Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim has a majority of Indigenous Board of Directors & 100% Indigenous Led Org!
Darlyn Davila-Carrera, President
Darlyn Davila-Carrera is committed to serving the most vulnerable with money management and asset protection and has years of experience in financial services, including working with Spanish speakers about consumer protections. Darlyn manages programs that provide monthly bill pay services and portfolios of Social Security Insurance payments of $2.4 million annually. She also provides personal financial counseling including credit review, budget analysis, action plan development, and on-going counseling for individuals seeking assistance with housing, credit, debt, and savings concerns. Darlyn is a valuable resource for community members and supports CMPI’s efforts to promote economic development and stability within the Maya community.
Eulalia Pedro, Vice-President
Eulalia Pedro is a member of the Q’anjob’al Maya Nation and the original Director of the Maya Parliament working to advance Maya customary law and governance. Eulalia leads CMPI’s civic engagement efforts to ensure that Maya community members’ interests are represented. Eulalia also led CMPI’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples Conferences in 2013 and 2014 which led to diplomatic relations between the Omaha Tribe and the Q’anjob’al, Popti and Akateko Nations.
Jean Hanson, Treasurer
Jean Hanson, is an Enrolled Agent, a nonconditioned CPA, and has worked for 15+ years in the nonprofit sector in the Omaha area. She has a BSBA – Accounting from Creighton University and an MBA from Univ of Nebraska – Omaha. Jean is currently the International Accounting and Tax Manager for Southern Carlson, Inc.
Dr. John Stone, Secretary
John R. Stone, MD, PhD is a physician and bioethicist who addresses health disparities and health equity with a focus on race/ethnicity and multicultural issues. He is a Professor Emeritus at Creighton University and Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director of the Center for Promoting Health and Health Equity. His work with Communidad Maya Pixan Ixim began in 2006 and has included teaching English as a second language, and being a health advisor, board member and principal investigator for our Health Needs Survey. He also serves as the Faculty Advisor for the Maya Community Health Collaborative, a collaboration between Creighton University medical students and Maya community members.
Lorenzo Pedro Lucas, Member at Large
Lorenzo Pedro Lucas belongs to the Q'anjob'al Maya Nation. Lorenzo serves on the Cultural Governance Branch of CMPI's Board of Directors. Lorenzo has a profound understanding of Indigenous Peoples self determination and conflict resolution.
Caya Simonsen
Caya Simonsen is an immigration attorney with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid and a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she was a clinical student in the Harvard Immigration and Refugee and Crimmigration Clinics representing clients in immigration cases. Caya represents mostly detained asylum-seeking families through an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellowship at Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid. Caya has interned with Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. working on strategic immigration litigation, and Al Otro Lado in Tijuana, assisting asylum seekers returned to Mexico under the Remain in Mexico program. Previously, Caya was the Volunteer Coordinator of the Dilley Pro Bono Project, coordinating volunteers to provide legal services to detained families and a human rights accompanier with Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala, accompanying human rights defenders in Q’anjob’al territory. She has also worked at Annunciation House, a house of hospitality for recently arrived immigrants in El Paso.
Cristina Fernandez
Cristina Fernandez, MD serves as a Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Education Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kansas School of Medicine for Weight Management at Children's Mercy Broadway - Weight Management Clinic, . Dr. Fernandez completed their Residency at University of NE Medical Center. Following their education, Dr. Fernandez was board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics. Specialties are Pediatrics, Childhood Obesity, Equity and Diversity, Quality improvement, Health Equity, Obesity.
Maria Gaspar
Maria Gaspar is a member of the Akateko Maya Nation.. She has a profound understanding of Indigenous People’s inherent and inalienable rights to self-determination and self-governance. As President, Maria leads and manages relationships with Maya governments and has led efforts to develop our regenerative agriculture program. She is also a mother of four adult children.
Eladio Mateo Toledo (B’alam)
Eladio Mateo Toledo (B’alam) is a professor-researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS) in México. He received his PhD in linguistics at the Universidad de Texas at Austin in 2008. His interests and academic work focuses on descriptive and documentary linguistics, collaborative work with communities, and training of native speakers of indigenous languages in linguistics. His research focuses on morphosyntactic complexity like complex predicates, finiteness and split ergativity, complement clauses, purpose constructions, relative clauses, compounds, and adjectives.He works on Mayan languages, in particular, q’anjob’al (his native language) and Awakateko, which he has been documenting in collaboration with native speakers. Since 2006 he has been developing community projects that integrate documentation, research, language revitalization for and by Q’anjob’al and Awakateko speakers using local and community resources.
Catarina Diego Francisco
Catarina Diego Francisco, is a Q'anjob'al Maya Nation member. She works in the College of Allied Health Professions at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, primarily in the admissions office helping prospective students through the admissions process. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2017. She recently completed her master's degree in counseling at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, with a concentration in Student Affairs and Higher Education.
Prior to joining UNMC, she worked for four years as an admissions representative for the University of Nebraska Omaha and with College Possible Omaha, an AmeriCorps role that helps economically disadvantaged students get to and through college. Catarina was born in Guatemala but moved with her family to Omaha, NE when she was seven years old, where she was raised and has always treasured her Mayan roots. In her spare time, she enjoys learning new things, traveling, and spending time with her family. She and her partner keep busy with their daughter.
Prior to joining UNMC, she worked for four years as an admissions representative for the University of Nebraska Omaha and with College Possible Omaha, an AmeriCorps role that helps economically disadvantaged students get to and through college. Catarina was born in Guatemala but moved with her family to Omaha, NE when she was seven years old, where she was raised and has always treasured her Mayan roots. In her spare time, she enjoys learning new things, traveling, and spending time with her family. She and her partner keep busy with their daughter.
Ilse Ramirez Palin
Ilse Ramirez Palin belongs to the Q'anjob'al Maya Nation. She has participated in Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim since 2009. Ilse was instrumental in starting CMPI's Maya Human Rights Program, CMPI's Maya Arts and Culture Program as well as the formation of the Association of Maya Students. Additionally, Ilse was instrumental in establishing the yearly International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples Conference in 2013 known today as the Indigenous Peoples Summit.
Ilse has been serving the Maya as a community health worker and Interpreter in various settings since 2014. Furthermore, she loves initiatives related to conserving our natural resources in Maya Territory and Nebraska. Ilse's background, is in line with CMPI's vision and mission for the health and wellbeing of the Maya Nation.
Ilse has been serving the Maya as a community health worker and Interpreter in various settings since 2014. Furthermore, she loves initiatives related to conserving our natural resources in Maya Territory and Nebraska. Ilse's background, is in line with CMPI's vision and mission for the health and wellbeing of the Maya Nation.
Maria Antonio Gaspar
Maria Antonio Gaspar is Member of the Q'anjob'al Maya Nation. Maria is practitioner of Maya Medicine highly respected in the Maya Community in Nebraska. At the age of two, Maria and her entire community were displaced from their homeland and lived as refugees in Mexico for over 13 years. Maria's wisdom as a Maya Healer is crucial to cultural survival of the Q'anjob'al Maya Nation in the United States.
Maria is a mother of 8 children: passionate about serving the Maya community. Maria makes sure she has time for her most favorite hobby which is weaving.
Maria is a mother of 8 children: passionate about serving the Maya community. Maria makes sure she has time for her most favorite hobby which is weaving.
