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Leadership Bios
Jonathan Dromgoole (He/Him/El)
Founder & President
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Mexican-made, Texas-raised, & DC-educated, Jonathan Dromgoole is a community leader focused on increasing representation for the Latinx & LGBTQ+ community in policy & public service. Jonathan is a double first-generation graduate of Georgetown University (SFS ’16 & MPP ’19) and alumni of the Sorensen Institute's Emerging Leaders Program at the University of Virginia (’20) where he was one of three Latinx and the only out queer individual.
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Jonathan’s professional & personal achievements have focused on social good & people-centered policies that enhance diverse representation. He is passionate about ensuring that governments and organizations reflect the diversity of those they serve. In his professional capacity, he has worked with and advised the White House, the Inter-American Development Bank, federal agencies, governors, ambassadors, executives, policymakers, elected officials, and community leaders.
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Jonathan has also served on the boards of several local and national partisan and non-partisan boards. He was elected President of the Democratic Latino Organization of Virginia (DLOV) in 2021 becoming the youngest and first Queer president of the statewide Latino Caucus of the Democratic Party of Virginia. Jonathan served as the first Director for LGBTQ+ Affairs on the statewide Virginia board of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and was a member of the National LULAC LGBTQ+ Affairs Committee. He is the founding Chair of the Arlington Democrats Equality Caucus and founding Vice-Chair of the Arlington Democrats Latino Caucus. He is also a founding member of Georgetown University’s LGBTQ+ alumni association.
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In July of 2021 Jonathan was appointed by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to a three-year term as an inaugural member of the Virginia LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee where 21 individuals from across the Commonwealth advise the Governor and Executive Branch agencies. In 2023 Jonathan gained first hand experience in campaigns as a candidate for the local County Board in Arlington, Virginia.
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An advocate for inclusive leadership, Jonathan is the author of “Out to Lead: Shaping Queer Leadership” focused on unique leadership abilities and advantages of the LGBTQ+ community and how, through resilience, they are the leaders we need today.
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He lives with his husband, Juan, & their two dogs in Arlington.
Carla Bustillos (She/Her/Hers)
Fundador
Carla Bustillos is a powerhouse advocate who has played key roles in campaigns at all levels not only across Virginia, but on the national stage. Her work has focused on uplifting the Latino community and lending her voice to the Venezuelan diaspora movement.
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Nationally she served as Executive Vice Chair of Venezolanos con Biden, a grassroots group focused on offering a space for dialogue and engagement between the Venezuelan Diaspora and the Biden-Harris campaign. She served on Todos con Biden Leadership Circle in 2020. She is a founding Director of Visión Democratica, a pro-democracy non-profit organization. She is a co-founder and advisory board member of the Venezuelan American Caucus.
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In Virginia, Carla has served in leadership advisory roles co-chair of Todos con Terry in 2021,, a DPVA State 2020 Convention Delegate for the 8th Congressional District, and Todos con Terry co-chair in 2021. In 2020 she was elected as Political Action Director for the Democratic Latino Organization of Virginia (Caucus). She served as Regional Co-Chair from Northern Virginia of DLOV in 2018 and 2020.
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Carla actively contributed to the election of historic firsts for Virginia such as Delegate Elizabeth Guzman and Hala Ayala, the first Latino council member in the City of Alexandria, Canek Aguirre, and in the City of Herndon, Cesar del Águila. She also contributed to the re-election of Latino community champions like Councilman Fernando “Marty” Martinez, Delegate Alfonso Lopez, and Senator Tim Kaine.
Prior to this work, Carla held roles at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Government of the District of Columbia, and has supported the U.S. Federal Government in consulting roles for the NAVY and the Department of Health and Human Services.
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A mother of three, sister of four, and spouse of an Air Force veteran she is a tireless advocate por la democracia.
Canek Aguirre
Fundador
Canek Aguirre was first elected to the Alexandria City Council in November 2018 and re-elected to a second term in 2021. He is the first Latino to ever serve on the Alexandria City Council. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Canek is a community advocate and progressive leader focused on improving the lives of all Alexandrians. As the son of Mexican immigrants, Canek knows first-hand the importance of hard work, education, and ensuring everyone has a fair shot at the American Dream.
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During his time in public office, Canek has focused on increasing housing opportunities, investing in our public schools and transportation infrastructure, eliminating health inequities, and making government more accessible and accountable. Canek successfully led the City’s 2020 Census Complete Count Committee to achieve a 100% count of all Alexandria households - the only locality in the region to do so - and secured millions of dollars in federal funding for the next decade.
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Canek serves as the Chair of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) and is an alternate on both the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Board of Directors and the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) Board of Directors. He also serves as the Chair of the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) Access for All Advisory Committee, on the Leadership Council for the Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy (ACAP), a member of the Alexandria Library Board, and the Alexandria Commission on Aging. In 2016, Canek was appointed to the Virginia Board of Social Work and re-appointed for a second term in 2021.
