Ricardo (he/him) joined GLAD as Executive Director in the summer of 2024 after serving on the front lines of state and national LGBTQ+ advocacy in Texas and Arizona. A first-generation immigrant from Mexico who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, Ricardo has amassed twenty years of nonprofit fundraising, advocacy, and leadership experience.

His experience includes roles at PENCIL, Summer Search, GLSEN, Stand for Children, and most recently, as CEO of Equality Texas. During his tenure as chair of the Phoenix, Arizona chapter of GLSEN, the organization became an instrumental coalition partner in overturning Arizona’s “no promo homo” law, which prohibited K-12 schools from including LGBTQ+ representation in their curriculum. In his time at Equality Texas, Ricardo ensured the organization was able to maximize its impact at a time of intense and sustained anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and under his leadership, increased staff capacity and supporter base.

Ricardo has an undergraduate degree from Stony Brook University and a master’s degree in nonprofit management from The New School in New York City. He was honored by the Obama Administration as an emerging LGBTQ Leader in 2012 and awarded the Stony Brook University’s 40 Under 40 award for his impact in Civil Service and Activism.