FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 21, 2014
CONTACT
Adela de la Torre, [email protected], 213-400-7822
National Immigration Law Center Welcomes New Directors of Development and Finance
LOS ANGELES — The National Immigration Law Center (NILC), a premier immigrants’ rights organization, is proud to announce two new members of its senior management team, Director of Development Nancy Peponis and Director of Finance and Administration Margaret Lopez.
Ms. Peponis, NILC’s first director of development, will give strategic direction to, manage, and coordinate the expansion of NILC’s fundraising efforts. This new position was created with the goal of diversifying NILC’s revenue sources, and especially to expand support from corporations, unions, new foundations, and individuals.
As the director of finance and administration, Ms. Lopez will manage the finances and administrative operations of the nearly five-million-dollar organization.
“We’re excited to be joined by Nancy and Margaret, two very talented individuals in their fields with well-rounded experience in the nonprofit and corporate environments,” said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of NILC. “They come to NILC at a critical moment in our 35-year history, as we enter a new growth phase to expand our advocacy on behalf of all those living in the United States, regardless of where they were born or how much money they have.”
The new members of NILC’s senior management team also have rich immigrant backgrounds. Ms. Lopez is a first-generation immigrant from Macao, China, and Ms. Peponis is the granddaughter of Greek immigrants.
Before joining NILC, Ms. Peponis served as executive director of Learning Rights Law Center, a Los Angeles legal-services nonprofit, where she managed fund development, marketing, finance, strategic planning, and all administrative functions. She has a wide range of experience in the nonprofit sector, including work in child welfare, human services, health, and the performing arts. She served as the development officer for major gifts at New York City’s Ballet Hispanico. Her for-profit experience has focused on marketing in the areas of entertainment (as a director of marketing for Capitol Records) and technology (as a consultant for Adobe Systems and as co-founder of a software startup). Ms. Peponis received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a bachelor of music degree in theory and composition from the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University.
Before joining NILC, Ms. Lopez served as director of financial services at Hillsides, a service organization for at-risk children and their families, in Pasadena, Calif., for nearly a decade. Ms. Lopez also has served as controller at the Pacific Asia Museum (also in Pasadena), audit manager at Whittemore & Associates Nonprofit CPAs, Inc., and auditor in various accounting firms. In addition, she has served as an independent consultant helping the nonprofit sector and has taught immediate accounting on an adjunct basis at DeVry University. Ms. Lopez is a certified public accountant in California. She received a master of accounting degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa after receiving a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting from the same university.
Established in 1979, the National Immigration Law Center is the only advocacy organization in the United States exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants and their families. NILC advances its mission through an integrated strategy of advocacy, litigation, and communications, along with education and technical assistance. Over the past three decades, NILC has won landmark legal decisions protecting fundamental rights, thwarted policies that would have devastated the lives of low-income immigrants and their family members, and advanced major policies that reinforce our nation’s values of equality, opportunity, and justice for all.
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