Digital Program - Bridging Nations

Adria Márquez Trejo
President & CEO, American Mexican Leadership Council

Adria Márquez Trejo is President and CEO of the American Mexican Leadership Council. Raised on the El Paso–Ciudad Juárez border, she brings nearly 20 years of cross-sector leadership experience across government, entertainment, and civic engagement. Having held roles at the U.S. Department of Education and the Motion Picture Association, and as the founder of Latidos Media, she champions the belief that culture and storytelling are central to leadership. A proud fronteriza, Adria leads AMLC's work to elevate the diverse, joyful stories of Mexican Americans, foster cross-sector collaboration, and build lasting human bridges between the United States and Mexico.

Trey Johnston
Acting Executive Director, Cisneros Institute

A product of movements between South America and the American South, Trey brings a wealth of academic and personal experience to his role leading the programmatic and research portfolios of the Cisneros Institute in his role as acting Executive Director. Trey additionally serves as the Director of the Im/migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative, which is dedicated to translating and uplifting empirical research on the well-being of immigrants for public and policy impact. Trey's research evaluates and complicates the role of citizenship and identity in public administration and social services implementation through mixed methods approaches. 

In addition to his research, Johnston works closely with nonprofit organizations throughout Washington, DC to design culturally competent leadership and executive training programs that prepare participants for work in both the private/nonprofit sectors and on and with Capitol Hill. Johnston completed his doctoral training in Public Policy and Public Administration and is the recipient of several fellowships, including a Fulbright.

Dr. Arturo Sotomayor (Moderator)
Affiliate Faculty, Cisneros Institute

Diego Marroquin Bitar
Fellow, Americas Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Diego Marroquín Bitar is a fellow with the Americas Program, where he supports the work of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) Strategic Initiative among other topics. Diego is supported by the Bersin-Foster Foundation. He was previously the Inaugural Bersin-Foster North America Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and has cofounded the North America Project at the U.S.-Mexico Foundation, and the nonprofit North America 3.0. Diego authors a Substack titled "North America Compass." His research centers on U.S.–Mexico relations, Mexico–Canada relations, the USMCA, nearshoring, energy integration, labor mobility, and trade and development issues. His work has appeared in peer-reviewed and policy-oriented publications such as the Yale Journal of International Affairs and the Brooklyn Journal of International Law. He teaches trade policy and politics at the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute and has been featured in Americas Quarterly, Globe and Mail, Bloomberg, El Universal, El País, Foreign Affairs, NPR, Politico, Reforma, The Hill, the New York Times, The Economist, the Washington Post, Reuters, Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, and the Financial Times. He holds a BA in international relations from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and an MPP from Georgetown University. He is fluent in Spanish, English, and French, and conversational in Portuguese.

Minister Marta Turok
Executive Director, Mexican Cultural Institute

Marta Turok is a renowned Mexican anthropologist, curator, and leading scholar of folk art and textiles whose career has been dedicated to supporting and preserving the cultural heritage of Indigenous artisan communities across Mexico. Through decades of work with cooperatives and cultural institutions, she has collaborated closely with Indigenous textile makers, particularly in Chiapas, where she studied Tzotzil-Maya language, textile techniques, and symbolism while helping establish some of the first artisan cooperatives in the region.

Throughout her career in public service, cultural policy, and nonprofit leadership, Turok has championed the recognition of artisans as cultural knowledge bearers and advocates for fair economic opportunities, ecological sustainability, and the transmission of traditional textile practices to new generations. Her work has played a vital role in revitalizing endangered textile traditions and promoting the artistry of Indigenous communities nationally and internationally.

Dr. Antonio Ortiz Mena
Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University and President & CEO, AOM Strategies

Dr. Ortiz-Mena is President and CEO of AOM Advisors, where he advises companies in highly regulated sectors on geopolitics, international trade, and foreign investment. He previously served as Partner at Dentons Global Advisors and Senior Vice President at the Albright Stonebridge Group, advising Fortune 500 companies on geopolitical and economic risk and trade and investment negotiations. In public service, he served as Minister for Economic Affairs at the Embassy of Mexico in the United States (2007-2015) and was a member of Mexico's original NAFTA negotiating team. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), at Georgetown University. 

