David Quinto-Pozos, Ph.D. RID CI/CT, Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Texas, Austin. David’s research focuses on signed languages, and he works on various topics (register variation, language contact, the interaction of language and gesture, developmental signed language disorders, and trilingual VRS interpretation). He has directed the ASL programs at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and currently co-directs the program at UT-Austin. In addition to his research work, David teaches courses at UT on bilingual first language acquisition and signed language linguistics. David is a certified interpreter and he served on the Panel of Experts for the Texas Trilingual Initiative Test Development.

Martin Vásquez, A.A.S.; NIC, BEI: Advanced, Trilingual-Advanced; Instructor South Texas College (STC) ITP, McAllen, TX.
Martin currently works as an ASL/Interpreter Training Instructor; Interprets in the Community, Educational, Trilingual, and Video Relay settings. Vásquez’s initial training was in Spanish interpretation & translation and Romance Languages (Latin, Spanish, Italian, & French). He graduated from Austin Community College’s IPP in May 2010, but has been BEI certified since July 2001. Martin is originally from the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, and has traveled extensively, living all over the US. Vasquez has also live in Europe, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia. This spring, Martin is teaching Trilingual Interpreting and Latino Interpreting Issues at STC.

Mathew was raised principally in Colorado and New Mexico amidst rich cultural surroundings of Ute, Navajo, Chicano/Latino, and Anglo cultures. He has mixed roots from Mexico to Ireland. Most his family continues to reside in the Southwest. He and his siblings had lots of exposure to Spanish growing up but Mathew was not completely fluent until serving a two-year LDS mission in Guatemala (1998-2000). Mathew and his wife Marleny have been married since 2002. Marleny, a Native American originally from Guerrero, Mexico, is a passionate cultural consultant. They have one daughter born on Mathew’s birthday in 2009.
 
Mathew’s youngest sister was born deaf. She was raised in a hearing but caring world in which the entire family and many Church members learned Signing Exact English to communicate with her. While Mathew was on his mission, his sister moved to Utah and discovered a large Deaf community. She learned ASL and found a Deaf identity, thus ushering in a new era for the entire family. Their older brother was the first in the family to become fluent and go on to become a certified interpreter and business owner. After returning from Guatemala, Mathew studied Spanish and ASL but graduated with a B.S. in Sociology from Brigham Young University in 2003. He and his wife then moved to Sacramento, California. While working as a full-time Spanish-English medical interpreter, he went back to school for an A.A. degree in sign language interpreting from American River College. He graduated in 2008, received his EIPA 4.8 that same year, and his NIC in 2009. He awaits his CMI results (certified medical interpreter, Spanish-English).
 
Mathew has worked in many venues as a trilingual interpreter and translator. His passion lies in working with Hispanic/Latino families with deaf/hard of hearing children. He is the author of several articles including a chapter about trilingualism of Hispanic/Latino deaf children in Kathee Christensen’s 2010 book Ethical Considerations in Educating Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearingpublished by Gallaudet University Press.
 
Besides trance music, he loves spending time with his wife and daughter Quetzaly.

Nydia Hernández was born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York, where she graduated
from the LaGuardia Interpreter Training Program. Nydia has worked as an American
Sign Language, Spanish, and English trilingual interpreter for the past 20 years. She
holds CI and CT certifications as well as a Master’s Level-Berlitz Test of Proficiency. In
addition to serving as Treasurer for Mano-a-Mano, Nydia is currently involved with the
NCIEC National Task Force on Trilingual Interpreting.

Anthony has a Deaf brother and has interpreted professionally for over 15 years. As a freelance trilingual interpreter fluent in American Sign Language, English and Spanish, he has worked at numerous high profile conferences around the world. Tony’s experience includes working with Gallaudet University, Visual Language Interpreting, and Sign Language Associates. However, he has mostly worked as an independent contractor. Tony makes his home in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore metropolitan areas.

Carmelo was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico and learned signed language at the young age of 11 by being a volunteer to assist a marginalized group in his community. At the age of 14 he had his was involved in his first work as an interpreter at the same vocational school where he studied electronics. At that time he interpreted language courses (Spanish and English) and typing, among others. He has taken courses that form part of the Bachelor’s level degree plan of Special Education at the University of Puerto Rico. For more than 13 years he has worked as an interpreter in Puerto Rico in various settings: legal, medical, educational, artistic/performance, and television. Currently, he resides in Florida and he continues to work as a signed language interpreter in the trilingual community.

