Board Members
The Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corporation Board of Directors
Dr. Oralia Garcia Dominic, Board Chair
Dr. Oralia Garcia Dominic is a Medical Policy Research Analyst, Product and Healthcare Services Organization at Highmark Inc., Pittsburgh, PA. In this role she spearhead the new technology pipeline; and provides content expertise, and conducts research and data analyses to help develop and maintain evidence-based coverage guidelines and monitor/assess the medical technology pipeline to anticipate and plan for the evolution of therapies to ensure appropriate benefit adjudication, patient safety and optimized therapy for our customers. Medical technology includes any intervention or service to treat any medical/surgical condition. These technologies may include drugs, devices, procedures and/or gene therapy. Her expertise includes community-based disease reduction strategies, health disparities, social determinants of health research; and she has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals. She received her PhD in Biobehavioral Health, and completed two NIH-funded post-docs at Penn State University where she currently is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA.
David Caliguiri, Board Member
David is a board member of the Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corporation. He founded The Caliguiri Group, a public affairs and strategic communications firm in 2011. He has nearly 20 years of experience in government, public affairs and strategic communications. He successfully managed the political campaigns of Senator Jay Costa, Jr., and Mayor Tom Murphy and was an integral part of Pittsburgh First’s campaign for a PA state gaming license. He spent 4 years as a lobbyist with the law firm of Eckert Seamans where he represented clients before local and state governments and 2 ½ years at GSP Consulting before starting his own business, The Caliguiri Group.
David is an active member of the Pittsburgh community and sits on the boards of the Carnegie Science Center, the Downtown YMCA, Academy Charter School & Junior Achievement where he was recently awarded Junior Achievement’s Alumni Award for 2012. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. David lives in Squirrel Hill with his wife Katy and three kids, Maxwell, Ellie & Sam.
Daniel C. Conlon, Board Member
Attorney representing municipalities, as well as hospitality businesses.
Daniel is an Attorney at Tucker Arensberg. He is an attorney representing municipalities, as well as hospitality businesses. He advises both public and private sector clients that include: local governments and school districts, restaurants, business startups, banks, trust companies, and investment advising firms. Daniel’s practice focuses on a wide range of corporate matters that include municipal and school law, land use and zoning, local taxation, liquor law, and federal banking and securities laws.
Prior to entering private practice, Daniel worked as a Judicial Intern for the Hon. David S. Cercone; Judicial Intern for the Supreme Court of Costa Rica, and as a Law Clerk for the City of Pittsburgh, Law Department.
Daniel was born in Chicago, IL but raised in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and cannot remember whether he spoke English or Spanish first as a child.
Tony Torres, Board Member
Tony has over 30 years of experience and has held numerous senior management positions in the Chemicals, Materials and Construction products sectors. He founded and currently operates FreeRadicals LLC, a consulting firm and investment holding company exclusively focused on sustainable building and construction methods and materials, packaging and renewable energy. Prior to FreeRadicals Tony co-founded Triventas LLC, a small-cap investment firm and was Sr. Consultant at Headwaters, a merchant banking and advisory company. These opportunities came after a long career in the chemicals industries where he worked for leading firms including Dow Chemical and Nova Chemicals. At Nova, Tony was President of its construction materials business, SYNTHEON Inc., and ran its Performance Styrenics business with accountability for over $300M in revenue. While at Dow Chemical he held numerous global assignments including; Global Business Director for Corporate New Ventures Global Growth Center, the founding of Dow Fibers Solutions, Polyolefin’s and Elastomers, as well as DOWBRANDS Consumer Products. He also oversaw the construction of an elastomeric fiber plant during this tenure.
In the last five years Tony has focused on building a global construction business through the formation of wholly-owned or joint venture companies in India, Chile, Mexico and the United States. He especially focused on the identification of critical and capable partners to successfully start-up technology based companies. Through partner companies like Reliance Industries in India and Grupo Idesa in Mexico Joint Ventures were started in record time. Mr. Torres was CEO of the India venture, Reliance Innovative Building Systems for nearly 2 years.
Tony has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from University of Miami, Florida. He has completed the Executive Programs at MIT for Management of Technology and the Thunderbird International Management Executive Program. Tony is fluent in Spanish and additionally is an adjunct professor for Entrepreneurship at Duquesne University.
