Meet Our Officers
Ana Gil Garcia
Dr. Ana Gil Garcia, a Venezuelan-American Professor Emerita, five-time Fulbright Scholar, is an internationally acclaimed professional, published author and an esteemed community leader and forerunning advocate for diversity. A Chicago resident, she works tirelessly for community organizations devoted to Latino rights. Among her multiple awards, one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the USA (2010), one of the 30 Outstanding Visionary Women in higher education (2014), Distinguished Woman in Education (2015) and one of the 50 more influential Latinos in Chicagoland (2017). In 2018, the Illinois Association of Hispanic State Employees conferred her the Hilda Lopez Award for her outstanding contribution to the Illinois Latino community. Recently, in March 04, 2020 she was conferred the Dr. John Hernandez Leadership in Higher Education for Latinx Communities by the American College Personnel Association. She has embraced LULAC mission by co-chairing the Education Committee of the Illinois LULAC Council 5238. Her involvement and advocacy has made her to take effective actions on the empowerment of Latina women through higher education, the development of minority junior faculty, teacher and principal preparation, the promotion of coalition among Hispanic professional educational organizations and the creation of international bridges for minority students. Her lobbying for Latino leadership parity, equity in education and digital access for Latinos in education crystalized on the launch of a principal endorsement program for Latino teachers who will be the school leaders needed in Chicago Public Schools in which 49% of the student population are Latinos. To support the previous initiative, she co-founded with Caroline Crozier, LULAC National Director of Education and President of Council 5238, the Illinois Latino Coalition of Education Leaders (ILCEL) to maximize efforts in educational issues affecting the Latino education community. Her defense of democracy has brought recognition from diverse human rights groups. She is the co-founder of the Illinois Venezuelan Alliance a not-for-profit organization to denounce the existing Venezuelan humanitarian crisis. Dr. Gil-Garcia’s image served as one of the Rotary International faces of the “Humanity in Action” world-wide campaign to fight poverty.
Caroline Sanchez Crozier
Caroline Sanchez Crozier is the Founding President and CEO of CSC Consulting Group (CSC), an IT service provider specializing in the design, installation, and implementation of network infrastructure and managed IT services. Before starting her business, she worked as a CPA, internal auditor and management consultant in various corporations.
Ms. Crozier started as an entrepreneur in 1988 with CSC providing ed tech consulting services to schools. Over the years, CSC has expanded its educational products and technology services. It has formed key partnerships along the way with innovative industry leaders such as Apple, Cisco, IBM, Unisys, and Novell, Reading Plus and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) amongst others.
Some of the challenges she has faced as a Latina owned business owner led her to become a strong advocate to address systemic issues related to equity in education and technology as well as the need for more Latino leaders represented in all sectors.
Today, she proudly contributes her volunteer time on behalf of the Latinx community as founding president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Local Council 5238, LULAC Illinois Education Chair and LULAC National Education Chair based in DC. LULAC is the oldest and largest national civil rights organization for Latinos. In addition, she recently launched Digital Leaders Now, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing Latinx Tech Equity and strengthening the pipeline to STEM careers.
Throughout her career, Ms. Crozier has participated in numerous events, panels and conferences to inspire others to be relentless in pursuing their dreams. She is always willing to coach and mentor young Latinx professionals by sharing experiences as an immigrant, first-generation Latina college graduate, entrepreneur and education advocate.
Delilah Crespo
Delilah Crespo, was born in Chicago, IL to parents from Puerto Rico, she grew up in the Humboldt Park neighborhood and attended Chicago Public Schools. Delilah went on to earn her BA in Secondary Education/History; Bilingual Certification from Northeastern Illinois University.
As an adept Instructional Coach, Delilah has a well-rounded skill set in curriculum design & frameworks and honed talents in professional development training and mentoring. As a Bilingual Literacy/SS Middle School Teacher for CPS (Chicago Public Schools) she gained experience teaching and modifying instruction to meet the needs of students: across the ESL Proficiency levels 1-6, bilingual-Spanish instruction, diverse learners and traditional students. This opportunity provided Delilah the ability to adapt quickly, reflect and grow as a professional.
