We are delighted to announce the election of three new members to our Board of Directors. Ria Shah (Board Treasurer), Gerri Mason Hall, and Alfonso Martinez have each been elected to a three-year term.
“I am looking forward to collaborating with Ms. Shah, Ms. Hall, and Mr. Martinez,” said Shannon Maynard, Executive Director. “These new members bring considerable expertise with finance, diversity and inclusion, and human resources, and we are excited to learn from their experience as we continue to innovate new ways to carry out organization’s core mission of fighting hunger by developing leaders.”
Ria Shah is the Managing Director at Athira, LLC, which is dedicated to helping young and aspiring organizations achieve strategic growth or reach their next milestone by creating and implementing business support solutions. Prior to Athira, Shah served as Chief Financial Officer of DataKind, a company bringing together top data scientists with leading social change organizations to collaborate on cutting-edge analytics and advanced algorithms to maximize social impact, and as Director of Finance for the Grameen Foundation. She holds an M.S. in accounting and B.S. in accounting and French and Spanish literature from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Gerri Mason Hall is Chief Diversity & Social Responsibility Officer for Sodexo Americas. Mason Hall previously served as Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer of Sodexo, assuming this role in 2014 and becoming the first African American to join Sodexo’s global HR leadership team. Prior to Sodexo, Mason Hall spent eight years at Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger railroad, where she was recruited to transform the human resources organization and subsequently appointed the Vice President of Business Diversity and Strategic Initiatives. Mason Hall is a member of the UNCF Board and sits on its Audit Committee. A graduate of Vassar College and the George Washington University National Law Center, Mason Hall held several appointments in both the federal and District of Columbia governments.
Alfonso Martinez joined AARP in 2019 as Vice President Human Resources Group Consulting. He is also Principal for Sabio Leadership Consulting, LLC and provides strategic human capital guidance to clients in a variety of industries. Previously, Martinez was Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Laureate International Universities, the world’s largest private benefit corporation, leading a global human resources team of 900 supporting 70,000 employees and 80 universities in 30 countries. Prior to Laureate, Martinez was Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Nextel International Inc. where he led human capital transformation impacting 20,000 employees in 5 Latin American countries. As CEO of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, he was deeply involved in the inclusion of the Hispanic community in Corporate America. He holds a BSBA from Denver University and also graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a M.Sc. in Applied Behavioral Psychology.