Staff & Leadership

Luis A. Perez, LMSW

President & Chief Executive Officer

Luis has been instrumental in the creation and expansion of GRSLA. Prior to being named President and CEO, he served as the Executive Director of the Horizons at Harley program and as the Director of Program Support and Expansion for GRSLA.

As President & CEO, Luis advocates for community-wide investment in high quality summer learning programs. Working with both community leaders and our generous funders, Luis continues to stress the need to include summer learning in all strategic plans attempting to close the opportunity gap for students and families in the City of Rochester.

Luis has committed the past 30+ years to helping low-income, inner-city children be successful academically and in life. Find out more here.

Mary Jo Gabel

Chief Financial Officer

Mary Jo volunteers a large portion of her time to serve as GRSLA's Chief Executive Officer. She has been a integral part of GRSLA's leadership since it's inception in 2011, and continues to share her expertise by overseeing the creation and management of GRSLA's budget. Mary Jo works with funders, board members, program directors, and staff to ensure that GRSLA has the finances available to provide as many students as possible with high quality summer learning programs today and well into the future.

Mary Jo is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Hardy Gabel Group, LLC, and is a financial consultant for Career Development Services, a non-for-profit organization focused on assisting individuals and corporations that address the challenges of today’s workplace. In addition, Mary-Jo also served as a Board Member and Chair of the Horizons Enrichment Program at the Harley School and was elected to the Board of the National Program in 2005. She also has six years of mathematics teaching experience in Dryden, NY and in Rochester, NY. Find out more here.

Conger Gabel

Board Chair

Conger is committed to building GRSLA's capacity in order to one day provide summer learning opportunities to every student in the Rochester City School District.

Conger is one of the founding members of GRSLA and volunteers in a full-time capacity as the board chair. He works with funders, board members, program directors, and staff to create and implement the boards strategic plan, and encourages every community leader, parent, and individual he meets to become a summer learning champion.

Conger is President and Founder of the Hardy Gabel Group, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in product and technology development and financial management. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of RPC Photonics Corporation.

Early in his career, Conger taught high school physics and mathematics at the Polytechnic School in California and then served as Associate Professor of Optics at the University of Rochester. Find out more here.

Vialma Ramos

Family Support Specialist

Vialma Ramos is our bi-lingual Family Support Specialist since July 2017. Vialma stresses the risks of summer learning loss and the benefits of participating in a summer learning program. She ensure that families understand that they are making a multi-summer commitment their child's education.

As a parent of a child enrolled in a GRSLA program, Vialma shares first hand experiences, generates excitement and encourages parental involvement in the programs. She hopes that her disclosure allows families to feel more comfortable in making a commitment to the program and ensuring daily attendance.

Vilama obtained an Associate's Degree in Human Services from MCC and a Bachelor's Degree in Developmental Psychology from Empire State College. She has been working in the Human Services field for over 30 years.

Rachel

Perez-Rumpf

Photojournalist &

Snapshot Manager

Rachel Perez-Rumpf is the Program Photographer and Snapshot Designer for GRSLA. Rachel photo-documents each EPK and UPK site in the summerLEAP consortium during the summer session. Once the summer program has concluded, Rachel uses the photographs taken to design the Snapshot book; a companion document to the RECAP report published by the The Children’s Institute.

Rachel holds a degree in Photography with a concentration in Photojournalism and Documentary studies and a minor in English from the Rochester Institute of Photography.

Rachel teaches High School digital art during the school year.