Chris was born in Oregon, but raised in Pennsylvania, his home since.
The Board of Governors
The Executive Board
Brendan Flores
Immediate Past President
The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) made history during the 12th National Empowerment Conference when they elected Brendan Flores, a leader, a philanthropist, an advocate of Filipino-Americans and a banker by profession from Florida as its first millennial and youngest ever president and national chairman. In his role, Brendan is responsible for leading the largest national affiliation of Filipino American institutions, organizations and individuals. Throughout his time as an officer of NaFFAA, Brendan has served as State Youth Coordinator, State Youth Chair and Regional Youth Chair for Desert Mountain region (NV, AZ and UT) based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He was also the last person to be elected as NaFFAA’s National Youth Chair as well as the National Treasurer.
Brendan holds a position as Senior Vice President and Consumer Banking Performance Manager at Bank of America. Prior to joining Bank of America, Flores held a position as Vice President and Regional Banking District Manager at Wells Fargo. Brendan has held numerous leadership positions both internally and externally such as Co-Chair for the Black/African American Connection, Membership Chair for the Latino Connection and President of United Way Emerging Leaders United of Saint Johns County. He is also deeply involved in numerous mainstream and local nonprofit organizations such as the March of Dimes, United Way and various Chambers of Commerce. Flores has three scholarships in his name. He is a scholarship grantor for The Public Education Foundation of Las Vegas, and president of the Alumni Leadership Circle of the Academy of Finance. His community involvement locally and nationally led him to establish a series of networks, awards and scholarship opportunities. Brendan continues to be active within his community, expanding his professional sphere and promoting personal growth.
Mariela Fletcher
National President
Mariela Fletcher is a licensed residential real estate broker in the State of Washington with RE/MAX Metro Realty since 1990. She holds a Business Degree in Management. Prior to immigrating to the United States in 1988 to join her husband, she owned a manufacturing and exporting business in the Philippines with concentration on hand painted and hand-crafted costume jewelry, gifts and housewares. She was also a Department of Trade and Industry CITEM awardee for “Best in Product Design” and for her contribution to the manufacturing and exporting industry in the Philippines.
Besides her real estate career, Mariela Fletcher opened MANILA MANILA, a deli and retail store that focused on ethnic Filipino food, in 2010 in Seattle, WA. Her goal in establishing the business was to introduce homes-cooked, authentic Filipino food to the mainstream. Her business successfully earned a place in the Seattle Magazine February 2015 issue as one of the recommended places for Filipino food.
She is active in a variety of civic and nonprofit organizations such as National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) as National Secretary since 2014, and Region Chair for the Pacific Northwest, International Drop-In Center (IDIC), a Filipino Senior Service Agency as Vice President, Lake City Future First, as Board Member and Business Development Committee co-chair, and St Matthew Parish as Chair of Parish Life Committee.
Chris Rivera
National Operations Officer
Membership Co-Director
Chris has been of service to his community since his youth. He contributed to the propagation of Philippine culture through dance and song, via his participation with the Philippine Folk Arts Society, of Pennsylvania. It is here where his love of his culture began to flourish.
He has since actively participated in community organizations, including his service is a past Vice President of the Filipino Executive Council of Greater Philadelphia. He has served on its Board of Directors for the past two years. He is also the sitting President of the Filipino American Association of Philadelphia, Inc. (FAAPI), arguably the oldest FilAm organization on the East Coast, at 105 years old. FAAPI was the recipient of the 2nd Alex Esclamado Award for Civic Engagement.
Within NaFFAA, Chris has served, or currently serves, at every level of the organization, beginning as a State Youth Chair for Pennsylvania, until his appointment as interim National Operations Officer this past summer. Chris is currently tasked to manage and support the internal functions of the organization.
Professionally, although his background and education from Penn State University is in Developmental Psychology, he has dedicated more than a decade to the service industry, currently a manager for Darden Restaurants, a member of the Forbes Global 2000 list of top public companies.
The Board of Trustees
Anecita Alvizo
Amie Belmonte
Marie Cunning
Giselle Rushford
Rod Mercado
Aida Rivera
Steven Raga
Fernando Mendez
Rodel Rodis, Esq.
Jannelle So-Perkins
Armin Sayson
Art De Joya
Giovanni Duaqui
Nadia Jurani
Heman Martir
Region Presidents
Frank Celoza
New England
Laura Garcia
Northeast
Ryan Namata
Capital
Wilmar Suan
Great Lakes
Evelyn Natividad
Midwest
Melviona Thomson
Southern
Jennifer Samuel
Rocky Mountain
Anthony Guevara
Southwest
Lou Vargas
Pacific Northwest
Kevin Suarez
Northern California
Noel Omega
Greater Los Angeles
Nicanora Montenegro
San Diego / Imperial Region
Sally Balecha
Desert Mountain
Christal Simanski
Pacific Islands