Our Mission

Vice President of Strategy & Operations
As VP of Strategy and Operations, Miranda leads program strategy, resource development and day-to-day operations for The Center. She is an impact-oriented leader passionate about advancing equitable economic development and wealth building strategies in low-income communities of color across the U.S. Prior to joining The Center, Miranda managed a robust set of economic inclusion and capacity building initiatives as Deputy Director at LISC LA. She brings 15 years of diverse experience in program design and implementation, budget management, and partnership development in the community economic development field to support The Center’s growing portfolio.

Senior Project Manager
Marina Garcia brings 10+ years of project management experience across various industries. She has a proven record of building strong strategic relationships with clients, C-Suite, partners, and colleagues that have resulted in meeting and exceeding goals. Her skills derive from work in industries such as social security disability law, tax credits and incentives consulting, advertising, cost savings consulting, and most recently, non-profit. Marina developed a new operating department at Disability Group, Inc. that assisted Veterans and disabled Americans in obtaining disability benefits. During her time with Profit Recovery Partners, she identified and implemented $33M in cost savings, which was used to support job creation and security for businesses across the country. Most recently, Marina serves as the lead from The Center for the LA County Rent Relief Program that is providing $68.6M in grants to qualified landlords to help mitigate the detrimental economic impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marina attended the University of Illinois at Chicago where she earned her bachelor’s degree in communication, with a minor in psychology.

Senior Legal Counsel
As Senior Legal Counsel, Rob supports program and organizational legal compliance for The Center. Before deciding to obtain his law degree in 2005, Rob worked for several years for companies holding contracts with the federal government, primarily related to law enforcement and defense. He lived for six months in the United Kingdom, where he was responsible for standing up an office to run a contract for the U.K. Ministry of Defence. He is married and has two children, five grandchildren, and two dogs: a German Shepherd and a Cairn Terrier. Rob enjoys reading, traveling, puzzles, and learning. He is conversant in Spanish and Japanese.

Economic Recovery Corps Fellow
Frances Weiner brings over a decade of experience collaborating with small business owners, non-profit organizations, and community leaders to build forward change. One of her latest projects, working with the MidTown Reno Business Association, she successfully took a diverse and thriving business district and increased business owner membership by more than 150% as well as developed innovative funding models in order to build capacity for future growth. In her private business, she coached and supported dozens of small business owners through their growth strategies. Beyond business and community development, Frances taught business classes at the University of Nevada, Reno as well as served on the Executive Board of TEDxUniversityofNevada (3rd most viewed talks in the nation). Frances’ passion for and expertise in innovative business development transcends conventional boundaries and provides avenues for exploration beyond the familiar. Frances holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Nevada, Reno and a BS in Psychology from Ohio University.