Emma Shiver, NIC, M.A., Trilingual Interpreter and Certified Integral Life Coach. Born to British parents in upstate New York, Emma’s passion for the Latin American language and culture began during her childhood while living in Peru. Emma has served as an ASL-Spanish volunteer interpreter in Mexico and currently provides trilingual interpreting and integral life coaching services to a variety of individuals. She has also designed and presented workshops for ASL Interpreters at Region III state conferences at which participants gained increased awareness of the interpersonal and intrapersonal aspects of life that enables them to achieve further growth and development. Additionally, Emma has worked as an Interpreter Coordinator for interpreter referral agencies, in various positions pertinent to the hiring and training of employees, and has served as Adjunct Faculty for the New Ventures West Integral Coaching program. Prior to completing a two-year program in Sign Language Interpreting from Harper College in 2007, Emma earned her M.A. in Industrial / Organizational Psychology from George Mason University in 2001.

Mónica Gallego holds her BEI basic and has been interpreting professionally for 8 years in community and video relay settings. She was born and raised in New York by her amazing Colombian family and moved to Austin, Texas in the summer of 2009.  She has her A.A. in Liberal Arts from Nassau Community College and she graduated from LaGuardia Community College’s ITP in June 2008. She passed her trilingual written test and is preparing for her performance. In addition to being Region IV Representative for Mano a Mano she also leads a trilingual group that meets monthly in Austin. She will be presenting during summer 2011 at the Texas State Interpreters for the Deaf Conference in Corpus Christi.  She is very excited for this opportunity to present and support her colleagues.

Caleb López, AA, BA, EIPA.
Caleb has been involved with the Deaf Community since 1995. His interest in Sign Language started because some deaf members of his community did not have interpreting services. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Finance in 1996 and an Associate’s degree in Deaf Studies and Interpreting from American River College in 2008. He has been a member of SaVRID, the RID local chapter, since 2004 and of RID since 2006. Caleb is working in the Sacramento area. He received EIPA Certification in 2009 and is currently working to achieve his NIC certification. Caleb has been member of Mano since 2007. Caleb co-chaired the 2009 and 2011 Mano a Mano National Conference in Philadelphia and in Atlanta.

Juliette Ruiz Regional rep for Canadian Tri-linguals
She is a Latino and is from Canada and is a CODA with Parents that sign LSQ
Her native language is French, and LSQ
She is also Latino and the rest of her family speaks Spanish.
She also interprets in ASL/English

Tanya Lee is native Deaf person since birth. Ms. Velázquez is proud to be 100% Puerto Rican. She is first generation born and raised in Long Island, New York. Tanya has resided in Puerto Rico for 10+ years. Her family is bilingual in Spanish and English. In 2007, she graduated with a bachelors degree in Business Administration from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. To date, she is working as call center manager for GraciasVRS in Puerto Rico and for ASL Services Latino, Inc in Puerto Rico. Tanya serves as a mentor to working video interpreters in VRS.

Tanya Lee also is a Representative on the board of Deaf Community in Puerto Rico RID, Inc.

Carmen M. García MA, MA, RCD.
Carmen is a graduate of New York University and SUNY at Buffalo is a trilingual interpreter and trilingual interpreter trainer. She was the founder of the Interpreter Training Program at Dutchess Community College with a Trilingual Component where she served as Chair and Assistant Professor. She is also the founder of the Sign Language Program at Vassar Community College where she served as Visiting Professor. She also has many years of experience as professor of Spanish and Spanish culture. She is presently assisting interpreters as a mentor and occasionally serves as a consultant to Vassar College. Ms. Garcia comes from a deaf member family and has been working with the Deaf and Latino communities since her early teens. Her experience as a court interpreter provided her the opportunity to work with Mexican immigrants, Correction and Immigration Officers and medical personnel providing cultural and sensitivity training workshops to promote understanding of the Latino community. She is presently working with the Deaf in Spain and is studying Catalan and both Spanish and Catalan Sign Language for her research in language interference among trilingual interpreters. She is a trainer in the yearly trilingual interpreter training project in Big Spring, Texas.

Angela Roth C.S.C.  N.I.C.
Nationally recognized as a Hispanic leader, entrepreneur, presenter, and educator
representing wide of rage multi-cultural concerns in her many roles with the sign language
interpreting community. Her  involvement as a  team leader for the Hispanic section
National Multi-cultural Interpreting Project as well as her experience with R.I.D. as
National Certification Chair and the N.A.D./R.I.D. Task Force.
President of Mano a Mano, among many other areas of expertise  She serves as a strong
experience to share Owner of ASL Services, and Gracias VRS. www.graciasVRS.com
www.aslservices.com Past President and co-founder of Mano a mano.

