Adam Chavarria
Executive Director
Raquel Cabral Sours
Deputy Director
Raquel Cabral Sours is the deputy director for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans (White House Initiative) in the U.S. Department of Education. In this capacity, she assists with overseeing and directing the efforts of the White House Initiative in engaging the Hispanic community in becoming active participants in their children's education to improve their academic achievement.
Prior to joining the White House Initiative in July 2008, Sours was the senior adviser for policy and budget to the assistant attorney general (AAG) at the U.S. Department of Justice. In this role, Sours advised the AAG on policy, grant solicitations, awards and publications. During her tenure with the DOJ, Sours also was the special assistant to the attorney general, where she managed the daily operations of the attorney general's office, and the deputy director of scheduling and advance.
Before her appointment to the DOJ, Sours worked for the White House in the office of the White House counsel and the office of presidential personnel.
In 2001, Sours graduated with a B.A. in sociology from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. She is currently working on a master's degree in elementary education at Regent University, Virginia Beach, Va. The California native moved to Washington, D.C. area nearly 20 years ago and now considers it home.
Glorimar Maldonado Nosal
Marketing-Communications Manager
Glorimar Maldonado Nosal is the marketing-communications manager for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans (White House Initiative) in the U.S. Department of Education. Formerly from Atlanta, she moved to Washington, D.C., in 2004 to enter federal service.
Prior to joining the White House Initiative, Nosal was the publications manager for WCM, a large nonprofit organization based in Atlanta with satellite offices worldwide. She has spoken at several publishing workshops and has been the principal presenter at WCM's Hispanic Culture Sensitivity seminars. As a freelance writer-editor, she has completed a variety of projects for many well-known corporations such as the Coca-Cola Company, The Home Depot, Cox Communications, Delta Air Lines, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and Comcast Corporation.
In 1996, Nosal graduated cum laude with a B.A. in English, history and psychology from Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla. In addition, she was the year's only recipient of the Flagler College Departmental Award for Superior Academic Achievement in English, and was inducted into both the Alpha Chi National College Honor Scholarship Society and the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society.
Nosal is an avid supporter of programs that recognize the accomplishments and contributions of Hispanics in the U.S. and that help Hispanic children and youths achieve academic success. This passion is what led her to the White House Initiative and what drove her to become an active member of the U.S. Department of Education's Hispanic Employees Council (ED-HEC).
Stephanie Guillen
Events Manager
Stephanie Guillen is the projects and events manager for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans (White House Initiative) in the U.S. Department of Education. A native of Alexandria, Va., and of Bolivian descent, she is on special assignment to the White House Initiative from the Department's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA), where she is responsible for the planning and implementation of White House Initiative-sponsored conferences and events.
While at OELA, Guillen was a program specialist, monitoring discretionary grants and providing grantees with technical assistance and fiscal management to ensure their compliance with federal regulations and progress in meeting stated objectives. Before becoming a program specialist, Guillen served as the executive assistant to the Assistant Deputy Secretary of OELA, for whom she prepared presentations and speeches. With the guidance of senior staff, she also developed OELA's business and risk management plan, coordinated the work of a congressional liaison committee and implemented a variety of public relations outreach activities.
In 2003, Guillen graduated from Brigham Young University-Hawaii with a B.S. in international business management. While a student at BYU-Hawaii, she became a resident advisor and also was employed as an assistant to the professor of internal marketing, where she developed a close rapport with students and faculty and assisted both groups with their marketing research and projects.