Lourdes Sánchez Ridge, Board Member
LOURDES SÁNCHEZ RIDGE is a partner in the Pittsburgh office of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP. She practices in the areas of government enforcement, corporate compliance and internal investigations, government related civil litigation, and the False Claims Act. She counsels and investigates corporations and individuals on matters of domestic and international concerns such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), health care fraud, bribery and corruption, securities fraud, ethics and fraudulent conveyances.
She also practices in the areas of municipal law including land use, civil rights, employment law, zoning, code enforcement, First Amendment matters, civil rights, permits and licenses, building code violations, and the Torts Claims Act. She has substantial trial experience in both state and federal court where she has tried numerous bench and jury trials in a multitude of jurisdictions. She has also represented a myriad of clients before state and federal grand juries.
Prior to joining Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP, Ms. Sánchez Ridge was the Chief Legal Counsel/City Solicitor for the City of Pittsburgh where she was responsible for all legal matters concerning the City of Pittsburgh while supervising the law department. She has substantial experience in representing elected and appointed officials in high profile matters and has experience in handling the media.
Ms. Sánchez Ridge served as a Federal prosecutor in Washington, DC where she handled a myriad of cases including financial crimes, narcotic rings, violent crimes and homicides. As an Assistant United States Attorney, she conducted numerous grand jury investigations, argued motions, conducted bench and jury trials and sentencings. In the mid-1980s, Ms. Sánchez Ridge served as a prosecutor in Miami-Dade County, Florida also handling violent crimes and narcotic prosecutions.
Ms. Sánchez Ridge has spoken on a variety of topics before varied audiences. She has spoken on internal investigations, the FCPA, the False Claims Act, financial fraud and constitutional issues before local, national and international audiences. Ms. Sánchez Ridge has also served as a Subject Matter expert and lecturer at Carlow University’s Fraud and Forensic Master’s Degree Program.
Ms. Sánchez Ridge is also deeply involved in the community. She serves as a Governor for the Allegheny County Bar Association, as well as a Board Member of the Board of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh. She served as the Chair of FamilyLinks, a social service non-profit organization, the Chair of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce where she was the Founder of the Hispanic Scholarship Program; she was a Trustee at Carlow University; a Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs; and, a Director at the Allegheny County Community College Foundation and Global Pittsburgh. Ms. Sánchez Ridge has also earned several awards: the Carol Las Mansmann Helping Hand Award, National Football League (NFL) Hispanic Leadership Award and the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Hispanic Bar Committee El Sol Award.
She speaks, writes and reads fluently in Spanish.
PRACTICE AREAS: Government Enforcement, Compliance, and White Collar Litigation.
BAR ADMISSIONS: Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Florida, U.S. Supreme Court, and U.S. District Court - Western District of Pennsylvania.
EDUCATION: J.D., University of Florida School of Law B.S., University of Miami School of Business.
Candice Pulkowski, Board Member
Candice Pulkowski is a Program Manager for Gateway Health in Pittsburgh, PA. In this role, she is focused on forging a new frontier for members to engage in healthy behaviors through utilization of technologies in order to create person centric connections that break down barriers by focusing on social determinants of health. She is also the co-founder of a local non-profit Benevine with a mission to connect young professionals in the greater Pittsburgh area, who demonstrate a passion to serve their community while gaining invaluable career experience, with local nonprofits in need of industry specific assistance through collaborative, memorable, and innovative opportunities. Candice has a Doctorate in Business with a focus on artificial intelligence and neuro-marketing.
Past Chairman
Anthony Dolan, Advisory Board Member
Anthony Dolan created Alphabet City Development and Alphabet City Management in 2011 and forged these companies from his extensive and successful career in commercial real estate development. The companies have shown steady growth through strategic development and management alliances throughout the region.
“The mission of Alphabet City is to add value to the communities that we develop projects within, provide sound advice to clients seeking our counsel and ensure that investors who put their trust in our abilities with their hard-earned dollars are financially rewarded.”
Alphabet City continues its focus in the East Liberty area of Pittsburgh, which began when Dolan spearheaded the groundbreaking Bakery Square development while at Walnut Capital. This urban mixed-use project sparked the revitalization of East Liberty, which continues with numerous area projects currently underway.
Advisory Board Member
John Paul Jones