Sindy Benavides, Founding Executive Director, Aquí: The Accountability Movement

For Sindy Benavides, the American Dream is more than an idea, it is the experience that shaped her life’s work. This transformative impact is precisely what earns her a well-deserved place as one of our Top 10 Latino Voices of 2026

 

A Honduran-American immigrant, Benavides has spent her career expanding access to the opportunities she found for the generations coming behind her, particularly young people, women, and immigrants. Today, as the founding executive director of Aquí: The Accountability Movement, she is building a national platform to advance a more powerful narrative about Latinos while challenging the institutions and systems that shape whose voices are heard, whose contributions are recognized, and who gets the opportunity to lead.

 

It is the latest chapter in a career defined not simply by advocacy, but by institution-building.

 

Before launching Aquí, Benavides served as president and CEO of Latino Victory, where she helped drive record numbers of Latinos running for office at the local, state, and federal levels. Under her leadership, the organization also posted its strongest fundraising year for both its foundation and federal PAC.

 

Earlier, she made history as CEO of LULAC, the nation’s oldest Hispanic civil rights organization, becoming the first woman, immigrant, and millennial to lead the organization in its nearly 90-year history. Her career has also included leadership roles at Voto Latino, the Democratic National Committee, and the Office of Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine.

 

But her influence extends well beyond the titles she has held.

 

Benavides has helped build some of the networks and institutions that strengthen Latino civic and community leadership, including the Virginia Latino Higher Education Network, the Virginia Coalition of Immigrant Rights, and the Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Action. She also continues to invest in her Honduran community as president of the board of the Honduran American Association.

 

That combination of national leadership and community-rooted work is central to her impact. She has moved between institutions, movements, and communities, building relationships and creating infrastructure that can outlast any single organization or administration.

 

Much of that work happens away from the spotlight: the coalition-building, the difficult conversations, the relationships cultivated over years, and the persistent work of making sure Latino voices are not simply invited into the room, but have a meaningful role in shaping what happens there.

 

Benavides understands that representation is only the beginning. Her work is about building the conditions for people to participate, lead, and change the systems around them.

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From a Honduran-American immigrant to a nationally recognized civic leader and institution builder, Sindy Benavides has spent her career turning representation into infrastructure. From Virginia to the national stage, she has built the networks, organizations, and pathways that give Latino communities greater voice, greater access, and a stronger stake in the institutions that impact their lives. 

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Marvin B. Figueroa, Secretary of Health and Human Resources: Turning Policy Into Access

The people who write public policy are often far removed from the people who live with its consequences. A decision made in Washington or Richmond can determine whether someone gets healthcare, qualifies for benefits, or finds support for a mental health need, yet the people making those decisions rarely see what happens on the other side.

 

Marvin B. Figueroa has spent his career on both sides of that divide. Born in La Ceiba, Honduras, and raised in the Bronx by a mother who worked as a home care worker, he grew up close to the realities that public programs are meant to address. Today, as Secretary of Health and Human Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia, he oversees the agencies responsible for public health, Medicaid, behavioral health, social services, disability services, and benefits serving millions of Virginians.

 

For Figueroa, that connection to the people behind the policy is not an abstraction. It has informed a career focused on healthcare, social services, and the work of turning public policy into programs people can use.

 

A POSSE Foundation Scholar, Figueroa earned degrees from Vanderbilt University and Harvard University before entering government. At the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he worked with governors, state and local governments, and other partners to expand healthcare coverage, respond to public health emergencies, and address health disparities.

 

Earlier, as Senior Policy Advisor to U.S. Senator Mark Warner, he focused on healthcare, education, and workforce development. He co-led the Senate Finance Committee’s Chronic Care Working Group, contributing to the bipartisan CHRONIC Care Act of 2017, which was signed into law in 2018 to improve care for Medicare beneficiaries living with chronic conditions.

 

His work in Virginia brought those national policy issues closer to the people affected by them. As Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Resources under Governor Ralph Northam, Figueroa helped lead Medicaid expansion, extending coverage to more than 500,000 Virginians, according to Meharry Medical College. He also helped oversee behavioral health and social services across the Commonwealth.

 

He later returned to Washington as Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler, managing the Senate office and advising on health and wellness, democracy, and economic mobility.

In 2025, Figueroa added another dimension to that work, joining Meharry Medical College’s School of Global Health as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow and founding faculty member in the Department of Political Determinants of Health. There, he helps prepare future public health professionals to understand how healthcare, policy, and political systems shape health outcomes.

