SHPE ORANGE COUNTY
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board members

2020-2021

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president 

Jessica Leal-Cruz
Specialist, Physician Training
Edwards Lifesciences
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Jessica graduated from the University of California, Irvine with B.S in Material Science and Engineering. Following graduation, she joined Edwards Lifesciences’ Clinical and Regulatory Development Program, where she rolled out as a Specialist in Physician Training in September 2020. Jessica supports training of physicians and clinical specialist on heart valve therapies.

Currently, Jessica is an active member of the Edwards Lifesciences Irvine Toastmasters and serves as the President of the newly revamped SHPE OC. Using her experience as past president at SHPE-UCI and as Co-Chair for SHPE 2019 RLDC 2, she hopes to create a foundation for SHPE OC to continue serving members of the orange county community.

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VICE PRESIDENT INTERNAL

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Jerry Romero
Construction Field Engineer
Bechtel Corporation


Jerry graduated from George Mason University in 2019 with a major in Civil Engineering. During his undergrad he went through the ranks of his university chapter and ended up becoming Vice President and ultimately President. He also had the privilege of being the student co-chair for the Region 4 RLDC held in Washington DC in 2019.

Jerry now works for Bechtel Corporation as a Construction Field Engineer in our Southern California office where we are building out AT&T’s 5G infrastructure.​

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VICE PRESIDENT EXTERNAL

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Cesar Becerril
Electrical Engineer
Mammoth Electric


Cesar is an Electrical Engineer at Mammoth Electric where he’s in charge of the engineering department overseeing design-build projects from the design stage all the way through construction. He mainly focuses on ground-up construction of commercial and industrial buildings with end uses such as logistics, distribution centers, manufacturing, and refrigerated storage.

Cesar started community college in Sacramento right after finishing high school in Mexico. He obtained his Bachelors's in Electrical Engineering from UC Irvine in 2015 where he served as the 2013-2014 president for the SHPE UCI student chapter.

He follows his passion for giving back and helping others by being involved with SHPE OC professional chapter and working towards starting a nonprofit to support orphanages in Baja California, Mexico. In his spare time, he enjoys reading random books with a cup of coffee, playing softball and baseball, and laughing with his family.​

Director of Marketing

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Marc Velasco
Senior Software Engineer
IBM


Marc works for IBM in Southern California, and is currently an architect for a shared platform of SaaS offerings within the IBM Digital Business Automation portfolio.  Marc also teaches courses part-time at California State University, Fullerton.  Marc has over 20 years experience in the Software Engineering industry with a focus on: server development, cloud development, system integration, devops, containerization and cloud orchestration, SRE, system verification and testing.  Marc has a Bachelor's and Master’s of Science in Computer Science and a Master's in Software Engineering from California State University, Fullerton.  Marc is an IEEE Senior Member, the Communications officer for OC ACM, and the Director of Marketing for SHPE OC.Marc resides in the city of Orange with his wife, three children, dog, and tortoise.

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Director of IT

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Guillermo Hernandez
Frontend Engineer
Glass
Compliance Inc. /
Freelance
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Guillermo graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in 2020. While at UCI, Guillermo served as the Technical Program Manager for SHPE at UCI. He led the revamp of the Tech Committee by creating technical projects for members while building tools used by SHPE at UCI board members. Among the projects led by Guillermo were a member portal to access all things SHPE at UCI, SHPE Sign in and an arduino RC car.

Guillermo now works as a freelance web developer. Currently, he is working for Glass Compliance Inc., a web platform designed for compliance for financial advisors and asset managers as a Frontend developer. He develops features throughout the platform while following the best practices of modern web development. 

In his free time, Guillermo finds himself learning new skills online such as Cloud development with Amazon Web Services, and going outdoors. Guillermo regularly finds himself hiking throughout Griffith park and enjoys eating out. As part of SHPE OC, Guillermo is the Director of IT where he continuously improves the SHPE OC website and internal tools for the chapter to support growth and access to resources.


Director of Events

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Marlyn Diaz
Dynamic Environments Engineer
The Aerospace Company


Marlyn graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona with a B.S in Aerospace Engineering. After graduation, she joined The Aerospace Corporation as a Dynamic Environment Engineer in June 2020. Marlyn evaluates shock, vibration, and acoustic environments developed by contractors for components and subsystems.
Marlyn is highly involved in outreach programs that promote STEM education and tutors first generation students from kindergarten-college. In undergrad, she was the Treasurer of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the UpperClassmen Representative of the Undergraduate Missiles Ballistics & Rocketry Association. With this experience she hopes to create engaging events that bring mentorship and professional growth as the Director of Events for SHPE OC.