He has published extensively in academic journals and contributed book chapters to volumes published by Cambridge University Press, Stanford University Press, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Brookings Institution Press, Palgrave Macmillan, and Springer/International Law Institute. His research covers NAFTA and USMCA negotiations and performance, dispute settlement over trade and investment, trade and national security, the multilateral trading system, Mexico's regional and multilateral trade policy, domestic determinants of trade strategies, and Western Hemisphere trade relations.

Dr. Ortiz-Mena is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, a member of The Trilateral Commission, and chairs the USMCA Committee of Mexico's Foreign Trade Council (COMCE). He holds a PhD in International Political Economy from the University of California, San Diego, where he was a Fulbright Scholar, and an MA from University College London.

Cindy Nava (Moderator)
New Mexico State Senate Majority Whip and AMLC Senior Advisor

Cindy Nava is a nationally recognized policy leader and executive whose career bridges federal governance, nonprofit leadership, and electoral power-building. Her executive leadership spans national and statewide institutions. As Chief Administrative Officer of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute in Chicago, Illinois where she built and managed national partnerships with Fortune 500 corporations, federal agencies, and grassroots organizations to expand youth leadership pipelines and civic engagement infrastructure across the country. 

In New Mexico, she served as Executive Director of various New Mexico education and leadership development focused nonprofits leading statewide coalitions and advancing education policy reform. In 2024, Nava made history as the first former DACA recipient elected to a State Senate seat in U.S. history. She currently represents Senate District 9 and serves as the youngest woman of color in the New Mexico State Senate, holding committee assignments in health, education, housing finance and courts, corrections and  justice committees. 

A proud “Mexican–New Mexican,” she was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and raised in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Growing up undocumented, she became a first-generation college graduate — an experience that forged her commitment to dismantling systemic barriers and expanding access to opportunity. Her impact earned national recognition, including being named one of the Huffington Post’s “Top 40 Under 40 Latinos in U.S. Politics.” 

Mary Ann Gomez Orta
President & CEO, Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute

Mary Ann Gómez Orta serves as President and CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI). Guided by her conviction that “diverse points of view create exponentially better results for all,” she has positioned CHLI as a premier convener for elected and appointed officials, international leaders, corporate executives, and emerging voices committed to the rule of law and diplomacy.

Gómez Orta brings more than two decades of expertise spanning corporate strategy, public affairs, marketing, and community engagement. A graduate of the prestigious Presidential Leadership Scholars Program (2025), Gómez Orta has been recognized with the Raíces Award by the Hispanic Lobbyist Association for her commitment to advocacy and mentorship. She serves on the board of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility and advisory councils for Global Americans and the American Latino Veterans Association and serves as a national advisor to Hispanas Organized for Political Equality. She recently completed the National Review Institute’s Burke to Buckley Program and was accepted to the Council on Foreign Relations 

She earned her B.A. in Communications from the University of the Pacific and her M.B.A. from St. Mary’s College of California and has been honored with distinguished alumni awards from both institutions. The proud daughter of parents from Michoacán, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas, she was raised in California’s Central Valley by parents who worked the fields while ensuring all five of their children earned college degrees. 

Santiago Salas Oliva
Manager of Government and International Affairs, United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Enrique Perret
Managing Director, US-Mexico Foundation

Enrique is a prominent leader with a long history of commitment to the bilateral relationship between the United States and Mexico. He currently serves as the Managing Director of the US-Mexico Foundation and is the President and Founder of the North Capital Forum, an initiative of the USMF that seeks to promote North America as an economic, social, and political powerhouse.

Before assuming these roles, Enrique held the position of Director for North America at ProMéxico, the Mexican government's promotion agency, where he worked for over ten years in various capacities. Other previous responsibilities in the Mexican government include being the Technical Secretary for Competitiveness, and Chief of Staff to the President of the CNBV (Banking and Securities Commission).

Enrique has been an active advocate for civil society efforts and has held leadership roles in several institutions, including serving on the board of directors of Teach for Mexico (Mexican chapter of Teach for All) and the board of trustees of Reinserta. He is also a member of the boards of Fundemex, Nepanoa, Pacto and COMEXUS, and is the President and Founder of Grupo Mexico en Movimiento. Additionally, Enrique serves as Vice President of the patronato "Amigos del Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes," supporting one of Mexico’s most iconic cultural institutions. He is also a former Fellow at the Milken Institute for two years, contributing to initiatives focused on economic development and regional competitiveness.