José E. Bertrán Ortega was born and raised in Puerto Rico.  During his early years he had a service calling which at first he channeled through his church where he became a leader.  At age 13 his life was impacted by a sign language interpreter who would summarize 5 minutes of the TV newscast for the Deaf.  Right then and there he swore to learn the language that had such a huge impact in his life and to know the people that used that language.  It wasn’t until many years later when he started his Bachelor’s degree in the area of psychology that he learned sign language and became an interpreter in his church for Sunday Mass.  This was the entry door to a new world that he had never contacted before; the Deaf Community.  Upon finishing his Bachelor’s of Art in Psychology and after experiencing and witnessing the needs of the Deaf Community, he decided to pursue his graduate studies in Psychology at Gallaudet’s University School Psychology Program at Washington DC.  During the three year program he obtained his Masters in Developmental Psychology and a Psychology Specialist Degree in School Psychology with Specialization in Deafness and Learning Disabilities.  Although José had opportunities to stay in the States as a trilingual psychologist, he decided to go back to Puerto Rico to support the Deaf community there.

Upon arriving to Puerto Rico he was offered a Staff psychologist position in a new Vocational Rehabilitation Center that would specialize in Deaf Clients.  There the person that interviewed him for the job was the same one that he had seen many years ago in TV and that would inspire his involvement with the Deaf Community.  As a Psychologist there, Mr. Bertrán had the opportunity to support his fellow co-workers at the Center providing presentations of the newest trends in the area of Deaf Rehab technology and practices.  A couple of years later he discovered what would be his true passion, working within the confines of a non-profit organization.  In 1993 he became the Sub- Director of Oídos, Inc. This was a non-profit organization that would teach sign language classes to the hearing community and that provided support to the needs of the Deaf Community.  He worked there for a couple of years until in 1995 he decided to establish a non-profit organization to provide interpretation services to the Deaf Community and advocate for their rights.  After 12 years, this organization is now in the process of creating more opportunities for the Deaf Community.  Three years ago this organization started a new project called the Quantell Interpretation of Channel 6 (local PBS Station) newscast which airs Monday thru Fridays.  Another project that the organization also runs is a weekly TV Program called ABC en Señas which also airs on Channel 6, Saturday’s at 4:30 p.m.

In 1995 Mr. Bertrán also started to work in another non-profit organization where he became the Clinical Director.  The organization served the Handicapped population providing evaluations to children from the Education Department, special education program in Puerto Rico. There he was in charge of a clinical staff. Some of the professionals that were under his supervision were psychologists, educators, audiologists, speech pathologists, pediatricians, social workers and neurologists.  During the 12 years that he worked at the Diagnostic Center for Children with Learning Disabilities, Mr. Bertran gave conferences in different areas of Puerto Rico about the modifications that teacher’s had to do within the classroom to accommodate children with different learning styles.

In 2001 Mr. José Bertrán became the Host of a TV Program called ABC In Signs at the local PBS Station Channel 6.  And last year became the Executive Producer of the Show.  This program provides information accessible to the Deaf community.

Mr. Bertran has been a guest speaker in Dominican Republic and in Mexico in themes related to the Deaf Student’s development, including topics such as self esteem and leadership.  He is currently working as a consultant to the Spanish marketing team of HOVRS en Español.

Gina Wilkinson, BA, KQAS, MICS, NIC.
Gina graduated from the Interpreter Training Program at Johnson County Community College in 1997 and has been interpreting ever since. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies and Spanish from the University of Kansas in 2001 and has been working as a medical interpreter in Spanish>

Kristie Casanova de Canales, B.S., CI/CT/NIC, BEI Trilingual Advanced.
Kristie currently lives near Columbus, OH. She has worked as an ASL/English interpreter since 2000 and as a trilingual interpreter since 2004. In addition to interpreting, Kristie is the founder and moderator of the Network of Trilingual Interpreters, a listserv founded in 2006 whose 250+ members focus on issues relating to working with the Deaf Latino community. She is also a presenter, providing interpreting-related workshops at the state, national and international level. Kristie also has a passion for research and has conducted and published research related to the unique challenges of Spanish/ASL/English interpreting work. Most recently, she has begun to expand her proverbial comfort zone in two new directions: pursuing legal interpreting certification and beginning to teach. In 2012 she began a student teaching position teaching Spanish to high school students as part of her graduate studies. She will complete her M.A. in Applied Linguistics (University of Massachusetts, Boston) in May of 2012 and hopes that what she has learned will not only help her as an individual but will help her better serve the Deaf Latino and trilingual interpreting communities.