Board Members

Jes Kalb was born and raised in Falls Church, Virginia where she was a Girl Scout herself through Junior level until her family relocated to Daytona Beach, Florida.  After high school, she relocated to Orlando to attend UCF (Go Knights!) where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2000. Since then, her career has included professional roles including marketing, staffing, business sales, entrepreneurship, and management.  She has spent the last 10 years in a Sales role at The CSI Companies, managing and developing new clients and relationships within the Central Florida market, while also acting as a regional manager. She is an active volunteer for Cannonball Kids Cancer, a local Nonprofit that develops badly needed treatment options for children with pediatric cancer, co-organizing their annual Family Field Day event.  She is also a co-chair for her company’s annual CSI Gives Back Bake Sale which raised $5,000 his year for the Ckc organization.  She lives in Maitland with her husband, Ryan, two sons, Ronan (age 7) and Reed (age 3) and two very large dogs.  Her hobbies include spending time with her family, running half marathons, enjoying the beach, and planning her family’s next vacation.

Christine Kretz is the Vice President of Programs and Partnerships for the International Space Station (ISS) US National Laboratory. Christine’s role is to identify opportunities for leveraging the facilities of the ISS to enable science and technology research that will benefit life on Earth while maximizing taxpayer investment in the ISS. Christine’s team helps interested organizations determine how to best to approach research on the Station and work through the process to accomplish the desired objectives.  Prior to joining the ISS, Christine worked for IBM, starting in 1998 as a manager in the Research Division where her responsibilities included IT security for eight labs globally. From the Research Division, Christine took a corporate position and was named the Global Operations Manager for IBM Life Sciences, an emerging business area for IBM at that time. Christine has also held the positions of Healthcare Solutions Executive on the IBM Global Healthcare Industry team, as well as roles as a Client Executive and Complex Opportunity Manager in Healthcare / Life Sciences.  Most recently, she managed the Research Division Healthcare and Life Sciences organization.

Christine holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA in Operations from Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh where she is a member of the Business School Alumni Board of Directors. 

Caryn Grant is the Senior Manager of Diversity & Inclusion for NASCAR. In her role, she oversees initiatives aimed at creating an inclusive environment in all facets of the NASCAR industry, and increasing awareness of and exposure to NASCAR in diverse markets and communities. These responsibilities range from organizing NASCAR’s first Pride Month engagement events to developing the company’s supplier diversity platform.

Caryn received a B.A. in Communications from Howard University with a major in journalism and a minor in sports administration. She received an MBA and a Master of Sports Business Management from the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at the University of Central Florida.

Migdalia Figueroa is the newly-appointed President & General Manager of Telemundo Station Group’s Orlando Station, WTMO. She previously served as Vice President of News at NBC 6 South Florida, the NBC-owned station serving the Miami/Fort Lauderdale market, where she was responsible for relaunching the station’s news brand and mission, and for redefining and implementing new editorial and production styles and workflows. 

Prior to joining NBC 6, Migdalia was Senior Vice President of Content and Brand for the Telemundo Station Group. In that role, she had oversight of local branding and local newscast overall performance at all stations. She was promoted to that position after joining Telemundo in January 2005 as Vice President of News for the Miami station, taking it to the #1 spot in that very competitive market during her tenure, a position it maintains to this day. 

Migdalia was recently honored with the coveted Silver Circle Award for her over 30 years of experience, excellency, and contributions to the industry. A winner of five individual and one station regional EMMY award, she began her broadcast journalism career as a news producer in her native Puerto Rico. In 1990, she moved to New York City, where she joined the Univision station. Two years later, she moved to Miami to produce Univision Network News, weekend edition, also serving as Executive Producer of WLTV’s newscasts, Executive Producer for Univision Online, and General Producer of the iconic flagship program, “El Show de Cristina,” before moving to Telemundo. 

Migdalia graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a degree in Mass Communications, and a major in Broadcast Journalism.  She recently completed a certificate degree in Diversity & Inclusion from eCornell University, and is committed to these values, as well as to the practice of mentoring, believing they all have much to contribute to the whole of the industry. She makes her home between Orlando and Pembroke Pines, Florida, with her family and dogs.

Aly Benitez is a Vice President and Private Banker in the Orlando office of J.P. Morgan Private Bank. Aly focuses on the specialized wealth management needs of successful entrepreneurs, athletes and professionals. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, she practiced law for 11 years and founded Legal Solutions of Central Florida.

Aly’s best-selling business book Against the Grain was published in 2013. She has served as Chairwoman for the City of Orlando Historic Preservation Board, Vice Chair of the Orange County Sheriff’s Foundation, and is a Founding Trustee of the onePULSE Foundation.

Aly graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in American Politics and earned both a J.D. and an M.B.A. from Stetson University. While practicing law, she also received a Certificate in Contract Law from Harvard University. She and her wife, Alina, enjoy traveling and spending time with their two dogs, Frankie and Gizmo. For fun, she collects historical artifacts and scuba dives.