Board of Directors

Message from the President

Attorney Ed Ricci, President

“A heartfelt thank you to all our friends and supporters of El Sol. I am humbled by the confidence shown me taking the reins from Jill Hanson. I will do my utmost to assure that El Sol continues to be a beacon of light to the neediest member of our Jupiter community.”
-Ed Ricci

Ed Ricci is a practicing civil trial attorney with the law firm of Edward M. Ricci, P.A. in West Palm Beach. In addition to serving as president of El Sol, Ed has been voluntary counsel to Hope Rural School in Indiantown for 29 years. He and his wife founded the Ricci-Lupo Charitable Trust, which funds public interest programs and scholarships. Ed is active in development for Palm Beach Dramaworks and Kidsanctuary Campus in West Palm Beach. He also provides financial support to The Public Citizen Foundation in Washington, D.C, the Saint Dismas Society Prison Ministry and Mothers Against Brain Injury Foundation in Florida. He is involved in many other charitable works in the U.S., Haiti , Bangladesh and India.

Board of Directors

Ed Ricci

Ed Ricci is a practicing civil trial attorney with the law firm of Edward M. Ricci, P.A. in West Palm Beach. In addition to serving as vice president of El Sol, Ed has been voluntary counsel to Hope Rural School in Indiantown for 29 years. He and his wife founded the Ricci-Lupo Charitable Trust, which funds public interest programs and scholarships. Ed is active in development for Palm Beach Dramaworks and Kidsanctuary Campus in West Palm Beach. He also provides financial support to The Public Citizen Foundation in Washington, D.C, the Saint Dismas Society Prison Ministry and Mothers Against Brain Injury Foundation in Florida. He is involved in many other charitable works in the U.S., Haiti , Bangaladesh and India.

Roger Buckwalter

Journalist Roger Buckwalter spent 28 years at The Jupiter Courier, where he was editorial page editor, before retiring in 2001. He has served on numerous local boards, including as past president of the American Cancer Society and past chairman of the Loxahatchee River Historical Society. Currently he is chairman of the Northern Palm Beaches Cultural alliance and chairs the community relations committee of the Advisory Board of Florida Atlantic University’s Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College. Roger grew up in Juno Beach and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Florida. He is a Vietnam War veteran.

Suzanne Cordero

Born in the United States and raised in Guatemala, Suzanne Cordero has a degree in clinical psychology from the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City. She has been in Florida for the past 20 years, spending a short time working with the Palm Beach County School Board Early Identification Program and then as office manager for her husband’s dental practice. She is currently Executive Director of The Guatemalan Tomorrow Fund. Suzanne serves on the Board of Directors for MyClinic and has volunteered extensively with St. Vincent de Paul of St. Peter’s Catholic Church and at her children’s schools.

Jill Hanson

Jill Hanson is a 20+ year resident of Jupiter and a labor attorney. She was a member and past chair of the Palm Beach County Citizens Advisory Committee on Health and Human Services and pro bono legal advisor to the Martin Luther King Coordinating Committee and the Florida Labor Management Conference. A graduate of Manhattanville College and Rutgers Law School, Jill is a member of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, and the Palm Beach County Coalition for Immigrant Rights. She received the Women in Leadership Award as Volunteer of the Year in 2008 from the Executive Women of the Palm Beaches.

Sheila Hirsch

Sheila Hirsch is an 18-year resident of Jupiter. Her professional career has been dedicated to providing accounting services in a variety of challenging fields, including medicine and television. For the past 10 years she has been in the financial services industry and is Series 7 Securities licensed. Sheila spent several years on the production crew for the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon on WPEC-TV, and was an original organizer of Project Thanksgiving. Shelia is currently serving on the Owner’s Board a The Barristers Building in West Palm Beach. An active member at Jupiter FIRST Church, Shelia works with the Web Ministry, and has served as treasurer of the Church.

Lee McCarthy

Lee McCarthy has a long career in travel planning and charity work. A graduate of the University of Georgia, Lee has worked as an international flight attendant, flight interpreter, travel planner and certified travel counselor. In addition to her volunteer work at El Sol, where she is secretary of the executive board, Lee volunteers at the Quantum House at St. Mary’s Medical Center.

Marta Bravo

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A native of Guatemala, Marta, was elected president of the Workers Council last year, succeeding Genaro Navarro.