 

From the Bronx to Richmond to Washington, Figueroa’s career has moved through the institutions that write policy, the governments that put it into practice, and the systems people turn to when they need care and support. Today, that work reaches millions of Virginians through the healthcare, social services, and benefits overseen by his office. His career has been defined by his ability to connect policy to access at a scale few public servants ever reach, grounded in a firsthand understanding of the communities they serve. That combination earns Figueroa a place among our Top 10 Latino Voices of 2026.

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Victor Burrola: Turning Institutional Capital into Economic Opportunity

Every year, the region’s largest institutions spend billions of dollars. Where that money lands can determine who gets to grow.

 

Victor Burrola knows what access to opportunity can mean. Raised in Greeley, Colorado, as the son of migrant workers, he became a first-generation college graduate after finding his way to Colorado State University through the TRIO Upward Bound program. More than two decades later, he has built a career around creating those kinds of pathways for others.

 

Today, Burrola leads community impact and sustainability initiatives at Wells Fargo across Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia. He brings nonprofits, civic leaders, businesses, and community partners to the same table around what every strong local economy needs: affordable housing, growing small businesses, and families on solid financial footing.

 

The stakes are rising. Hispanic-owned small businesses grew 10.5% in Virginia and 9.6% in Maryland between 2022 and 2023. In D.C., 5,572 Hispanic-owned businesses account for 8% of all businesses in the District. Latino entrepreneurs are opening businesses, creating jobs, and contributing to local economies. The question is whether the institutions that hold capital will meet them there.

 

That work draws on more than 15 years across philanthropy, community development, government relations, and public policy. His career has focused on housing, neighborhood revitalization, small business growth, and financial capability, bringing institutions together around challenges no one organization can solve alone.

 

The DC Community Anchor Partnership (DCAP) puts that approach into practice. The initiative connects major institutions with local businesses to expand access to procurement opportunities. Since 2017, participating institutions have directed more than $1.5 billion in spending to D.C.-based businesses, including nearly $1 billion to minority-owned firms. Wells Fargo helped fund the partnership from its early days.

 

Burrola’s conviction is that institutional resources should create pathways to economic mobility. His work shows what can happen when institutions use their capital, relationships, and influence not simply to invest in communities, but to help build the conditions for local businesses and families to grow. That is what earns Victor Burrola a place among our Top 10 Latino Voices of 2026.

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Beatriz "BB" Otero: The Pioneer Who Helped Build Latino Washington

Few people have shaped Washington’s Latino community as profoundly as Beatriz “BB” Otero. Before Latino leadership in this city had the infrastructure or a playbook, BB was helping to build it.

 

Born in Bolivia, Otero was 10 when her family moved to Washington and then Montgomery County. She attended the University of Maryland before returning to Washington, where she began a career focused on expanding opportunity for children, families, and the communities she called home.

 

In 1986, she opened a bilingual childcare program for 15 children in the basement of a Columbia Heights church. Families came for care, but Otero saw a bigger need. She built CentroNía into a regional institution that, over more than 25 years, served more than 1,200 children and families through early childhood education, Head Start, workforce development, and family support. She also founded DC Bilingual Public Charter School, extending her commitment to education and opportunity beyond early childhood.

 

But BB was just getting started, and her work didn’t stop at CentroNía. She became a leader in Washington’s Latino civic life, including serving with the Latino Civil Rights Task Force and running for the Ward 1 seat on the D.C. Board of Education in 1992, becoming the first Latino candidate to seek the seat in more than a decade. In 2000, she was named Washingtonian of the Year.

 

In 2011, Mayor Vincent Gray appointed Otero Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, a role she held for four years. She oversaw a broad portfolio spanning health, behavioral health, human services, child welfare, youth rehabilitation, disability services, aging, and more. She brought the same conviction she had applied at CentroNía: families experience life as a whole, not as a collection of government programs.

 

Her work also brought her back to Montgomery County, where she spent seven years serving the community in leadership and advisory roles. Her influence has reached well beyond the region, from humanitarian relief efforts in Latin America to advising European cities on immigrant conflict.

 

Today, she leads Otero Strategy Group and serves as a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Social Policy, advising leaders on health, education, human services, and community development.

 

Across nonprofit and government leadership, Otero has had a rare vantage point: building organizations from the ground up, leading complex public systems, and helping shape the policies that affect the people those systems are meant to serve. 

 

As BB puts it, “Throughout my nonprofit and government work, it has been my honor and great privilege to serve the DC and Montgomery County communities. I so appreciate the parents that trusted their children to me and the politicians that trusted me to lead.”

 

The Latino leadership landscape looks very different today. We now have institutions, networks, and leaders that make it easier to gain access, have representation, and create opportunities for the community. When BB was getting started, much of that foundation was still missing. She helped create the infrastructure needed to access services, shape policy, and expand opportunity. She also made sure Latino concerns were heard in the rooms where decisions were made. 

