Pasadena, Calif. - The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC), the nation's leading non-profit, non-partisan, media advocacy and civil rights organization for the advancement of Latinos, today announces it has promoted Jessica Gonzalez to Executive Vice President & General Counsel and Michael Scurato to Policy Director. After nine years of service, Inez Gonzalez has left NHMC and will begin a new opportunity at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) as the director of the Latino Communications Initiative, a new program in the College of Communications.
"Inez is an extraordinary and passionate leader, and I wish her all the best in her new endeavor," said NHMC President & CEO Alex Nogales. "She has left some very big shoes to fill, but I know that Jessica is up to the task," Nogales continued. "Jessica has a proven track record of vigorously advocating in the best interest of Latinos in media. She has led our policy shop for some time now, and is a known quantity in Washington, D.C. Now that she is back here in California, I have full confidence she will bring NHMC's work full circle."
Prior to her promotion, Jessica served as NHMC's Vice President of Legal & Policy Affairs. Jessica joined NHMC as its first ever in-house attorney in 2009. After Inez Gonzalez established NHMC's policy shop in Washington, D.C. in 2008, Jessica took over and expanded NHMC's legal, policy and government affairs work in the nation's capital. She has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
Before joining NHMC, Jessica was a staff attorney and clinical teaching fellow at Georgetown Law's renowned Institute for Public Representation (IPR), where she represented NHMC and other consumer, civil rights and public interest organizations before the FCC, the NTIA and in the Courts of Appeal. Prior to law school she was a public high school teacher in Los Angeles, Calif. Jessica earned a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from Georgetown Law, a JD from Southwestern Law School, and a BA in Communication Studies and Spanish from Loyola Marymount University.
As Jessica steps up her duties at headquarters, Michael Scurato will begin managing NHMC's Washington, D.C. policy shop. "Mike is an incredibly creative and intelligent attorney and NHMC is lucky to have him holding down the fort in Washington, D.C.," Nogales stated.
As Policy Director, Michael will now lead NHMC's legal and policy advocacy in Washington D.C. Michael joined NHMC's Washington, D.C. policy team as a Law Fellow in September 2010 after being accepted into Georgetown Law's Post-JD Public Service Fellowship Program. While in law school, he represented the public interest in media and telecommunications law issues at IPR. He earned his JD from Georgetown University Law Center and his BA in Political Science from New York University. He is currently admitted to practice law in New Jersey, New York, and the District of Columbia.