Spending time with inner-city youth, undocumented minors, refugee students, and children from a wide range of backgrounds, gave Delilah firsthand experience as a teacher and as someone who attended public schools: the complex issues/inequities facing public education. It made her want to do more and be part of something larger. This is why she’s a proud member of LULAC of IL Education Council #5238, as their Secretary, Co-Leader of the Educator Pipeline Initiative and collaborator: in their pursuit of digital equity in the education: DLN (Digital Leaders Now).
Franklin Ortega
Franklin Ortega is an immigrant who came from Ecuador to the United States at the age of 17. Franklin began his college career at Oakton Community College and was the first in his family to attend college. Afterward, he transferred to Northeastern Illinois University, where he was able to pursue his Bachelor of Arts in Latino/a American Studies. He then completed his Master’s degree in Educational Leadership focus in Higher Education Administration at the same university. Franklin has a few years of experience working in public and private colleges and universities, working with a diverse population of students. In his career, he has served many first-generation students and undocumented students by creating representation and integrity in his practices. Franklin now works at McHenry County College as Coordinator of Multicultural Affairs. His mission is to give back to his community and to work with LULAC with initiatives to support equity and justice in higher education.
Jessica Ramos
Proud first generation Chicana with roots stemming from the south west side of Chicago. Committed to fighting with my community to advance equity in education. Building bridges, elevating community voice, and engaging communities that have been historically marginalized by the policy making process. With experience spanning from rural Colorado to the state of Illinois, Jessica see’s the urgency to organize for access to a quality education system that addresses barriers and uplifts all communities.
At LULAC, Jessica supports the advocacy strategy and development of leaders to elevate Latinx issues in education policy.
She has served as the Senior Community Engagement Associate at Advance Illinois for almost two years where her focus is on elevating and centering the voices of communities across the state of Illinois that are directly impacted and have been historically marginalized. She manages the organization’s Educator Advisory Council, supports coalition strategy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion work on key education issues such as the educator pipeline and school funding.
Luis Narvaez
Currently, as the Strategic Projects Director for his school district’s Office of Language and Cultural Education (OLCE), Luis Narvaez is assisting in the recognition of students who are both bilingual and biliterate in Chicago and throughout the state through the implementation of the Seal of Biliteracy, recruiting more teachers to pursuit their ESL and Bilingual endorsement, creating pathways towards college and career success for English Language Learners, and ensuring that the district’s 70,000 English Language Learners receive adequate instructional support at school. He doesn’t want any Latino and/or bilingual student to ever feel ashamed of his cultural heritage and background as he once was forced to feel. He’s also on his last year of his doctoral program at National Louis University where he is researching the college pathway for undocumented immigrant students.
Raul Sanchez
Raul Sanchez is an Information Technology leader with a proven track record in implementing strategic initiatives to improve business functionality and productivity. Mr. Sanchez has worked in systems and network engineering roles in the corporate, government and legal industries.
Mr. Sanchez is also an active volunteer and strong advocate in education and technology. Through his technical skills, Mr. Sanchez was an influential contributor in CEDA Southwest in Summit receiving federal grants to launch an adult computer training program. He also created and taught semester computer classes for two years.
Raul currently serves as the scholarship chairman at LULAC Illinois Education Council 5238. He has been instrumental in awarding over 25 scholarships to high school seniors in the Latinx community.
Roger Sanchez
Roger Sanchez is a program manager at CSC Consulting Group where he oversees the implementation of academic programs. Mr. Sanchez has many years of experience in education and technology, advocating the blended learning approach. Following best practices in blended learning helps lead us to “equity in education’. Beyond classrooms, Roger has presented in many state conferences to bilingual parents advocating for education and technology literacy.
As a member of LULAC, Mr. Sanchez serves as the membership director. It is key role because there is so much work to do and Lulac is a volunteer organization. Roger states, “The members are the driving force to outreach, implementation, and advocacy of important initiatives that will help to empower the Latino community. “