Nicholas Torres
Board Chair & Secretary

Nicholas Torres is a consultant to organizations and on projects with an emphasis on high social impact, a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute of Government, and President of Education-Plus, Inc., where he works on scaling higher education models for low-income students, school-based health centers and cyber education for specialized populations. Mr. Torres is also co-founder and publisher of the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal. He spent ten years as president of Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Inc, a nationally recognized human services agency where he launched a continuum of K-college services, integrated mental health and primary care and standardized case management and outcomes measurement across the organization. In addition to serving as Board Chair of Pan American Academy, he also serves on the boards of the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Children's Scholarship Fund. Currently, he is a Human Relations Commissioner for the City of Philadelphia but has previously served as Advisor to Knight Foundation Philadelphia, Chair of the Southeastern Pennsylvania United Way's Professional Advisory Council, and Co-Chair of the National Council of La Raza's Northeastern Affiliates. Mr. Torres is a Teach for America alumnus who graduated from Carleton College and holds a Master’s degree in Counseling Education from the University of Texas at Austin.

Tracy-Elizabeth Clay
Board Co-Chair

Tracy-Elizabeth Clay brings years of educational and legal experience to Pan American Academy's Board of Directors. Ms. Clay serves as Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel for Teach for America in Chicago, Illinois. In this role, Ms. Clay is responsible for meeting the legal and regulatory needs of Teach For America, including risk management and regulatory compliance. She previously served as Teach For America's first director of state and local government relations and as the founding executive director of Teach For America's Philadelphia site. Prior to her work at Teach For America, Ms. Clay was an associate with Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C., where she practiced in the Antitrust, Health and Privacy practice groups for four years. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, was an officer of the Law Review, and clerked for the Hon. Anne Thompson in New Jersey. She completed her undergraduate education at Stanford University with a degree in public policy, concentration in urban and regional development.

Dario Bellot
Treasurer

Through his diverse professional and educational background, Dario Bellot has acquired over 20 years of international finance experience. He has worked for Mars Electronics International, Inc., the Wharton School of Business, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, and the Dow Chemical Company. Mr. Bellot currently serves as Vice President of Administration at Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Inc. where he is responsible for the organization’s fiscal, information technology, human resources and facilities departments. He is also responsible for the development and construction of Congreso’s new Education and Training Center building – a brand new $15M building that will host Pan American Academy Charter School and Harcum College at Congreso. In addition to serving as Treasurer of Pan American, he also serves on the Board of Directors for the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and the Pan American Association of Philadelphia. He holds a Bachelors degree and a Masters of Business Administration from Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Dominique Bernardo
Board Member

A native of Norristown, Pennsylvania, Dominique Bernardo brings more than 15 years of professional experience that includes working as a financial auditor with a specialization in nonprofit organizations, a community organizer in a Latino community in the Boston area, and a social worker for high risk adolescent girls in Costa Rica. Ms. Bernardo currently serves as Vice President for Quality Assurance for Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Inc., specifically overseeing its business plan strategy as Well as the data and evaluation department which measures the impact of programs across the agency. She is a Licensed Social Worker and also a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in Pennsylvania. She holds a Master of Social Work and a Master of Business Administration from Boston College.

Elizabeth Porth Polizzi
Board Member

Elizabeth Polizzi currently evaluates grants for programs that directly impact the quality of life of children and older adults in need. Dr. Polizzi served as Director of Policy and Planning for the Family Resource Network of the School District of Philadelphia where she collaborated with the Office of Mental Health of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and co-authored and developed the implementation strategy for school-linked behavioral health services. She collaborated with multiple city agencies in the administration of grants such as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Dyson Foundation Initiative which provided pediatric training in the community, a $5 million federal grant for Philadelphia Safe Schools, Healthy Students initiative and established a literacy mentoring program with Philadelphia Reads. She developed and administered university collaborations with Temple University to recruit and train special education teachers, with Arcadia University to establish emotional support programs in school district classrooms and partnered with other city agencies as a member of Common Ground of the Mayor’s Children & Family Cabinet. In addition to serving on the Pan American board, she is currently Secretary of the Board of the Children’s Scholarship Fund Philadelphia. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Medical College of Pennsylvania where her doctoral dissertation focused on Public Law 94: 142 “the Right to Education”.

Bienvenido Rosario Jr.
Board Member

Bienvenido Rosario, Jr. (Ben) brings years of community and leadership experience to the Pan American Board of Directors. He was a resident of North Philadelphia for over 40 years and continues to be tirelessly engaged in making the community a better place to live. Currently, he serves as a Patient Representative at Temple University Hospital where he has worked in different capacities for the past twenty two years. For the past fifteen years, he has organized a week-long community clean-up effort at Lehigh Park that culminates in an event he founded called “Worship in the Park.” An anti-drug, anti-violence event, it brings ex-offenders, former drug dealers and addicts together to speak on how others can end their cycle of crime and addiction. In addition, he has served as a motivational speaker in local prisons and organized a conference for this population called “The Man in the Mirror”. Most recently, he has participated in two inner-city flag football leagues for youth 14 years and older.

Julie Cousler Emig
Board Member

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