NHMC Staff

Alex Nogales
President & CEO

Elected President of the NHMC in the late nineties, Alex has tirelessly advocated for the Latino community. He led boycotts against the advertisers of the syndicated “Howard Stern” radio show as a means of getting Stern off the air when he offended the Latino community and the family of the late singing star, Selena Quintanilla-Perez, with his repugnant comments following the singer’s tragic murder. Under Nogales’ leadership, the NHMC has filed over fifty petitions to deny broadcast licenses with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), including one against a Spanish-language radio company for encouraging its DJs to air pornographic radio programming to boost their ratings. Nogales also led high-profile demonstrations against ABC and its parent company, Disney, for its lack of diversity and apparent exclusion of American Latinos from local news reporters and anchor jobs, and intensified discussions with local TV stations across the country. As leader of one of the more visible organizations under the umbrella of the National Latino Media Council (NLMC), for which NHMC acts as secretariat and staff, Alex was instrumental in the signing of Memoranda of Understanding with NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox in the year 2000.

And when Latinos in both English and Spanish language television were undercounted by the A.C. Nielsen Research Company, Mr. Nogales led the NLMC fight to force Nielsen to address this shortfall. In his estimation, Nielsen’s undercount limited Latino employment opportunities in English-language television as well as discouraged the development of Latino-themed programming. Fox Television, Nogales’ ally in the fight, recently signed an agreement with Nielsen whereby Nielsen committed fifty million dollars to better train its field representatives to coach Nielsen households on how to correctly use their measuring equipment.

Currently, Nogales is evaluating the diversity performance of the four major television networks, pushing for diversity initiatives, and challenging media entities that are demonizing the Latino immigrant community to boost their radio and television ratings. Indeed, in the past few years the NHMC has emerged as a leader in the fight against hate speech in media. On the heels of the 2006 immigration debate – and the often violent and inaccurate anti-Latino rhetoric associated therewith – the FBI documented a 40% increase in hate crimes against Latinos. Not only has the NHMC called on the government to examine the link between hate speech and hate crimes and to bring light to this serious problem, it has also commissioned the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center to study the issue in the absence of government action. At the same time, Mr. Nogales has met with top cable and broadcast television executives, urging them to ensure fairness and accuracy in their stories that touch on the Latino community. In one such meeting, in late 2009, Alex met with CNN President Jon Klein and urged him to hold Lou Dobbs accountable as a credible journalist or to fire him. Not a week later, Dobbs resigned from CNN. 

In addition to the NHMC’s work on hate speech, under Alex’s leadership the organization has increasingly engaged on media and telecommunications policies that impact the Latino community. NHMC has an office in Washington, D.C., and serves as the voice of the Latino community on such issues as diversifying media ownership, broadband deployment and adoption, network neutrality, and many other issues that affect how Latinos communicate and are perceived in mainstream media.

Inez Gonzalez
Executive Vice President

Inez González joined the NHMC team in 2005. In her tenure at NHMC she created the media policy program; opened the NHMC Washington D.C. office; developed a funds development program; and implemented internal operational systems that have strengthened the organization. Inez is based in the NHMC Pasadena headquarters and functions as the chief operating officer with overall strategic and operational responsibility for all programs. Previous to joining NHMC, Inez was the District Director for Congressman Bob Filner (D-51) where she managed the two district offices in San Diego and Imperial Valley that served over 650,000 constituents. Inez’ professional experience includes tenures as Public Relations & Communications Manager for a California Health Management Organization; and Contract Compliance Officer for the public transportation agency in San Diego, CA where she managed Equal Opportunity Programs for the agency. Inez is a fellow of Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) Leadership Training Institute, the Women’s Policy Institute a program of the California’s Women Foundation, the National Hispana Leadership Institute (NHLI). She is a Board Member of the Center for New Community (CNC), a national organization committed to building community, justice, and equality; and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), an organization with a mission to improve the lives of low-income immigrants. Inez has a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from the University of San Diego, a Master’s in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix, and a Master's in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School.
 

Jessica Gonzalez
Vice President, Policy & Legal Affairs

Jessica executes NHMC’s priorities before the federal agencies and in Congress. She leads NHMC's legal and policy work and has developed and oversees it's legal internship program. As NHMC's Vice President of Policy and Legal Affairs, Jessica has testified before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and in Congress, and has been interviewed on television and radio. Additionally, she played an instrumental role in drafting the historic Memorandum of Understanding between Comcast Corporation and leading national Latino leadership organizations. Before joining NHMC, Jessica was a staff attorney and clinical teaching fellow at Georgetown Law’s renowned Institute for Public Representation (IPR), where NHMC was one of her clients. At IPR Jessica represented consumer, civil rights and public interest organizations before the FCC, the NTIA and in the Courts of Appeal. While in law school, Jessica clerked at the Media Access Project in Washington, DC, and prior to law school she was a public high school teacher in Los Angeles, California. Jessica earned a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from Georgetown Law, a JD from Southwestern Law School, where she worked on the Journal of Law and Trade in the Americas and the Journal of International Media and Entertainment Law, and a BA in Communication Studies and Spanish from Loyola Marymount University. She is licensed to practice law in California and the District of Columbia. Jessica serves on the Executive Board of Directors for both the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the Media and Democracy Coalition. She also sits on the FCC's Diversity and Open Internet advisory committees.

Brenda Rivas
Vice President, Human Resources and Operations

Brenda Rivas is a graduate from the University of Southern California where she obtained her BA in Cinematic Arts with an emphasis in Critical Studies and a minor in Spanish. She began working at NHMC in June 2010 as the Executive Assistant to Alex Nogales and later as the Director of Operations. As NHMC's Vice President of Human Resources and Operations, she manages the day-to-day activities of the organization to include billing, human resources, scheduling for Alex Nogales, and assists with grant writing. She is currently pursuing a Certificate in Human Resources Management at UCLA Extension. Previous to working at NHMC, Brenda worked at Management 360 where she was part of the Manager-Mailroom Trainee Program. She has also interned at Identity Films and Mandate Pictures in Beverly Hills. While in film school, Brenda was a Special Projects Coordinator at USC El Centro Chicano and was part of the Latino Floor Residential Program.

Michael Scurato
Policy Counsel

Michael joined NHMC's Washington, DC policy team in September 2010 when he was hired as a Law Fellow after being accepted into Georgetown Law’s Post-JD Public Service Fellowship Program. While in law school, he represented the public interest in media and telecommunications law issues at the Institute for Public Representation (IPR), one of Georgetown’s renowned legal clinics, first as a summer research assistant and later as a student in the clinical program. At IPR, he represented clients on issues such as diversifying media ownership, privacy, and protecting children from harmful ads on TV and online. He also served as a delegate in Georgetown Law's Student Bar Association. Michael's previous experience includes internships at the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia and with New Jersey State Assemblywoman (now State Senator) Linda Greenstein. He earned his JD from Georgetown University Law Center and his BA in Political Science from New York University. He is currently admitted to the New Jersey and New York bars.