Jeffrey Tapia was named the Latin American Association's Executive Director in October 2011, bringing more than 30 years experience leading programs and initiatives serving the Latino community. Prior to her appointment, Tapia held two key roles for the organization, serving as the Chief Operating Office since 2008 and as the Associate Executive Director from 1994 to 2001, during which time she led key strategic, programmatic and advocacy initiatives impacting the Latino community. Advocacy efforts include ensuring access for immigrants to health care and education, advising the state on the concerns of uninsured immigrants, opposing numerous English Only initiatives throughout the years.

Tapia was the Director of Hispanic Outreach for Catholic Charities (formerly Catholic Social Services) from 1988 to 1994 where she provided advocacy and expanded the organization's outreach to the Latino community, opening offices in both Athens and Gainesville. She was instrumental in the early efforts to have Georgia school districts comply with Plyer vs. Doe, which states that all school-aged children have the right to a public education regardless of their immigration status.

Tapia has been a tireless advocate for social justice issues and Latino concerns. Fully bilingual, she has lived in Colombia, Nicaragua and Argentina. From 1980 to 1985 she led education, advocacy, and social services programming for the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers Association in North Carolina. She served as an interpreter and logistical coordinator for National Geographic and international press in Nicaragua from 1985 to 1987, where she was involved in interviews with top political and religious leaders, as well as local families.

 From 1996 to 2001, Tapia was instrumental in an effort to oppose Georgia’s proposed TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) program, which initially proposed to deny legal immigrants the same benefits granted to US citizens. In 2001, the group of community organizations advocating on behalf of the immigrants succeeded in passing legislation that permanently extended benefits to all legal immigrants under the same conditions given to citizens.

Tapia is a 1995 graduate of Leadership Atlanta and of the Regional Leadership Institute, and was recently appointed to the Georgia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College.

Martha Perusek joined the Latin American Association as Managing Director of Grants in March 2011 and is responsible for the LAA’s relationships with public and private foundations, government partners, and United Way. 

Martha has dedicated more than 20 years to nonprofit management and fundraising, and prior to joining the LAA, she served as the Director of Development and as an events consultant for the C5 Youth Foundation of Georgia.  She was also the Director of Development for Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, where she was responsible for generating contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations.  With a personal interest in literacy and public libraries, Martha has also served as the Executive Director of the DeKalb Library Foundation.   

Martha worked 13 years with the American Cancer Society at both the national and local levels.  As an Area Director for multiple regions across Missouri, she was responsible for all aspects of community and board development, fundraising, and program delivery.  In 1996 she joined the Society’s National Home Office in Atlanta where she specialized in corporate and workplace giving, United Way relationships, staff training and development, and fundraising communications.  Martha has also led projects and initiatives in consulting roles for diverse community organizations.   

Prior to her nonprofit career, Martha worked at a local radio station in her home state of Missouri, where she hosted a daily call-in talk program and served as promotions director.  She graduated with honors from Evangel University with a BA in communications and theology.

Myrna Clemmons serves as the managing director for resource development at the Latin American Association. In her role, she supervises all donor development, corporate sponsorships, public relations, communications, and volunteer efforts. Prior to joining the LAA, Myrna held several regional roles in the staffing and executive search industry, serving as a consultant in many roles for the past 18 years. Most recently she worked at Aldebaran Associates as vice president of business development. She designed and implemented several ?start-up? branches and managed many branches in markets throughout the southeast region. She has served on the Board of the United Boricuas of Georgia and has been an active member of the GMSDC, Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Women Business Council, Aids Walk, Habitat for Humanity, and others.

She has been responsible for P&L, training, hiring and staff development, as well as vendor management programs. She has managed multi-million dollar budgets and has partnered with many employers of choice in the Atlanta market. Prior to her career in staffing, she held a national sales manager position for a global manufacturer of medical instrumentation.

She earned her bachelor’s degree at the Catholic University of Puerto Rico and moved to Atlanta more than 30 years ago from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Jonathan Eoloff is the director of immigration services at the LAA.  Prior to joining the LAA, Jonathan worked at Catholic Charities Immigration Services in the detention project.  Prior to relocating to Atlanta in August 2008, Jonathan worked at the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago, where he represented LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants in asylum, Convention Against Torture, Violence Against Women Act, U visa and other protection-based claims.  After law school, Jonathan worked for one year with the Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Program, where he assisted in the defense of Mexican nationals on death row or facing capital trials in the U.S.  Jonathan is a 2004 graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School.

Isabel Perez is the Managing Director of Academic Achievement at the Latin American Association. She brings to the LAA a wealth of personal academic achievement as well as considerable experience in the field of education. Isabel has a Master of Education from the University of Washington with an emphasis in Higher Education and Leadership, a Master of Public Education with an emphasis in Educational Policy from The Evergreen State College, and a Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis in Multicultural Studies and Student Retention also from The Evergreen State College.

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