Center for Biological Diversity


For Immediate Release, February 25, 2016

Contact: Regina Romero, (520) 345-5703, rromero@biologicaldiversity.org

Center Hires National Director of Latino Engagement

Regina Romero Will Work With Latino Communities on Saving Wildlife,
Stemming Climate Change, Protecting Public Lands

TUCSON, Ariz.— The Center for Biological Diversity today announced the hiring of Regina Romero as its first national director of Latino engagement. Romero has spent 18 years working with minority and underrepresented people, and, at the Center, will engage Latino communities in the United States and Mexico on a range of environmental issues.

“Regina has an incredible record of success building progressive partnerships to improve the lives of all Tucsonans, including Latinos who are such a vital part of this city,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center. “We’re proud and excited to have her at the Center.”

Romero is the youngest of six children born to immigrant parents and was the first member of her family to vote and the first to graduate from college. She achieved two more firsts in 2007 when she became the first Latina elected to the Tucson City Council and the first woman to represent Tucson’s historic Ward 1.

Romero graduated from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in communication and completed the Harvard Kennedy School of Government Executive Education Program. Prior to her election to the Tucson City Council, Romero spent 12 years putting young people to work and administering millions of dollars in neighborhood infrastructure projects in low-income areas. She is a cofounder of Las Adelitas, the first advocacy organization in Arizona dedicated to building Latina political power.  

“If we are going to solve the most important environmental issues of our time, Latino voices have to be part of the conversation, and I’m excited to make sure that happens,” Romero said. “Latinos care deeply about the environment, whether it’s local environmental justice in our communities or solving climate change or protecting the wildlands and wildlife that we all love.”

“Ms. Regina Romero is a significant addition to the Center for Biological Diversity’s staff and mission,” said Rep. Raúl Grijalva, the ranking Democratic member on the House Committee on Natural Resources. “As the director of Latino engagement, she brings knowledge, instincts and shared purpose to the Center’s presence. Furthering the building of a diverse and inclusive constituency to protect and defend species, the environment and our common future, leaving no one behind.”

In her new position, Romero will:

  • Help build partnerships with national, regional and local Latino groups and elected officials in the Southwest and Mexico to elevate biodiversity and the environment as priority issues.
  • Seek research opportunities on Latino attitudes on environmental issues, and conduct interviews with Spanish language media on our work.
  • Work with national, state and partner groups to bring the Latino perspective to current discussions about climate change, public lands and access to the outdoors and Latino leadership development.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and supporters dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


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