 

That is the legacy that earns Beatriz “BB” Otero a place among LEN’s Top 10 Latino Voices of 2026.

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Pamela Nieto: Growth Architect for Brands and Organizations
A great mission doesn’t speak for itself. People need to understand what it means for them, why it matters, and how they can be part of it. Pamela Nieto has spent more than 17 years helping organizations translate complex ideas and worthy causes into messages that move people to engage and act.

 

Her career spans public health, economic development, business advocacy, and community development. The challenge in each was the same: bridge the gap between what an organization offers and what people need, value, and trust. Her approach blends brand strategy, communications, and cultural intelligence, grounded in how culture shapes decisions, behavior, and relationships.

 

In Washington, D.C., Nieto has worked alongside the people and businesses that drive the region. As Director of Marketing and Communications at the DowntownDC Business Improvement District, she developed strategies and events to support economic growth, attract investment, and strengthen downtown. At the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, she managed and promoted more than 50 events annually, connecting Hispanic businesses with resources, relationships, and opportunities.

 

In public health, that work carried particularly high stakes. At Hager Sharp, Nieto developed integrated communications and social marketing campaigns for federal agencies and nonprofits, many focused on multicultural audiences. She developed partnerships for the FDA’s Every Try Counts campaign, shaped multicultural strategy for the HHS Office on Women’s Health, and drove media relations and campaign development for the CDC’s domestic Zika preparedness effort. She also launched AHRQ’s Spanish-language Toma las riendas campaign, encouraging Hispanic audiences to take a more active role in understanding their health and treatment options.

 

These experiences reinforced a central lesson: information alone rarely changes behavior. Organizations must understand the barriers people face, the context behind their choices, and what will help them take action.

 

Today, as Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Captiva Branding, Nieto applies that insight to businesses and nonprofits. She sharpens positioning, builds stronger brands, and aligns marketing with growth goals. For Nieto, a brand is a promise, not a logo. Its job is to make an organization’s value clear and help people understand why it matters to them.

Her leadership extends to the Latino executive community. A co-founder and now Board Chair of the Latino Executive Network, Nieto works to expand the visibility of Latino executives and entrepreneurs and create opportunities for collaboration. She also serves on the board of the Latino Student Fund and is a graduate of Leadership Greater Washington’s Class of 2025.

 

As a bilingual, multicultural communicator, Nieto represents a new kind of Latino leadership. She knows a strong mission or a good product is not enough. Growth comes from earning trust, understanding the people you serve, and making your value impossible to ignore. That is what makes her a growth architect, and it earns her a place among LEN’s Top 10 Latino Voices of 2026.

 

All Top 10 Voices were nominated by an independent selection committee.

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Guillermo Christensen, Partner at K&L Gates and Leading Voice on National Security, AI, and Cybersecurity

Some careers follow a straight line. Guillermo S. Christensen’s has crossed some of the most consequential lines in the world: intelligence and diplomacy, law and technology, national security and business. It is this breadth of experience, combined with his influence at the intersection of these fields, that earns him a well-deserved place as one of our Top 10 Latino Voices of 2026.

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An immigrant from Argentina, Christensen has built a career around understanding problems that rarely fit neatly into one discipline. Today, as a partner at K&L Gates, he advises organizations on national security, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, international trade, sanctions, and complex cross-border matters. He also co-chairs the firm’s AI Solutions Group, helping clients navigate a technology reshaping how organizations operate, compete, and manage risk.

 

Before becoming an attorney, Christensen spent 15 years as an intelligence officer with the CIA, serving in international and domestic assignments and working alongside the Departments of Defense and State, the FBI, and other national intelligence organizations. In 2001, he was selected as the CIA’s National Intelligence Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, an assignment reserved for officers considered to be on the path toward senior leadership in the intelligence community.

 

His government service also took him into diplomacy. As a diplomat with the U.S. Mission to the OECD in France, he gained a broader perspective on how governments, economies, and international institutions intersect. His work earned recognition from both the U.S. Department of State, including a Meritorious Award for Contributions to the Balkan Peace Process, and the CIA.

 

Today, those experiences converge in his legal practice. Christensen advises organizations confronting cybersecurity threats, ransomware, artificial intelligence, international investigations, sanctions, and national security reviews of global investments. His work has spanned China, Russia, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America, across technology, energy, defense, and transportation.

 

What distinguishes his career is not simply the number of fields he has entered. It is the ability to carry knowledge from one field into the next.