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A member of numerous boards and commissions in the region prior to his election, Canek has made it a priority to give back to his adopted community. He is a past Chair of the City of Alexandria’s Economic Opportunities Commission, past President of the Tenants and Workers United (TWU) Board of Directors, and past Vice Chair of the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia (HSANV) Board of Directors.
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Canek has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential people for the Hispanic community in the Washington, D.C., metro area by El Tiempo Latino and as one of Alexandria’s 40 under 40 honorees.
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Canek lives in the West End and is an active member of the Alexandria Democratic Committee. He is a proud graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jocelyn Garay (She/Her)
Fundadora
Jocelyn is a Principal on Dewey Square’s Latinovations Team.
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Prior to joining DSG Jocelyn worked for Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, Congressman Don Beyer, and Senator Mark Warner. Most recently she served as Coalitions Director for Senator Warner’s successful re-election campaign where she helped manage Senator Warner’s political relationships with grassroots organizations and affinity groups throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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Jocelyn received her Bachelor of Arts from Marymount University with a degree in Communications, concentrating in Public Relations and Speech Communications.
Estuardo Rodriguez (He/Him)
Fundador
Estuardo Rodríguez is a principal and co-founder at The Raben Group focused on Government Affairs and Communications. A lawyer by training, he specializes in direct lobbying in the financial services and telecommunications sectors advising leading companies across the industries. Having cultivated a powerful network of media relationships, Estuardo is also Raben’s counsel on Media and Communications.
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Throughout his diverse political career, Estuardo’s commitment to outreach in the Hispanic community has been a constant. Through his work at the DNC, he built a cross-platform, Spanish-language media network that was leveraged in support of presidential campaigns. He was an attorney at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development under Secretaries Henry Cisneros and Andrew Cuomo, and worked on behalf of the U.S. Department of State as an independent political analyst in Latin America and Europe through three presidential election cycles.
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Estuardo draws on this expertise, along with a reputation as a tough and charismatic professional, to advise Fortune 100 clients on their engagement with Congress, the White House, civil rights, and policymakers, identifying partnership opportunities and ways to mutually support innovative policies and programs for the industry, while at the same time providing low-income and diverse communities with high level and affordable products and services they need.
Among his corporate clients at Raben, Estuardo advises Charter Communications, Sony Music Group, T-Mobile, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Verizon, as well as nonprofit organizations such as the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. Estuardo has also increasingly grown the firm’s service around asset management and impact investing, working with the Ford Foundation’s division of Mission Investments and standing up a coalition of stakeholder firms to propose greater protections for Main Street investors in closed-end funds.
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Estuardo has been featured as a political analyst and commentator on MSNBC, CNN, CNN en Español, Hill TV, NTN 24, Univisión, and Telemundo. Estuardo also employs his influence and leadership on a number of nonprofit and industry boards. He currently serves as the president and CEO of the Friends of the American Latino Museum, a campaign to create a Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino on our National Mall. Through his leadership, the campaign finally secured congressional approval in December of 2020 to build the long-overdue museum which will house 500 years of American Latino history. The campaign now shifts to ensure that the best location on our National Mall is secured.
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A co-founder of the Hispanic Lobbyists Association, Estuardo is also an advisory board member of Support Latino Biz and the American Latino Veterans Association.
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Born and raised in Washington, Estuardo has always been drawn to the District’s unique position at the nexus of national and international politics. He considers himself fortunate to have established and led a space where he can successfully advocate on behalf of political and community actors advancing key policy priorities that lift up communities of color through wealth creation and equitable opportunity.
Alex Cintron (He/Him)
Fundador
Alex is a lifelong Virginian and dedicated advocate for increasing Latino leadership in the Commonwealth. He has experience working across state government, leading engagement for statewide campaigns, and supporting grassroots community advocacy. He currently serves as a Chief of Staff in the Virginia General Assembly.
Alex was Chief of Staff to Delegate Elizabeth Guzman and supported Delegate Alfonso Lopez’s legislative agenda during the 2022 session. During his tenure in the General Assembly, he has helped establish Virginia’s Latino legislative caucus. Alex began his career as a Governor’s Fellow for Governor Ralph Northam before transitioning to the Office of Attorney General under Attorney General Mark Herring. Alex supported Attorney General Herring's successful 2021 primary campaign and led the Latino outreach program for Governor Terry McAuliffe’s 2021 gubernatorial campaign, where he built relationships with leaders across Virginia.
Alex was elected Vice President of the Democratic Latino Organization of Virginia (DLOV) in 2021 and has served as a board member of both the Virginia and Richmond chapters of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). Alex served on the steering committee for the Richmond City Democratic Committee (RCDC) after spearheading the effort to establish a Latino caucus to improve representation for Latino residents of Richmond. Alex became President of DLOV in 2024.
Alex received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia in History and Government. He is also a graduate of the Sorensen Institute. Alex was elected to serve as the University’s first Latino student body president, where his efforts to establish a community food bank, secure funding for hygiene products in public facilities, and create a public safety community advisory board earned him the Virginia Latino Advisory Board’s inaugural Emerging Leader award.
He lives in Richmond with his partner, where he enjoys captaining a kickball team, reading science fiction, and watching movies.
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