Farmworker Justice Board of Directors Elects Grizelle Apodaca as Chair
Written by Bruce Goldstein Monday, 07 December 2009 21:40
The Farmworker Justice Board of Directors held its annual meeting on December 3, 2009. The Board elected Grizelle Apodaca to a two-year term as Chair of the Board. Ramon Ramirez was elected Vice-Chair. Gene Ortega was re-elected Secretary-Treasurer. The Board filled a vacant position by appointing Mario Gutierrez, who will serve on the Development Committee.
Grizelle Apodaca is President and CEO of Eslabon Associates, a consulting and organizational development firm based in Goodyear, Arizona, near Phoenix. Grizelle has assisted many organizations, including Lideres Campesinas, a farmworker women's organization in California. Earlier, Grizelle served as Director of Affiliate Services for the National Council of La Raza, in Washington, D.C. She also was the monitor-advocate for migrant and seasonal farmworkers in Maryland under a federal-state employment and training program. Grizelle has been serving as the Development Committee Chair on FJ's Board (which she will now co-chair with Mario Gutierrez) and previousl led the Personnel Committee (now chaired by Kathy L. Krieger). Each year, Grizelle and her husband Gilberto Apodaca (former National Monitor Advocate for farmworkers in the U.S. Department of Labor) host an intensely competitive and fun Chile Cook-off that benefits charities, including Farmworker Justice.
Ramon Ramirez, the Vice-Chair of the Board, is President of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Treeplanters and Farmworkers United of the Northwest, "PCUN"), Oregon's farmworker union, www.pcun.org. Ramon has co-founded several organizations in Oregon to advance the interests of farmworkers and immigrants. He is also active at the national level with major immigration rights organizations. Ramon and his family live in Woodburn, Oregon.
Mario Gutierrez, newly appointed to the Board of Directors, holds a Master's degree in Public Health, has led health care centers, and has more than 30 years of experience in philanthropic organizations, including ten years at The California Endowment, where he developed the agricultural worker health initiative, a $50 million investment in farmworker communities, and a major binational health program for the U.S. and Mexico. Mario and his wife live in Sacramento.
Grizelle is the first woman to serve as Board chair in the organization's 28-year history.
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