 

The instincts developed in intelligence inform his approach to cybersecurity. His diplomatic experience informs his understanding of geopolitics. His legal practice gives organizations a framework for managing risk, while his work in artificial intelligence places him at the center of one of the defining technological shifts of our time.

 

That commitment to translating complexity into knowledge extends to the next generation. Christensen is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches “AI Skills for Lawyers,” and an instructor at the FBI’s Chief Information Security Officer Academy in Quantico, where he has taught hundreds of cybersecurity leaders about the legal dimensions of incident response.

 

His leadership also extends beyond his professional practice. Christensen is a founder and board member of the National AI and Cybersecurity Information Sharing Association, serves on the board of the Association of U.S. Cyber Forces, and is a founding member and former co-president of the DC Metro Chapter of the Private Directors Association. He is also active with the Hispanic National Bar Association and the Latino Executive Network.

 

With a career spanning intelligence, diplomacy, law, technology, and national security, Christensen has helped organizations understand risks that cross borders, industries, and evolving technologies. The result is a rare ability to navigate complexity, bring clarity, and solve problems where the stakes are highest.

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Cinthia López: Workforce Architect, Shaping the Talent of Tomorrow

For the world’s largest companies, getting talent right is a high-stakes business decision. The cost of a poor hire can extend far beyond a vacant position, affecting teams, productivity, leadership pipelines, and the ability to compete for the skills an organization needs. At a company as large and consequential as Google, where technology is evolving at extraordinary speed, those decisions take on another dimension.

 

Today, Cinthia López serves as Director, People Operations at Google, where she leads global talent strategy and execution across Americas Talent Outreach & Programs and Global PhD Recruiting. Her work connects Google with the people and expertise it needs across a rapidly changing technology landscape.

 

López was born in Honduras and built her career in the United States, bringing a perspective shaped by more than one culture to a field increasingly defined by diverse talent and experiences. As the country becomes more multicultural and multiracial, understanding how people from different backgrounds experience workplaces, opportunity, and leadership is increasingly relevant to how organizations attract and develop talent.

 

Her path to Google began at Capital One, where she spent 20 years in progressively senior roles across talent, leadership development, and human resources. As Vice President of University Recruiting and Programs, she led more than 200 people and managed an annual budget exceeding $40 million, building early-career talent pipelines across technical and analytical disciplines.

 

She also served as Head of Talent Management & Enterprise Leadership Development and as a Senior People Partner for Financial Services. Across those roles, she worked closely with business leaders on the practical questions behind organizational growth: how to find the right people, develop them into leaders, and build the capabilities to compete.

 

At Google, those questions intersect with one of the biggest shifts facing employers today. Artificial intelligence is changing jobs, skills, and the way organizations operate. López's work sits on the people side of that transformation, helping a global technology company identify and develop talent as the demands of the workforce evolve.

 

Her work extends beyond her corporate roles. López serves on the board of Calvary Women's Services, providing strategic oversight to programs focused on housing, health, and education in the DC-Baltimore region. She also serves on the Advisory board of the Latino Executive Network, supporting efforts to strengthen Latino professional and executive leadership.

 

López holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of the Ozarks and a Master of Arts from Georgetown University. She has also pursued executive education at Stanford Graduate School of Business and MIT, including studies at the intersection of business and emerging technology.

 

From Capital One to Google, López has spent more than two decades working on one of the most consequential questions facing organizations: how do you build the talent, leadership, and capabilities for the workforce of the future? Her career offers a view into that challenge from inside two major American companies, at a moment when the definition of talent itself is changing.

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​Jennifer Pichardo: Giving Latino History a Permanent Home

In 1881, the Arts and Industries Building opened as the Smithsonian’s first U.S. National Museum, showcasing inventions that would reshape American life, including Edison’s lightbulb and the first telephone. On August 31, 2026, the Smithsonian gave the building a new chapter: it will become the permanent site of the National Museum of the American Latino.

 

What stands on the National Mall shapes what a country remembers. Congress authorized the Latino museum in December 2020. Turning that authorization into galleries, collections, programs, and a permanent building requires more than a vision. It requires people who can make the case, build trust, and turn belief into investment.

 

For years, Jennifer Pichardo has been one of those people.

 

As Head of Advancement for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino, Pichardo leads the philanthropic effort behind the museum. She is Dominican American and was born in New York. The story she is helping build a home for is also part of her own.

 

Her work with the Smithsonian began in 2018, when she joined as a fundraising consultant for the Molina Family Latino Gallery. She went on to become Senior Advancement Officer and, in 2024, Head of Advancement. Along the way, she helped build the philanthropic support that took the museum from an idea to its first physical presence on the National Mall.

