Experienced Trainer and Facilitator Joins NLC as New Program Director

Today, we’re pleased to announce that Meriel Martínez has joined the Nonprofit Leadership Center as our new program director, effective March 30, 2021. In this role, she will help develop and implement NLC learning experiences and programs, with an emphasis on small-group leadership circles that bring leaders together who share similar roles or goals to learn, problem-solve and succeed collaboratively. She will also oversee NLC’s efforts to advance diversity, equity and inclusion across all program areas. This new role and Meriel’s leadership reflect NLC’s continued commitment to support the evolving needs of the nonprofit sector and our communities.

Meriel learned the value and importance of community as a child. Of Puerto Rican descent, she was immersed in an affirming, culturally vibrant world during her early years. Those experiences inspired her to become a trainer and facilitator, with a specialization in diversity, equity and inclusion.

Meriel began her professional journey as an editor for a major educational publisher. Years later, a family move to Virginia presented her with the opportunity to convert her long-standing passion for equity and justice into a career. Meriel was the logistics coordinator for the Virginia Latino Higher Education Network’s 2014 Hispanic College Institute and served on their board. She joined the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities in 2015 as a trainer and facilitator, designing and facilitating educational programs on diversity, equity and inclusion for schools, workplaces and communities across the state. In 2017, Meriel moved to Tampa, where she has continued her work in community building.

Meriel earned her master’s degree in speech and interpersonal communication from New York University. She studied at both Chestnut Hill College and William Paterson University, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in communication.