Silvio Torres-Saillant is a Professor of English at Syracuse University and one of the foremost intellectuals and scholars of the Dominican diaspora, Caribbean histories and literatures, and race in Latin-American and diasporic Latino communities. His writing includes An Intellectual History of the Caribbean, The Dominican-Americans, Introduction to Dominican Blackness, Caribbean Poetics, El Tigueraje Intelectual, and Diasporic Disquisitions: Dominicanists, Transnationalism, and the Community, among many articles, chapters, and edited volumes. Prior to joining the faculty at Syracuse, he founded the prestigious CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at the City College of New York, where he taught from 1997 to 2000.

Cynthia is an internal medicine resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital with a focus on primary care. She has worked closely with Yspaniola ever since co-leading the first trip from Yale to Batey Libertad in 2005. Her undergraduate thesis in 2007 explored the complexities of migration between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. She spent a year working with Batey Relief Alliance in Santo Domingo prior to co-founding Yspaniola as a non-profit organization in 2009. As Chairwoman of the Board, she assists with long-term strategy and planning. Contact Cynthia at her email, cynthia@yspaniola.org.

Jon received a Parker Huang Fellowship to study development and structure Yspaniola in the Dominican Republic after graduating from Yale in 2009. With Stephen Wirth, he designed and implemented of Yspaniola’s University Scholarship Program in late 2010. As Executive Director from 2011 until 2015, Jon directed the growth of the University Scholarship Program and the Service-Learning Trips Program, and oversaw the creation of the Learning Center and Summer Camp. As President of the Board and Director of Strategy, he coordinates board involvement, development, and strategy for Yspaniola.

Cory is a sixth grade math teacher at Bushwick Ascend Middle School, a charter school in Brooklyn. Cory has domestic and international experience in teaching and education program management, teaching in New York City public schools for two years through Teach for America, serving as the Director of Community Education Programs at Yspaniola, and managing an elementary after school program in New York City. She holds a Master in Special Education from Hunter College and a Master in International Affairs from Columbia University.

Stephanie is a middle school English Language Arts teacher for children with language-based learning disabilities at an independent school located in Westchester County, NY. Upon her graduation from Connecticut College in 2009, Stephanie gave a year of service for the AmeriCorps program City Year New York. She was stationed in the South Bronx, serving as a corps member and peer mentor to a diverse range of students (including English Language Learners) in a middle school. She then worked in public relations and corporate communications for publishing companies and non-profit organizations before getting her Master’s in Secondary English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 2011. Stephanie is originally from Woodbridge, Connecticut

Sarah first visited Batey Libertad in 2005 and subsequently joined the Yspaniola student group at Yale, participating in and leading trips to the community. In 2007, she won a “Projects for Peace” grant to install a water system in Batey Libertad. After graduating from Yale, Sarah worked for Institute for Poverty Action, working primarily on projects in Uganda, and she is currently a PhD candidate in International Education at New York University.

Gerald has worked with Yspaniola in different capacities since his time as an undergraduate at Yale University in 2005. During a Fulbright grant in the Dominican Republic in 2010, Gerald worked to improve Yspaniola’s local program and foster improved relations between Dominicans and Haitians in Batey Libertad. Prior to working in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Gerald lived and worked in France. He has also studied and conducted research in Cuba, China, Argentina and the UK. He has a Master’s of Public Administration in Development Practice from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University and currently lives and works in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Wendy Reynoso is the CEO of Global Potential, a New York City non-profit that gives youth international service and immersion experiences. With 18 years of experience in the non-profit educational field, specifically working with vulnerable children and families, she has a proven track record in non-profit management, leadership coaching, fundraising, strategic planning, and program development. In addition, she has extensive experience in creating, facilitating and leading training sessions. As a consultant, she is currently working as lead educational facilitator for a teacher-training institute in Sierra Leone. Furthermore, she is working as an executive coach for founders of two international NGOs (Dominican Republic, Jamaica) providing organizational strategy. She sits on two New York City school boards, two non-profit boards in New York City, and is on the international and nominating committees of Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society In Education.

Stephen is from Whitefish, Montana. He graduated from Yale in 2009, after which he spent a year working for the German government through the German Émigré Memorial Fellowship. He joined Yspaniola in 2010 to develop the University Scholarship Program and thereafter joined Yspaniola's Board of Directors. Stephen received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 2014. He served as a law clerk to the Hon. Carlos T. Bea on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco for the 2014–2015 term. He now serves as a law clerk to the Hon. Paul A. Crotty on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.

Chelsea first visited Batey Libertad in 2005 as an undergraduate at Yale College. After graduating from Yale, Chelsea received an MPhil in Economic and Social History as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and a JD from Yale Law School, where she focused on international human rights. After law school, she worked as a legal fellow for the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights and for Minority Rights Group International. She was then the Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer at the International Rescue Committee UK, where she served as the IRC's policy expert on a range of humanitarian crises. Chelsea is now a policy and advocacy advisor for Mercy Corps Europe.