The Board of Directors for the Filipino American Council of Greater Chicago (FACGC):
Jerry Clarito
Chairman, officer
Jerry is a proud inheritor of his parents’ legacy of standing up for freedom, solidarity, and community. His Waray father and an Ilocana mother joined the guerrilla movement in Mindanao during WWII. Posthumously, his father received the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal as a member of the United States Armed Forces in the Far East. Meanwhile, his centenarian mother continues to endow the Clarito clan with a good sense of humor and unconditional love. He is a practitioner of generally accepted nonprofit principles. Jerry completed a graduate course in Strategic Management of Nonprofit Organizations at North Park College, Chicago. He values developing leaders from the grassroots through training and practice. His public service includes serving the Skokie Park District as an elected commissioner for two terms. He retired as the founding executive director of the Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE).
Norberto “Bobby” Luna
Executive Trustee, officer
Emigrated to Chicago in 1990 from the Philippines. Engaged in the business of mortgage brokering residential and commercial finance from 1991 to 2008. Currently doing small business consulting and is a real estate investor. Bobby’s involvement with the Rizal Center started in the year 2000 as a member of the Joy Dance Club. He was appointed Rizal Center Administrator in 2008 and became a member of the FACGC Board in 2010. His educational background includes an economics degree from the University of the Philippines and an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management.
Ederlina “Deyi” Fidel
Treasurer, officer
Deyi is a graduate of Far Eastern University, Manila, College of Nursing Class of 1979. She worked as a community-based health nurse for underserved populations in rural and urban areas in the Philippines. She migrated to the U.S. in the early eighties, worked for 20 years in psychiatry, orthopedic, and medical-surgical units in the Rush-Presbyterian Health System. Deyi was a home health nurse for more than 25 years, mainly for elderly patients and families. She hopes her community organizing and clinical nursing experience will contribute to FACGC’s programs benefiting senior members of our community. Most of all, she enjoys being the grandmother to her 5-year-old grandson and is an avid gardener.
Rizalina ”Sally” Velasco-Richmond
Secretary, officer
A native of Boac. Marinduque, Philippines. She moved to the USA in 1990. She worked as a child caregiver and continued her education to become a Montessori Teacher. She was a community organizer for the Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE) fighting for immigrant and domestic workers’ rights until she retired in 2017. Sally’s love of teaching got her involved in the Rizal Heritage Center’s class on ‘Basic Tagalog and Culture’. She taught the class to children and young professionals. She then became a member of the Board from 2014 to the present.
Mae Dawn Gaoat-Lant
Mae came to the US in 1979 and finished her Post Graduate Course in Psychiatric Nursing at the University of Illinois, College of Nursing in 1989. She has been practicing as a registered nurse for 47 years. Currently, she works for PrimeCare Home Health Services and Excellent Home Health, Inc. as director/consultant for quality assurance performance improvement (QAPI). She has been an active volunteer at Rizal Center since 1987 when she founded the Kultura Pilipina Dance Company of Chicago. She hopes “to see the revival of appreciation of Filipino folk dances as a medium of cultural integration with the diverse Chicago’s cultural landscape.”
Malou Tabo
Malou is a dedicated wife of Pedro Tabo Jr and a loving mother to Michael and Annamarie. She is a native of Virac, Catanduanes, and currently resides in Chicago for the past 35 years. Malou has many roles, including Nannie, regional leader of Primerica as a life insurance producer and senior consultant of Saladmaster. With a big voice and an even bigger heart, she has been a volunteer for Jose Rizal Community Center for over 22 years and cherishes the time she spends doing charity work, especially for Rizal Center and Catanduanes International Association.