Dylan Corbett, the founding executive director of HOPE, has nearly fifteen years of experience working on issues of international and human development globally, in Washington, DC and in the borderlands. He also coordinates the work of the Vatican's Migrants & Refugees Section in Mexico, Central America and French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Dylan formerly worked as a staffer to the bishops of the United States at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development as well as with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the national anti-poverty and social justice program of the USCCB. He has studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy and lives in El Paso with his wife and two children. 

Vanessa Sanchez brings a decade of experience of foreign service to HOPE, with significant expertise and experience in the areas of human rights, international cooperation, humanitarian protection and child migration. A native of El Salvador with a background in law, Vanessa has served in key diplomatic posts in both Mexico and the United States and is a notary recognized by the Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador. In her roles as Consul and Head of Mission, she helped negotiate critical agreements on immigration between the governments of Mexico and El Salvador. In El Paso, she stood up El Salvador’s first consular mission at the US-Mexico border. Vanessa is married with children and calls the borderlands her home.

Nicholas Natividad is a policy specialist with twelve years of experience teaching and researching in the areas of border conflict and violence, immigration and international human rights. He is an Associate Professor at New Mexico State University in the Department of Criminal Justice and Affiliate Faculty in the Department of Borderlands and Ethnic Studies as well as former Visiting Research Fellow at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Dr. Natividad is native to the border region and holds degrees from St. Thomas Aquinas College, State University of New York, Arizona State University and the University of Oxford.

Omar Ríos is native to the border region. He studied architecture at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez and has earned international distinction for his research on socio-environmental and on emerging and high-impact housing. In 2014, he founded the CHOPEkE CALLI A.C., a group of faith-based development organizations in solidarity with those on the margins in Ciudad Juárez focused on building sustainable housing with and for those without homes. Omar previously worked as a migrant shelter coordinator with the United Nations International Organization on Migration (IOM) in Ciudad Juárez.

Lucy del Valle is an accountant by training with a degree in Certified Public Accounting from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala. She has worked in government, the nonprofit sector and with international organizations, including the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and she holds a certificate in NGO administration from the FOCSIV Institute in Rome, Italy. Lucy is a mother of two young children and an active community volunteer in the borderlands.

Patrick Giuliani holds a law degree from the University of Notre Dame and graduated from Saint Louis University with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Philosophy, and International Studies. Patrick is originally from the Rio Grande Valley and has grown up in Canada, Mexico, and the US. He has extensive experience providing legal and social services to immigrant families, including representing asylum seekers and detained migrants.

Mayte Elizalde was born in El Paso, Texas and is the daughter of immigrant parents. She studied Political Science with a concentration in International Politics and a minor in Business at the University of Texas at El Paso. Mayte is currently working on a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in nonprofit administration and governance. Throughout her life, Mayte has been involved in social groups that focus on providing assistance to low-income communities and families in Ciudad Juárez.