Maricela Torres

Maricela Torres

Maricela Torres is from Michoacán, Mexico, she came to the United States when she was ten years old. She lived in Northern California for 11 years, and then moved to Florida in 1997. She currently works in the Legal Department at Florida Crystals Corporation. As a young teenager she worked in the hospitality business, as well as a migrant worker and experienced firsthand the hardships and challenges facing migrant and undocumented workers. Maricela believes strongly in education and volunteering in the community, and she has volunteered at El Sol as an Adult Literacy Teacher in the Plazas Comunitarias program, the Graduation Committee, Communications Committee, Legal Services Program, Te Escucho, as well as serving on the Board of Directors.

Other volunteer work includes being a Child Advocate Volunteer with the 15th Judicial Circuit Guardian ad Litem program in Palm Beach County, which seeks to provide a powerful voice on behalf of Florida’s abused and neglected children. Maricela has a Bachelor’s of Science in Organizational Management, and a Master of Science in Psychology.

Hon. Ann Brown

Ann Brown served as Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission from March 1994 to November 2001. She was nominated to that position by President Bill Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a Commissioner and the seventh Chairman of the CPSC. In 1999, the President nominated Chairman Brown for a second term, and the Senate confirmed her. Ann Brown was also the Chairman and founder of SAFE/Safer America for Everyone, a non-profit organization dedicated to the safety of children and families.SAFE worked with consumers, organizations and industry to promote safety in the consumer marketplace. Chairman Brown SAFE worked with consumers, organizations and industry to promote safety in the consumer marketplace.

Frank Walsh

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Frank Walsh has served on the board of directors for Steton Hall University, Leigh University, the University of Vermont, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Newark, N.J. as well as the boards of Avis, Wilson Sporting Goods, Atlas Van Lines and Western Auto. He currently serves on the board of Covenant House of New Jersey. Frank Graduated from Lehigh University and holds an honorary degree from the University of Vermont.

Soteros ‘Sut’ Maniatty

Sut Maniatty

Jupiter resident Soteros “Sut” Maniatty is a consultant with extensive experience in financial operations and management for non-profit agencies and businesses. He was a vice president and chief financial officer for the Palm Beach Zoo until December 2009. His professional experience includes operating a consulting organization specializing in acquisitions, startups, taxation and business funding. He also was a senior accounting analyst for the Wackenhut Corporation.

A native of Vermont, Maniatty previously served as financial officer for the Clara Martin Center, a private, non-profit mental health center in Randolph, Vt., and controller of the Rutland (Vt.) Area Community Services, another non-profit mental health center. He also was an assistant chief miner for the Vermont Department of Banking & Insurance. He received a B. S. Degree in Business Administration from the University of Vermont and has an active CPA license in Vermont.

Gerald Holm

Gerald Holm

Gerald L. Holm began his career with the Boeing Company in Huntsville, Alabama as a Research Engineer on the Saturn V Space Program in 1962. His assignment was trajectory computation and analysis. He left Huntsville in 1969 to go to Boeing’s Seattle Aerospace operations.

Mr. Holm joined Beneficial Corporation in 1970 as part of a team overseeing the development and installation of a data processing network that would link Beneficial’s 1800 loan offices to a centralized computer center. He became President of Beneficial Data Processing Corporation in 1974. He assumed the responsibility for mergers and acquisitions in 1978 and became a director and member of the executive committee of the Beneficial Board of Directors in 1980. He retired as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors in 1987 and remained a director until 1998.

Mr. Holm was born and raised in Houston, Texas and graduated in 1962 from Texas Tech University with a master of science degree in mathematics.

Daniel A. Zuniga

Dan was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He is a graduate of Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach and Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Upon his graduation from Hofstra School of Law in New York, Daniel worked as a Certified Legal Intern at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office before taking a position with a civil defense firm, where he represented corporate entities. In 2014, Daniel became one of the founding partners of Personal Injury of Florida. Dan Concentrates his practice in the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, traumatic brain injuries, vehicular accidents, pedestrian accidents, medical malpractice, and products liability.

Patricio Silvestre

Patricio Silvestre is the president of Corn Maya, Inc., a non-profit organization and El Sol’s sister organization. He is also a superintendent for Total Maintenance, a landscaping company. Corn Maya sponsors the annual Fiesta Maya in Jupiter, as well as a soccer league of more than 14 teams, and provides other services to immigrants in Jupiter.