SAVE Foundation Board Members

Joseph Falk, Chairman, is Past President and Legislative Chairman of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. He was President of NAMB in 2001-2002 and continues to serve on the Board of Directors. In 2007, Mr. Falk was named a member of the Consumer Advisory Council to the Federal Reserve Board. Mr. Falk is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College and received his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1978. Joe is a licensed mortgage broker. He is President of his own mortgage firm, a consultant with the law firm of Akerman Senterfitt, and is the Vice-Chairman of the Miami Science Museum's Board of Trustees. Mr. Falk resides in Miami, Florida.
   

Gregory Stott, Vice Chair, has an accreditation from The College for Financial Planning as an Accredited Asset Management Specialist, and is currently the CFO for David Bromstad, LLC.

Gregory was instrumental in getting the only LGBT Visitor Center ever sponsored by MetLife here in Miami, Florida. Gregory has his series 7, 63, 65, Life, Health, and Variable Annuity licenses. His advocacy story is what brought him to SAVE Dade, where he fights for the rights of all people who are LGBT. Having lost a lover at age 24, he knows too well that there is still much work to be done!

I believe in, by doing well for others, I will do good.
   

Orlando Gonzales, Treasurer, joined SAVE Dade as a volunteer, where he chaired the Champions of Equality Awards successfully garnering greater financial returns in three years. Orlando served as interim executive director of SAVE Dade during a reorganization primarily managing the executive director search and operations. An entrepreneur, Orlando manages a business in scholastic journalism with Jostens Inc. He has exercised his interests and experience in fundraising and development, communications, and public relations with public service organizations. Human rights, the proliferation of art and culture, as well as the defense of the first-amendment are the social causes Orlando regularly champions. He is a graduate of Georgetown University where he focused his studies in community service, race, culture, and women’s studies.

Jessica Lam, Secretary, has been a very influential and groundbreaking individual in the Community. She is an advocate for gay and lesbian issues and transgender acceptance in society, with particular emphasis on children and today’s youth. She has worked with organizations such as Pridelines Youth Services, the YES! Institute, the Alliance for GLBTQ Youth, and Safe Schools of South Florida, among others. Jessica currently serves as Secretary for the Board of Directors for SAVE Dade and the Aqua Foundation for Women. She is also involved with Playing the Game of Life and is the founder of Jesilam Enterprises, Inc.

Jessica’s background is in Communications and Information Technology. She has extensive experience as a public speaker and as an advocate for women’s and transgender issues. Some of her accomplishments include coordinating the first Transgender Education Medical Symposium in May 2010, in North Miami Beach, FL. She is also a frequent speaker at many Universities and High Schools and engages students and educators through workshops, lectures and stories. She has appeared nationally on television programs such as Larry King Live, and internationally on Don Francisco Presenta, Maria Elvira Live and 7 Dias, among others. She has spent a lifetime of working towards helping the world understand and to accept the differences between all people.

Maria Bures is a filmmaker with a twenty-year background in advertising and television production. She recently directed Raising Hope, a one-hour documentary that is currently airing on PBS stations across the country. Maria has directed and produced spots, interstitials, music videos and television programs for a wide variety of clients and advertisers including Discovery Health, Disney Latin America, SC Johnson, Western Union, Paragard, CarePlus Health Plans, Toyota, Procter & Gamble among many others, and has executive produced more than 600 commercials for a wide variety of Fortune 500 companies. In 2010 she directed and produced SAVE Dade's own public service announcement, Why Vote?

Maria’s commitment to the LGBT community began in San Francisco during the 1980s, and she is currently at work completing Somos: The Lost Generation, a documentary film on LGBT Latinos who emigrated to San Francisco from various Latin American countries searching for freedom in the 1990s. Maria has been a volunteer at Save Dade since 2000, and has served on the Board of Save Dade Foundation since 2009.