the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA), as Editor and Reporter of the Lawndale News Group, and as the Project Coordinator for UNO.

Ms. Alanis attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, majoring in International Business and French. She also attended the Université de Paris, La Sorbonne in Paris France, where she earned a diploma in French Civilization and Foreign Language Studies.

Ms. Alanis joined the United Neighborhood Organization’s Executive Board of Directors seven years ago, and was voted Chairperson of the Board six years ago. Ms. Alanis also is a member of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Board of Advisors and a Board Member of the Catholic Charities Housing Development Corporation. Previously, she served on the Chicago Public Schools Multilingual Parent Council, and the Board of Directors of the following organizations: Jesus Guadalupe Scholarship Foundations, Eighteenth Street Development Corporation, Arquitectos/The Society Hispanic Professional Architects. Ms. Alanis was also a participant in Mayor Daley’s Management Institute, a program by which a selected group of managers within the City of Chicago’s municipal government and sister agencies work together to implement best practices or special projects that will enhance services provided by these government entities.

Juan Rangel
Director

Mr. Rangel is the Chief Executive Officer of UNO and President of UCSN. Under his leadership as CEO, UNO opened the Octavio Paz Charter School in 1998 (the predecessor to UCSN), and developed the UNO Charter School Network. In 2001, Mr. Rangel co-developed the Metropolitan Leadership Institute (MLI), aimed at engaging young Hispanic professionals in the public arena, including political, corporate, governmental and non-profit spheres. Additional career highlights of Mr. Rangel include: the development of parental involvement programs operated by the Chicago Board of Education that reached 7,000 families; the development of a campaign to reduce the Hispanic dropout rate in Illinois; and the commissioning of a poll to explore public policy issues from the Hispanic perspective.

Mr. Rangel has a Bachelor’s Degree from Northeastern Illinois University. Prior to joining UNO in 1992 he was the Training Coordinator for Illinois Fiesta Educativa, a training and advocacy organization for disabled Latinos. He is a past fellow (1997) of Leadership Greater Chicago and, in 1999, Mr. Rangel was included in Crain’s Chicago Business “40 Under 40”—a list of prominent Chicago leaders under the age of 40. Mr. Rangel was also the recipient of the 1999 Hispanic American Construction Industry Association’s (HACIA) Visionary Award. In 2004, Mr. Rangel received Operation Push’s “Public Servant Award” and was honored by the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois for his work in education advocacy. Mr. Rangel was appointed to the Chicago Park District Board in 2010 and to the Public Building Commission in 2011.

Richard Rodriguez
Director

Richard Rodriguez is the Senior Vice President at Res Publica, a Chicago-based strategic communications firm. Over the years, he served in numerous key government positions for both Mayor’s Rahm Emanuel and Richard M. Daley, including as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Environment. He previously served as President of the Chicago Transit Authority, the nation’s second largest public transit system. Prior, he served as Commissioner for both the Department of Aviation, where he managed Chicago’s Airport System, and the Department of Buildings. He was also Executive Director of the Department of Construction and Permits. Additionally, Rodriguez oversaw strategic initiatives for the Chicago Public Schools and worked as Managing Director of Operations for the Chicago Housing Authority. He first joined the City of Chicago in 1999.

Mark Doyle
Treasurer

Mr. Doyle is Senior Vice President - Community Development and a member of the Board of Directors of Second Federal Savings & Loan Association (“Second Federal”) in Chicago. His contributions include doubling the company’s assets, and adding several new branches. During Mr. Doyle’s tenure, America’s Community Bankers gave Second Federal a national award for its community banking practices, specifically lending to undocumented immigrants in Chicago. Currently, Mr. Doyle is a board member of the Little Village 26th Street Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois League of Financial Institutions.

In the past, Mr. Doyle has been involved with organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago, where he was the Board President, and Roosevelt University, where his responsibilities included Economic Development. Currently, Mr. Doyle is on the Government Affairs Committee for the Little Village 26th Street Chamber of Commerce, is a member of the Financial Members Society and works with the Chicago Board of Education School Sponsorship Program.

Guadalupe Gallo-Brinkman
Director

Ms. Gallo-Brinkman is currently retired from AT&T after a 30-year career with the company, having served as both a Data Entry Services Specialist and Custom Input Specialist. She has worked as an Inspector for Zenith Radio Corporation and as an Accountant/Secretary for the Mexican Natural Gas Company. Ms. Gallo-Brinkman received a degree in Business and Accounting from the Academia Comercial Moderna in San Luis Potosi, Mexico and also studied General Education at the College of DuPage.

In addition to serving on the Board of Directors, Ms. Gallo Brinkman served as a presenter for UNO’s Take Ten! parent involvement workshops in the late 1990s. Additionally, she has helped manage the fundraising efforts for various organizations including United Way Crusade of Mercy, the Hispanic Association of AT&T employees, and is presently Event Coordinator of Our Lady of Guadalupe organization, as well as a board member of the Parish Pastoral Council of the Our Lady of Charity Church, and Chairperson of its Annual Food Drive.

William Abolt
Secretary

Mr. Abolt is the Chicago District Manager for Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc. (“Shaw”). At Shaw, Mr. Abolt is responsible for all aspects of project management and operations oversight for the Chicago, St. Charles and Bolingbrook offices. Prior to joining Shaw, he served as Environmental Commissioner, Director of the Office of Budget & Management and Chief of Management, Office of the Mayor, City of Chicago, and prior to that, as Executive Director of the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County. Mr. Abolt also is an adjunct instructor in public administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago.