Chief Executive Officer, HOPE

As the CEO of HOPE for 23 years, Helen Iris Torres has strategically built a Latina leadership and advocacy infrastructure in California, composed of thousands of civically engaged Latina leaders serving in elected and appointed office, as business, philanthropic and community leaders. She has created robust pathways to leadership for Latinas in high school to Latinas across the United States, resulting in over 1,600 leadership positions being filled by Latinas. Helen was raised by a single mother outside of Detroit, Michigan. She is a first-generation college graduate. Her passion to fight for women’s rights stems from witnessing the sexual and racial discrimination her mother faced daily.

HOPE Board Chair

Erica Cabrera is a Central Valley native and HOPE Leadership Institute Alumnus, Class of 2013. She currently works for Pacific Gas & Electric as a Central Coast-Central Valley Local Government Affairs Manager servicing Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, & Tulare Counties. Erica earned a Master of Arts in Leadership and Organizational Studies from Fresno Pacific University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from California State University, Fresno. She has 10 years of experience working in local and state government; which includes serving as District Director for former Assemblymember Henry T. Perea.

Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria serves as California’s 27th Assembly District Representative, serving the communities of: Biola, Cantua Creek, Caruthers, Coalinga, Firebaugh, Fresno, Huron, Kerman, Mendota, Raisin City, San Joaquin, Three Rocks, Tranquility, Westside, Chowchilla, Fairmead, La Vina, Madera, Madera Acres, Parksdale, Parkwood, Atwater, Bear Creek, Cressey, Delhi, Dos Palos, El Nido, Franklin, Le Grand, Livingston, Los Banos, McSwain, Merced, Planada, Santa Nella, South Dos Palos, and Tuttle. The Assemblywoman is currently serving in her 2nd term as Representative for Assembly District 27.

Assemblywoman Soria currently serves as Chair of the Agriculture Committee, and has held that position since 2023, she was recently reappointed as Chair by Speaker Robert Rivas in January of 2025. Soria also serves as a member of the Governmental Organization, Banking & Finance, and the Economic Development, Growth & Household Impact committees.

A first-generation American and daughter of farm workers, Assemblywoman Soria knows firsthand about hard work and sacrifice, having worked alongside her parents in the Central Valley’s agricultural fields throughout her childhood. She then worked her way through college and law school. She was born and raised in the Central Valley.

Prior to her work in the Assembly, Soria served as an educator, community advocate, and Fresno City Councilmember. As Councilmember, she led efforts to increase public safety and community development, create thousands of good-paying jobs, build affordable and accessible housing, tackle homelessness, and expand access to parks and greenspace.

During her service in the Assembly, Soria worked quickly to address serious issues facing the Central Valley. In 2023, Assemblywoman Soria authored AB 112, securing $300 million dollars for the Distressed Hospital Loan Program, which helped disperse those funds to hospitals throughout the state at risk of closing or closed, and seeking to reopen. Over $50 million of that money would go to saving the Madera Community Hospital, a critically needed hospital in the Central Valley that had announced it was closing in 2022.

Assemblywoman Soria also helped to secure $20 million dollars for flood recovery efforts in the community of Planada after unprecedented storm surges hit the area in 2023.

The Assemblywoman also fought to deliver millions of dollars in funding to the Central Valley for public safety, student housing, parks and community centers, and agriculture. Assemblywoman Soria will continue fighting for the residents of the Central Valley while in Sacramento on the issues that matter the most to them.

She resides in Fresno with her husband Terance, their 5 children, and her dog Buddy.

Somatic Coach, Artist, and Author

Family Medicine Residency Program, Program Director

Dr. Karina Melgar serves as Program Director of AltaMed’s Family Medicine Residency Program. In this role, she supports the faculty to provide a safe and inclusive learning environment. Dr. Melgar is involved in curriculum building, rotation development, recruitment, scheduling, evaluation, and compliance policy. As a highly engaged resident mentor, she cultivates leadership in community engagement and health equity. In addition, she provides comprehensive and compassionate care to her patients while empowering them to continue to improve their health.

Prior to joining AltaMed, Dr. Melgar spent five years teaching kindergarten in South Los Angeles before returning to school to pursue her medical degree. Since then, she has focused on providing care to ethnically diverse communities, mentoring the next generation of health care professionals, and working to increase diversity in the medical field.

During her residency, she continued to teach and served as Academic Chief, a role in which she was actively involved in diversity advancements in the recruitment process. As Community Medicine Fellow, Dr. Melgar divided her time between teaching as junior faculty and collaborating with many community organizations. She successfully opened a new student-run clinic in collaboration with Lestonnac Free Clinic in Garden Grove. She also pioneered an interprofessional collaborative behavioral health clinic for uninsured patients.

Dr. Melgar went on to become faculty at the Long Beach Memorial Family Medicine Residency Program, where she was Director of Community Engagement and Diversity. She was the lead faculty for the Neighborhood Meed Mentoring Program and the onsite food pantry. During her time at Long Beach, she created a new integrative behavioral health clinic and community medicine concentration for the residents. In an effort to connect with the community, Dr. Melgar also started a Diversity and Health Equity Committee.

Dr. Melgar’s clinical interests are reproductive health, behavioral health, public health/policy, and community empowerment. Outside of work, Dr. Melgar is likely spending time with her husband and 22-month-old baby, mentoring, running, yoga, soccer, snowboarding, dancing, and shopping at vintage stores.

Education:
Community Medicine Fellowship Program, Kaiser Permanente Orange County
Family Medicine Residency Program, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
M.D., School of Medicine at University of California, Davis
B.S., Physiological Science, UCLA

Former Environmental Protection Agency – Region 9

Vice President, Gas Acquisition, SoCalGas

Elsa Valay-Paz is vice president of gas acquisition for the Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), a Sempra regulated utility. She possesses a wealth of industry expertise and has held leadership positions across the Sempra family of companies. In her current role, Valay-Paz is responsible for procuring natural gas for SoCalGas’ and San Diego Gas & Electric’s residential and small commercial customers and delivering it to the utilities’ system.

Vice President, Business and Technical Services, PG&E – Diablo Canyon

Maureen is Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) Vice President at Diablo Canyon Power Plant, located in Avila Beach, California. In this role, she is responsible for regulatory, licensing, compliance, and environmental programs; continued operations/license renewal; enterprise and operational risk management; procurement and nuclear fuel management; performance improvement and innovation; emergency preparedness; cybersecurity; land stewardship; business and financial planning; and academic partnerships.

Maureen has over 35 years of experience in the utility and nuclear energy industry. She joined PG&E in 1997 and has held various positions with increasing responsibility in the areas of integrated planning and business finance, risk management, compliance, regulatory, cybersecurity, performance improvement, and emergency preparedness. Prior to PG&E, Maureen spent 8 years at Westinghouse Electric involved in major projects and initiatives including steam generator replacements, regulatory and legislation work, and reactor start-ups.

Maureen holds a degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. She is the chair of the Nuclear Energy Institute’s (NEI) Emergency Preparedness Working Group and a member of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Dean of Engineering Corporate Advisory Board and California Polytechnic State University President’s Council of Advisors. She also serves as an advisor to Japan’s Nuclear Risk Research Center (NRRC) as part of the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI). Maureen is the executive sponsor of the Women in Nuclear Chapter and the National Society of Black Engineers at PG&E, and serves as a board member for the Professional BusinessWomen of California and the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce.

Vice President, Community Affairs, California Resources Corporation (CRC)

Nicole Parra is a seasoned public servant and leader with over 30 years of legislative and political experience, primarily focused on the Central Valley of California. Her career spans significant roles, including serving as a U.S. Congressman aide, a California State Assembly member, and a director at the California Renewable Energy Laboratory. Nicole holds a B.A. in Economics from UC Berkeley and a J.D. from Catholic University School of Law. She has been recognized for her contributions to the community and academia, including awards from UC Berkeley and induction into her high school’s Hall of Fame. As a campaign manager, she effectively led a successful school bond initiative, showcasing her strategic leadership skills. Nicole is passionate about energy policy and women’s empowerment in politics, serving on the board of Women in California Politics. Her current role as Vice President of Community Affairs at California Resources Corporation reflects her commitment to sustainable practices in the petroleum industry.

Vice President, Local Public Affairs, Southern California Edison

Karla Diaz Sayles is vice president of Local Public Affairs at Southern California Edison, one of the nation’s largest electric utilities. She leads the company’s efforts to build strong relationships with local governments and community leaders, representing SCE before local and regional government officials and their staffs, including district offices of state and federal officials, as well as local and regional business organizations.
Most recently, Sayles worked in the governor’s office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) as deputy director of the California Film Commission overseeing film permitting, tax incentives, location resources and on-location production support. Previously, she served as director of public affairs at Warner Bros. Discovery, managing public affairs strategies and stakeholder engagement. Before that, she was the health deputy for Los Angeles County’s second supervisorial district and held positions at various public affairs firms.

Sayles maintains her commitment to building strong communities through service on several nonprofit boards, including LA Mayor Karen Bass’ Entertainment Industry Council and the advisory board for Zócalo Public Square. She is a member of the Junior League of Los Angeles (president 2018-2019) and is an alumna of HOPE Leadership Institute.

Sayles holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies from Northwestern University.

Director of UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and Co-Founder of Latina Futures 2050 Lab

Dr. Veronica Terriquez directs UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center and is co-founder of the UCLA Latina Futures, 2050 Lab, an ambitious project funded through a $15 million California state budget investment and is an important step forward in investing and integrating Latinas in public policy.

She is a leading scholar of youth and leadership development in Latinx communities. She conducts innovative research that brings a civic engagement and social movement lens into conversation with sociological concerns about migration, education and youth development, and political participation. In addition to pursuing such cutting-edge research, Professor Terriquez has tirelessly dedicated her academic career and much of her adult life to supporting the civic organizing efforts to empower youth, particularly children of immigrants and youth of color.

Professor Terriquez’s research has been supported by major grants from the Irvine Foundation, the California Endowment, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her publications include awarding-winning work recognized by the American Sociological Association. Moreover, she has received prestigious fellowships from the Stanford University Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and the Ford Foundation.

Dr. Terriquez comes to UCLA from UC Santa Cruz, where she was a faculty member in the Sociology Department. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from UCLA, an M.A. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley, and her B.A. in Sociology from Harvard University.

Chief Executive Officer, HOPE

As the CEO of HOPE for 23 years, Helen Iris Torres has strategically built a Latina leadership and advocacy infrastructure in California, composed of thousands of civically engaged Latina leaders serving in elected and appointed office, as business, philanthropic and community leaders. She has created robust pathways to leadership for Latinas in high school to Latinas across the United States, resulting in over 1,600 leadership positions being filled by Latinas. Helen was raised by a single mother outside of Detroit, Michigan. She is a first-generation college graduate. Her passion to fight for women’s rights stems from witnessing the sexual and racial discrimination her mother faced daily.

HOPE Board Chair

Erica Cabrera is a Central Valley native and HOPE Leadership Institute Alumnus, Class of 2013. She currently works for Pacific Gas & Electric as a Central Coast-Central Valley Local Government Affairs Manager servicing Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, & Tulare Counties. Erica earned a Master of Arts in Leadership and Organizational Studies from Fresno Pacific University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from California State University, Fresno. She has 10 years of experience working in local and state government; which includes serving as District Director for former Assemblymember Henry T. Perea.

General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, FiveStar Gourmet Foods

Corporate Board Member of Paramount Global

Former Chief Magistrate of Mexico’s Electoral Court and a champion of electoral justice in Latin America

Former Councilmember, San Antonio

Melissa Cabello Havrda was elected as the San Antonio District 6 Councilwoman on June 8, 2019. While on Council, Melissa served as the Chair of the City’s Public Safety, Transportation and Mobility, and Municipal Court Committees. She also served as a member of the Governance, Investment, and Municipal Utility Committees. Additionally, she served as the first Latina Chair of the Alamo Area Mobility Planning Organization (AAMPO) and the San Antonio Fire and Police Pension Board.
Melissa is a proud native of District 6 in San Antonio, Texas and attended Taft High School. She earned her B.A. majoring in political science from St. Mary’s University, a Juris Doctorate from St. Mary’s University School of Law, and an MBA from the University of Texas at San Antonio.
While working on obtaining her degrees, Melissa served her community by working as special assistant to former Mayor Ed Garza. She then served as project coordinator to Mayor Emeritus Lila Cockrell and former Councilwoman Bonnie Conner at the San Antonio Parks Foundation. Melissa has also taught Business Law and Criminal Court Systems at Northwest Vista Community College and Government at St. Mary’s University for their MPA program. She is a practicing attorney, real estate agent, and proud small business owner.
Prior to serving on City Council, Councilwoman Cabello Havrda served on numerous boards including the Magik Children’s Theater, MOVE Texas, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, UTHSC Center for Aging, and Transplants for Children, among others. Melissa is also a proud graduate of the inaugural Latina Leadership Institute through the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and served on the SAHCC’s Government Affairs and Business and Economic Development committees. Melissa is an alumni of Leadership San Antonio 41 through the SAHCC and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Melissa is also a proud graduate of the Hispanas Organized for Political Equality Binational Fellowship.
Melissa has been married to Jason Havrda, an educator, for over twenty years and they are the proud parents of three children.