 

The Molina Family Latino Gallery opened in June 2022 as the Smithsonian’s first space dedicated to the Latino experience. Its campaign surpassed its $24 million goal months ahead of opening, ultimately raising $28 million in 2021 and 2022.

 

Pichardo’s impact is also visible in the relationships she has built around the museum. In 2021, Wells Fargo became a founding donor and the first financial institution to commit $2 million to the project. The company specifically credited its work with Pichardo, then a Senior Advancement Officer at the Smithsonian, as part of developing its support.

 

Now the stakes are larger. The Smithsonian has designated the historic Arts and Industries Building as the museum’s permanent home. Retrofitting the building is expected to cost about $1 billion, while the Smithsonian’s current campaign for the museum has an overall goal of $200 million to support the building, collections, digital infrastructure, education, public programs, and other institutional priorities. Pichardo leads advancement for that effort.

 

This is the part of cultural institution-building most people never see. The time and effort spent cultivating relationships before a gift is ever announced. Pichardo has spent years building that infrastructure for a museum whose very existence changes what Latino history can mean in a national institution.

 

She has been there through each stage: the campaign for a gallery, the gallery itself, and now a permanent address on the National Mall. Her work is helping turn recognition into institutional permanence, giving Latino history not just a place to be seen, but a place to endure.

 

It’s no wonder Jennifer Pichardo stands among our Top 10 Latino Voices of 2026.

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Gabriela Febres: Building a Lasting Taste of Venezuela in D.C.

If you’ve spent enough time in Washington, D.C., chances are you’ve enjoyed Arepa Zone. Its growth reflects both the staying power of the business and the appetite for international cuisine that makes the region’s food scene so distinctive. But in a restaurant market as expensive and competitive as Washington, building a business is one challenge. Sustaining it, expanding its reach, and keeping customers coming back for more than a decade is another. For co-founder Gabriela Febres, the journey is a story of cultural connection, entrepreneurial persistence, and growth. 

 

Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and raised largely in South Florida, Febres moved to Washington to study audio engineering at American University. She had no plans to enter the food business. But more than a decade ago, she found that Venezuelan products and familiar foods were difficult to find in the region. The gap was about more than ingredients. For Venezuelans building lives far from home, familiar flavors offered a connection to traditions and comforts left behind.

 

In 2011, Febres met Ali Arellano, a Venezuelan entrepreneur already distributing specialty food products to Latino markets. They began bringing Venezuelan cheeses and other traditional products to customers across the region. Word of mouth and social media helped them build a following. When customers began asking for prepared meals, they saw an opportunity to expand beyond products and bring Venezuelan cuisine to more tables.

 

In 2014, that opportunity became Arepa Zone, starting with a food truck serving arepas, cachapas, tequeños, and other Venezuelan favorites. The business grew into restaurants, food stands, and catering, with a presence at prominent venues including Nationals Park and Audi Field. Each step expanded the brand’s reach, introducing Venezuelan cuisine to new customers while building on the loyalty of those who had supported it from the start.

 

Febres and Arellano also developed Antojitos de Tu País, a business focused on Venezuelan specialty products and ingredients that can be difficult to find locally. Together, the ventures reach customers in different ways, from people seeking the flavors they grew up with to diners discovering Venezuelan food for the first time.

 

That growth is particularly notable in an industry known for thin margins, intense competition, and high operating costs. In Washington, where restaurant operators must contend with expensive real estate and complex regulatory requirements, a good concept alone rarely guarantees longevity. Building a presence across restaurants, food service, and specialty retail requires more than a popular menu. It demands persistence, careful decisions, and the ability to adapt as customer needs and business conditions change. Arepa Zone’s evolution over more than a decade reflects that work.

 

The business’s success also illustrates how cultural familiarity can become a commercial strength. Febres and Arellano understood the demand for Venezuelan foods because they knew what those flavors meant to the people seeking them. But the brand’s growth depended on reaching beyond that initial community and earning a place in the region’s wider dining scene. A taste of home became a gateway for others to discover a cuisine and culture they might not otherwise have encountered.

 

Febres’s story is about more than bringing Venezuelan food to Washington. It is about building a business that has endured in one of the region’s most demanding markets while contributing to the international food culture that makes D.C. so distinctive. Through Arepa Zone and Antojitos de Tu País, she has helped introduce more people to Venezuelan cuisine while demonstrating how cultural roots, an understanding of customer needs, and entrepreneurial persistence can create lasting opportunity. That combination of business achievement and community impact earns Gabriela Febres a place among LEN’s Top 10 Latino Voices of 2026. 

 

All Top 10 Voices were nominated by an independent selection committee.

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