Secretary 

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Kevin Valencia
Software Developer
Main Electric Supply Co.
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Kevin graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in Business Economics in 2018. Despite his focus in school, he found a passion for programming and has been working in technology since graduating. Currently, Kevin works as a software developer for an electrical distributor and works with customers to build internal tools to extend legacy software functionality.

Director of Outreach

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Arian Reyes
Software Engineer
Nordstrom Technology


Arian graduated in June 2020 from the University of California, Irvine with a Bachelors in Computer Engineering. As an undergrad, she worked in multiple research labs, taught multiple STEM related courses, and interned for start-ups as well as a cybersecurity company called Circadence. After earning her Bachelors she was hired as a full-time Software Developer for the technology department at Nordstrom. Arian plans to further her educational path by earning an MBA and obtaining multiple certifications within her work field. 

Arian shares a passion for helping her community and serves as a mentor for other engineers. In her spare time, she likes to play soccer, trains boxing, takes online courses, and attends events that help empower our STEM community. 


2018-2020

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president 

Jesseca Martinez
Engineer I
HNTB Corporation
​Jesseca obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from UC Irvine in 2016 where she specialized in transportation and water resources engineering. Currently, Jesseca is a transportation engineer for HNTB Corporation in Santa Ana, CA, where she contributes to various roadways, complex grade separation, and transit projects in Southern California.

While her career is her passion, she also finds great rewards being involved in professional organizations. In 2017 she joined SHPE OC as a member, at the end of the year she became the professional development chair. Witnessing the growth of the SHPE OC Chapter encouraged her to continue in pursuing a bigger role. In July 2018 she became Vice President Internal where she hopes to make a significant impact. 

During her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family in Los Angeles, traveling, learning the history of places and developing her photography skills.
​Jesseca obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from UC Irvine in 2016 where she specialized in transportation and water resources engineering. Currently, Jesseca is a transportation engineer for HNTB Corporation in Santa Ana, CA, where she contributes to various roadways, complex grade separation, and transit projects in Southern California.

While her career is her passion, she also finds great rewards being involved in professional organizations. In 2017 she joined SHPE OC as a member, at the end of the year she became the professional development chair. Witnessing the growth of the SHPE OC Chapter encouraged her to continue in pursuing a bigger role. In July 2018 she became Vice President Internal where she hopes to make a significant impact. 

During her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family in Los Angeles, traveling, learning the history of places and developing her photography skills.

VICE PRESIDENT INTERNAL

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Janet Ortega
Assistant Engineer
Hazen and Sawyer

Janet Ortega is an Assistant Engineer and West Region GIS Lead for Hazen and Sawyer in Irvine, CA. She has 2 years of experience working on a variety of water, recycled water and wastewater engineering projects. Projects she has assisted with include asset management programs for various processes, condition assessments, water master plans, urban water management plans, recycled water feasibility studies and pipeline rehabilitation.

Janet’s involvement with SHPE began with the SHPE OC Chapter. Entering the workforce, Janet wanted to be a part of an organization that collaborated with and gave back to the Latinx community. Being a member of the SHPE OC team has given her the opportunity to connect with many inspiring and supportive students, alumni and professionals in the STEM field. Her goal as part of the SHPE OC team is to help continue creating and growing these bonds in and beyond the OC region!

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VICE PRESIDENT EXTERNAL

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Cesar Becerril
Electrical Engineer
Mammoth Electric


Cesar is an Electrical Engineer at Mammoth Electric where he’s in charge of the engineering department overseeing design-build projects from the design stage all the way through construction. He mainly focuses on ground-up construction of commercial and industrial buildings with end uses such as logistics, distribution centers, manufacturing, and refrigerated storage.

Cesar started community college in Sacramento right after finishing high school in Mexico. He obtained his Bachelors's in Electrical Engineering from UC Irvine in 2015 where he served as the 2013-2014 president for the SHPE UCI student chapter.

He follows his passion for giving back and helping others by being involved with SHPE OC professional chapter and working towards starting a nonprofit to support orphanages in Baja California, Mexico. In his spare time, he enjoys reading random books with a cup of coffee, playing softball and baseball, and laughing with his family.​

treasurer

Interim - Marlayna Montenegro
Open Positions

secretary​

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Hugo Mendoza
Manufacturing Engineer
Edwards Lifesciences

Hugo graduated from University of California, Irvine with his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. During his time at UCI, Hugo was a Manufacturing Engineer Intern at Baxter Healthcare and was also involved in SHPE UCI serving as its President during the 2016-2017 academic school year.

Upon graduation, he accepted a full-time job offer as a Product Quality Engineer at Applied Medical located in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. He performed failure analysis on Applied Medical’s minimally invasive surgical instruments and completed investigations for product complaints/failures.

In 2018, