Our Board

Carl A. Salisbury is an attorney with a national reputation as a policyholder lawyer who has more than thirty years of experience helping companies and individuals resolve insurance disputes. He has been listed in “The Best Lawyers in America” for Insurance Law from 2006 to the present.  Mr. Salisbury also sits on a number of non-profit Boards of Directors, including the Westfield YMCA.  He is a founding member of the Board of Trustees of the Westfield Arts Collective, which operates the Center for Creativity at the Rialto in Westfield, NJ. 

A first-generation college student, he received his undergraduate degree in history, magna cum laude, from the University of New Hampshire and his law degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law, where he was Managing Editor of the Wake Forest Law Review. He served as a Judicial Clerk for the Hon. Reynaldo G. Garza of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit before entering private practice.  Mr. Salisbury is a partner and leads the Commercial Litigation and Insurance Recovery Group at Bramnick, Rodriguez, Grabas, Arnold & Mangan.

Ricardo Ortegón is the Founder and President of GPS College Guidance, a college admissions consulting organization based in the Washington, DC area that works with students and their families navigating through the college preparation, selection, and admissions process. He has over 25 years of direct experience working in admissions, academic advising, and student success in colleges and universities throughout the country and has extensive experience guiding underrepresented, first-generation, and international students through the admission process.

Ricardo earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business from Texas A&M International University and his doctorate degree in higher education administration from Northeastern University.

Dawn M. Wilson brings nearly fifteen years of college access and success experience to the More Than Bootstraps Advisory Board. Dawn currently serves as the Associate Director of the Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP), where she aids in program and scholar development. Prior to joining PUPP, Dawn served as the inaugural Director of College Success for Cooperman College Scholars (CCS), where she supported the scholars on all points related to persistence and retention.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Dawn is a proud product of the New Jersey public school system, having been educated there from elementary through graduate school. Dawn earned her Master’s in Counseling from The College of New Jersey, is currently working towards her license as a Marriage and Family Therapist, and will begin her doctoral work in counseling in September 2021. As a first generation graduate herself, Dawn embodies her personal ethos: “be who you needed when you were younger.'' This sentiment fuels her work, allowing her to meet students and mentees where they are and aid in their “becoming”.

Maria J. Zamora serves as the Program Manager for Undocumented Student Services at Rutgers University-Newark. Prior, Zamora served as a Coordinator for Undocumented Student Services (USS) and the Office of Student Life and Leadership (OSLL) at Rutgers University-Newark.

During her time at Rutgers-Newark, Maria has worked to empower undocumented students by coordinating community-building programs, facilitating educational trainings and sharing her personal narrative of being a first-generation college student and an immigrant. She is also a Newman Fellow and a Latinx Undocu-Professional committed to support undocumented students navigate college.

Maria received a B.A in Public and Nonprofit Administration with a minor in Social Justice and Master of Public Administration from Rutgers University-Newark.

Janely Jose is Assistant Principal of the Passaic Academy for Science and Engineering in her hometown of Passaic, NJ.

Born of Dominican parents, she is a first-generation college graduate of The College of New Jersey. She has 15 years of teaching experience, most of which she spent teaching English at Passaic High School, her alma-mater. She also served as the advisor and instructor for the Peer Leadership Program, in which seniors mentor freshmen students in their transition into high school. Janely is also the founder of STRIVE (Students and Teachers Reviving and Instilling the Value of Education), established in 2011, which is a club at Passaic High School that organizes various school-wide events and initiatives that promote a culture of academic success.

Janely holds an M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership and M.A. in Educational Leadership from Montclair State University. It is her passion to serve and give back to the community which has shaped and empowered her as both a student and an educator.

E.J. Mitchell is a Senior Educational Consultant at ESC, an educational consulting company that provides academic enrichment and college counseling services for Chinese high school students and their families as they navigate education systems in the United States, Canada, and the UK.  EJ is a Questbridge scholar and a graduate of Amherst College, where he majored in Asian Languages and Civilizations with a concentration in Chinese language and contemporary history. 

Hannah Seaman is a Video and Motion Graphics Editor based in Tucson, Arizona. She holds a degree in Interdisciplinary Arts from Hampshire College, where she was immersed in a community of freethinking individuals from diverse backgrounds.

In her career, Hannah has specialized in nonprofit marketing and storytelling, working to inspire support for causes benefiting people, pets, and the planet. She enjoys collaborating with changemakers across the country to bring their projects to life, connect with audiences on an emotional level, and work toward a better future.

Juan Rengifo is an AVP and Branch Manager for Citizens Bank (formerly Investors Bank of New Jersey). He is a graduate of Rutgers University, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business Management. Juan’s previous work experience includes managerial roles at PSEG, Jersey Central Power & Light, Merrill Lynch, Popular Community Bank, PNC Bank and Acme Markets.

No matter where he has worked, he has always enjoyed customer service. He works best when he knows that he is assisting others in achieving or accomplishing something that will make a difference in their life. His own personal experience of being a first-generation student is what makes his work with More Than Bootstraps most meaningful for him.

Margarita Fuentes is a Spanish Teacher at the Buxton School. A first-generation and low-income college graduate from Passaic, New Jersey, she majored in American Studies and minored in Caribbean Studies at Wesleyan University with a concentration in Race and Ethnic Studies. She has a passion for community building, having been a Resident Advisor for the Social Justice house on campus.

Margarita’s Passaic background and immigrant parents have influenced much of the work she has taken part in, including an immigrant grassroots organization in Connecticut. Margarita plans to use her skills to provide support and community to students and families in More Than Bootstraps.

Dr. Jayashree (Jay) Shivamoggi, the founder and former director of the Office of External and Competitive Scholarships at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, has helped hundreds of students pursue a wide variety of competitive fellowships and scholarships.  She served on the Executive Board of the National Association of Fellowship Advisors for four years.  Dr. Jay is currently an independent consultant who works with high school students, undergraduates, and students applying to medical school, law school, and graduate school.

Cindy Goldman, a graduate of Case Western Reserve Law University School of Law, began her law career in New York City working for a large firm specializing in the defense of medical malpractice and products liability cases. She transitioned to commercial law and served as the head of litigation at Credit Agricola Indosuez. After September 11, she changed course in her career, returning to school to earn a school counseling degree. She then worked as a guidance counselor for 10 years at Rahway High School in New Jersey. Cindy introduced and ran several programs in Rahway to help first-generation and low-income students reach their goal of accessing higher education. Cindy retired in December 2021 but continues to mentor students.

Claudia Severino is currently an English Literature teacher in Passaic County Technical Institute. In her 10 years of experience working in urban school districts, she has focused on ensuring her students are aware of their full potential and prepared to exceed in higher education and beyond. As the first of her family to attend and graduate college, Ms. Severino has a unique perspective of the specific challenges incoming college students face in higher education. As a former Fulbright English Teaching University Assistant in Colombia (2015-2016), she also designed creative methods to propel students towards success in a college setting. She believes that all students should have the privilege of attending and succeeding in a university setting if they so choose to attend.

Madz O’Brien is a Post-Production Coordinator for Irving Harvey and Freelance Producer in South New Jersey. A recipient of the National Hispanic Recognition Award, she graduated from the University of Arizona in 2019 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Film and Television and two minors in Psychology and Theatre Arts. She began volunteering as a video editor in 2021, collaborating with organizations around the world to create meaningful content to aid with education and fundraising.

Raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Madz spent her summers mentoring middle school students for Full STEAM Ahead at the Colorado Springs School, providing experiential learning opportunities. She also worked at Columbia University’s High School Summer Immersion Program in New York City where she served as a Resident Assistant and Teaching Assistant for Digital Filmmaking.

Juliana Londoño is a bilingual licensed mental health therapist. She works with children as young as five, all the way through the lifespan. Her niche population is the young adult, college student population. Juliana completed her clinical internships at Rowan College at Burlington County and Mercer County Community College, supporting students through navigating the stressors of academia as well as their many identities. 

Born in Medellin, Colombia, Juliana moved to the United States at the age of three and grew up in Paterson, NJ. Raised by a single mother, she understands firsthand the complexities of navigating higher education as a first-generation college student.

Dr. Irma Maini is a Professor of English at NJCU, where she served as Co-Chair of the English Department. A Fulbright scholar herself, she is the Fulbright Program Advisor at NJCU and has helped many students, including first-generation college students, to secure the prestigious Fulbright Award giving them the opportunity to learn and teach in countries in South America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. For the past ten years she has been a core member and Vice President of Education of Sanskriti of New Jersey, a not for profit organization that serves to celebrate and promote the diversity of Asian Indian culture and heritage through educational and cultural ventures. 

Michael Sowell is an Elementary/Middle school teacher with the Newark Public Schools district. Having noticed while in high school and college the strong educational inequalities faced by students from underprivileged backgrounds, he has long been interested in narrowing the achievement gap. A former Fulbright to Bulgaria (’18), he has witnessed the positive impacts of education and has thus become inspired to empower youth through creativity, exploration, and education. As a former college tutor, One to World intern, and Pre-College program English teacher, Michael has gained enormous insight and experience in education, and continues to be passionate about increasing diversity in higher education.

Shannon Yau is an art director at a healthcare advertising agency based in New York City. Her experience lies in concepting integrated campaigns, designing for print and digital, creating brand identity systems, and on the side, she also dabbles in illustration and motion graphics. She strives to use her creative and strategic thinking to create work that will have a positive impact.