United4Change Center welcomes two new Board members and two new Advisors!
Almost fifteen years ago, United4Change Center started with one conviction: that when women are supported, entire communities benefit. What we did not fully anticipate was how many remarkable people would choose to build that vision alongside us, and how many of them would stay. Today we are proud to introduce four leaders joining our governance and advisory teams.
New to the Board of Directors
Jorge M. Rivas, M.D., Ph.D. joins the Board as a physician scientist working across the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, where he currently serves as Director of Regulatory Affairs at Catalyst Pharmaceuticals. What makes Jorge such a natural fit for U4C runs deeper than his credentials. He comes from a Rotarian family, moved from Interact as a teenager into Rotaract as a student, and has never stopped volunteering since, mentoring young people toward careers in science and medicine to this day.
Susana Beita, MBA brings a career of senior leadership in financial services, where she serves as a Vice President at JPMorgan Chase. Beyond her corporate work, Susana mentors women in leadership, communication, and executive presence through JPMorgan Chase’s Women on the Move initiative and its Fast Forward program. She believes leadership is about serving others and creating opportunities that strengthen communities, which is the same belief that has carried U4C from the beginning. Her governance experience and her commitment to mentorship arrive at exactly the right moment for us.
New to the Advisory Board
Michelle Avalos joins us as an Advisor after a career spent designing programs that connect underrepresented entrepreneurs to capital, mentorship, and opportunity. As cofounder of Impact Hub Houston, she helped lead the Greater Houston Support Stack, a federally funded initiative built by a coalition of Houston organizations that included United4Change Center. We already know how she works, because we have worked beside her. Michelle designs and facilitates entrepreneurship programs in both English and Spanish, which matters enormously for an organization supporting women entrepreneurs in Houston and across Latin America and Africa.
Alvaro Carrasco completes his term on our Board of Directors and continues with U4C as an Advisor. Alvaro is an entrepreneur who served in managing director and global operations roles at Medical Bridges, an international nonprofit that gets medical equipment and supplies into underserved communities worldwide, and he has supported organizations such as the Fundación del Niño Quemado in bringing children from Bolivia to Houston for critical care. A native of Bolivia now based in Houston, he has helped U4C from the very beginning. We are grateful for his loyalty and unconditional support to the U4C’s mission and family.
What this says about where we are going
It is easy to measure the growth of a nonprofit in budgets and beneficiaries, and those numbers matter. But there is another measure that tells you more about whether an organization is built to last, and that is the caliber of the people who choose to sit at the table with you, and what happens when their formal term comes to an end. Do they leave, or do they ask how they can keep helping?
Almost fifteen years in, United4Change Center is answering that question with a board and an advisory bench full of physicians, bankers and ecosystem builders who could give their time anywhere and choose to give it here. That is not luck. It is what happens when the work is real and the mission is clear. To Susana, Jorge, Michelle, and Alvaro: welcome, and thank you!
Read their full biographies and meet our entire team at united4changecenter.org/our-team.
