Mari Carmen Aponte, Nominee for Ambassador and
Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Panama
Latinas Today 6 www.latinastyle.com LATINAStyle Vol. 27, No.5, 2021
Mari Carmen Aponte, a member
of William & Mary’s Board of
Visitors, has been nominated
by U.S. President Joe Biden to serve as the
nation’s next ambassador to Panama.
Aponte, who previously served as U.S.
ambassador to El Salvador from 2010 to
2016, joined the William & Mary Board of
Visitors in 2019. She is currently chair of
the Committee on the Student Experience
and a member of the committees
on academic affairs and institutional
advancement.
Aponte currently works as a consultant for
management and fundraising. She previously served
as acting assistant secretary for the Western
Hemisphere for the U.S. Department of State, acting
as the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America.
Aponte also previously served as a member of the
board of directors for the Oriental Financial Group,
executive director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs
Administration and a consultant and lawyer. She was
also a White House fellow, assisting the U.S. secretary
of housing and urban development.
An active member of the American Bar and
Hispanic Bar associations, she has served on myriad
committees for community and professional
organizations, such as the Latino Advisory Council for
the Smithsonian National Museum of Washington,
D.C., the Kennedy Center Advisory Board and the
National Alliance for Hispanic Health.
Aponte currently chairs the Community Capital
Corporation and is a member of the Council on
Foreign Relations and the boards for the International
Association of Women Judges and the International
Senior Lawyers Project.
Born in Honduras, Captain Lillian
Carranza joined the LAPD in 1989.
Captain Carranza serves as the
Commanding Officer of Commercial
Crimes Division. As a vision-driven
and seasoned LAPD Leader with over 30 years of experience and a proven
track record of success in law enforcement, her past experiences include
recent commands as Patrol Captain at Wilshire and 77th Community Police
Stations and Area Captain/Area Commanding Officer with the Van Nuys
Community Police Station.
As a Captain III, Commanding Officer for the Commercial Crimes Division,
her current post was focused on preventing, investigating, and prosecuting
property and financial crimes to enhance public safety and improve quality of
life. The CCD was established in 2003 once the Burglary Auto Theft Division
and the Financial Crimes Division merged.
A member of multiple professional organizations including the International
Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Oscar Joel Bryant Association (OJB),
the Latin American Law Enforcement Association (La Ley), the Police Executive
Research Forum (PERF), the Los Angeles Women Police Officer’s Association
(LAWPOA), and the International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA), she holds
a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, a Master’s degree in Executive Master
of Leadership. She recently finished the Supervisory level of POST and is
currently applying to USC to obtain her Doctor of Education in Organizational
Change and Leadership.
United Security Bancshares Appoints
Dora Westerlund to Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of United
Security Bancshares, the parent
company of United Security Bank
(the “Bank”), announced the
appointment of Dora Westerlund,
President and CEO of Fresno Area
Hispanic Foundation to the
Company’s and Bank’s Boards
of Directors.
As founder and CEO of The
Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation,
Westerlund leads an experienced
group of staff to recruit and retain
Foundation membership and develop fundraising activities; ensures that sound
financial plans are made and carried out; and oversees the implementation of
proposed projects from the beginning until completion.
Westerlund provides the vision for the organization. Under her
leadership, the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation successfully established the
Microloan Small Business Program with a $1.7 million grant, the only bilingual
business incubator in the Western United States. The program has invested over
$3 million into hundreds of small Hispanic businesses, creating 500 jobs and
reinvesting more than $12 million back into the local economy.
She has more than 15 years of experience in business leadership,
innovation, and strategic management. She has guided over 3,000 start-ups
and existing businesses with “Next Level” workshops and business resources.
An alumna of California State University, Fresno, she has strong ties
to the Central Valley. She currently serves on the Board of Governors for
California State University, Fresno, and the St. Agnes Medical Center Board
of Directors. LS
LAPD Captain
Lillian Carranza,
Commanding
Officer of
Commercial
Crimes Division
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