Felícita Solá-Carter, President of Conexiones since June, 2007, also serves on the Equity Council, the District Planning Team, and the Bright Minds Foundation of the Howard County, Maryland Public School System.

A native of Puerto Rico, Ms. Solá-Carter graduated from the College of Mount St. Vincent in 1971. She began her career with SSA in New York City where she rapidly progressed into managerial positions throughout the New York metropolitan area. Prior to her retirement in January, 2009, she served as the Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources of the Social Security Administration (SSA), sharing national leadership of the Personnel, Training, Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, Labor, Management and Employee Relations, Human Capital Planning and Executive Services Support programs.

Ms. Solá-Carter is the recipient of a 2004 Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive and a 2005 Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive, the highest honor a career Federal executive may receive.

Professional affiliations include service as Chair of the Baltimore Federal Executive Board, Senior Advisor to the Federal Training Institute of the League of United Latin American Citizens, sponsorship of the Maryland Hispanic Youth Symposium, and Co-Chair of the Federal Annual Hispanic Career Advancement Summit. In 2008, she was named a Hispanic Hero by the United States Hispanic Youth Entrepreneur Education and as one of the Maryland Top 100 Women by The Daily Record. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of The Horizon Foundation.

She is married to Maryland native Bruce W. Carter, and they are the proud parents of two sons, Robert and David, both graduates of Howard County schools.

Murray Simon, Immediate Past President founded Conexiones in 2000 because he wanted to address the problem of Hispanic student dropout rate in Howard County. At the July 2, 2007 meeting of the Howard County Council, an Honorary Resolution was presented to Dr. Murray Simon, in recognition of his service as the founder and retiring President of Conexiones. He is married to Juana and has 4 children.

Roger J. Lerner, Vice-President, is currently a principal, in Q STREET PARTNERS, LLC, Washington, D.C., a venture focused on acquisition of distressed real estate assets including loans, loan participation and real estate owned. He is also Of Counsel to SACK HARRIS & MARTIN P.C., McLean Virginia, where his practice is focused on transactional work including: real estate lending and leasing; mergers & acquisitions; workouts, restructuring and bankruptcy and early stage businesses.

Roger is a graduate of The Washington University School of Law, Saint Louis, Missouri, where he received a Juris Doctor, (1979), and The George Washington University, Washington, DC, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.

Teresa Rojas, Board Secretary is currently a candidate in the Social Security Administration’s Senior Executive Development Program. She came to the United States in 1961 from Cuba and lived in Miami where she joined SSA in 1974. In 2000, she moved Maryland to continue her career at SSA. She has held various management positions until present.

In her most recent position, she directed and managed SSA's information systems security operations, including compliance reviews at State offices and outside entities such as Department of the Treasury, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as private sector business partners and foreign government agencies.

Ms. Rojas’ involvement in community services organizations in Miami began when she was a junior in college and volunteered to tutor inner city students. Once out of college, she continued her affiliation with organizations such as the United Way, the Cuban American National Planning Council and the Coalition of Hispanic American Women where she served on the board for several years. When she decided to settle in Maryland she began to work with Hispanic students and their parents by teaching English as a second language to parents.

She is married to Aurelio (Lee) Rojas and is a mother and grandmother.

Neta Griffin Warren, Treasurer is currently the Executive Officer for the Office of the Chief Actuary at the Social Security Administration. She is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries, a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Neta graduated from Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina and attended graduate school at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

She and her husband, Davey Warren, have lived in Howard County for almost 35 years and have two children, Leslie and Drew, who graduated from Howard County public schools.

Patricia Sasse is currently serving as Fund Raising Co-Chair on the Conexiones Board. Since 2007, she has collaborated with other members of the Board to secure funds via membership drives, corporate solicitations and successful grant requests from our partners at United Way, the Columbia and Horizon foundations, and State Farms. Ms. Sasse recently retired from a thirty-two year career with the Social Security Administration. In her last assignment, she served as the Deputy Director of the agency’s largest call center which houses just under seven hundred employees, and is located in Baltimore Maryland. Her duties encompassed managing the day to day operation of the call center, specifically leading the management team to ensure that the agency’s mission of outstanding service to the public was met. Ms. Sasse was hired by Social Security in 1974 and has held many different positions, including working at SSA Headquarters in Woodlawn where she was assigned to the area of strategic planning, targeting the development of the agency’s eGovernment services. Ms. Sasse has received numerous awards for leadership, including two highly regarded individual Commissioner’s Citations, in 2003 and in 1995, Since her retirement, Ms. Sasse has been a member of the Social Security Alumni Association, and was elected President in January 2008. She is a graduate of Canisius College of Buffalo NY.

David Rodriguez is currently a Board Member and serving as the Awards Committee Co-Chair. Mr. Rodriguez is currently employed by Kraft Foods as a Distributor Development head within Kraft’s Foodservice Division. David has held numerous sales and marketing positions to include assignments as corporate sales planner, marketing business associate, district sales manager, regional chain account executive, and account manager.

David was most recently Kraft Foods’ Chair of the Hispanic-Asian Sales Council. David is currently a candidate and involved in Kraft Foods Emerging Leadership Program. Before Kraft Foods, Mr. Rodriguez was employed by Macy’s Inc. in various management positions to include department manager, assistant buyer, executive trainer and personnel manager. Upon graduating from college, Mr. Rodriguez was commissioned an officer in the United States Marine Corps in which he served as an infantry officer. Mr. Rodriguez held unit command positions at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Parris Island, South Carolina. Mr. Rodriguez deployed with various commands to Norway, Western Europe, South America, West Africa and the Caribbean. He is a graduate of the Marine Corps’ Infantry Officers Course and the Naval Justice School. His personal decorations include the Navy Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Unit Citation, as well as two Commanding General Citations.

Mr. Rodriguez is a graduate of Colgate University, Hamilton, NY. He and his wife, Melissa Rodriguez, have lived in Howard County for 10 years and have two children, Jason and Alison, who are both enrolled in Howard County schools.

Danilsa M. Marciniak is in her third year working with Conexiones and is currently serving as Co-Chair of the Fund Raising Committee for Conexiones. Danilsa began her work with Conexiones in 2006 when she started the first Hispanic Parent Organization (the Parents of Hispanic Students) at Mt. Hebron High School in Ellicott City, MD. Danilsa served as President of the Parents of Hispanic Students from the group’s inception in 2006 until June of 2009. Danilsa remains an active member of the POHS. Danilsa also supports the efforts of the Office of Hispanic Achievement of Howard County Public Schools, Mt. Hebron’s PTSA, and Los Vikingos, Mt. Hebron’s Hispanic student club. Danilsa has served on Mt. Hebron’s PTSA Executive Board as a liaison to the Hispanic Parents of Mt. Hebron High School and has worked with Mt. Hebron’s School Improvement Team. Danilsa is active with her church community and lends support to reach the Hispanic Community at the Church of The Resurrection in Ellicott City. Danilsa has also worked with Resurrection’s Youth Ministry, serving as an ALLY (Adults Living and Learning with Youth).

Danilsa is a proud veteran of the U.S. Navy where honorably served four years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Armed Forces Institute of Pathology as a Continuing Education Department Coordinator. This is where Danilsa met her husband Paul of 23 years. Danilsa is most proud of her Navy training as a member of the first female rifle company to train alongside males.

Danilsa is also a veteran of the corporate world. She began working for Progressive Insurance in Dayton, Ohio and later transferred to Maryland with her husband’s military transfer to the Baltimore area. She worked for Progressive Insurance for 13 memorable years. During her tenure, Danilsa opened the White Marsh office and held positions of Management in the White Marsh and Baltimore Claims Offices. Danilsa also led efforts to train, motivate, encourage excellent Customer Service initiatives throughout Progressive’s Mountain Bay Shore Division. Danilsa also served as Regional Claims Training Manager where she was responsible for training all personnel in Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia.

Danilsa is a Summe Cum Laude graduate of Wright State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Organizational Communication and a minor in Business Administration.

Danilsa is currently working towards a Master’s Degree in Education and is currently a Para Professional for the Howard County Public School System’s Library Media program at Hollifield Station Elementary. Danilsa began her tenure with the Howard County Public School System as a Hispanic ESOL Community Liaison in the Office of International Student Services. Danilsa is the first New York City born of parents from the Dominican Republic. Danilsa and her husband Paul have two daughters that currently attend Mt. Hebron High School.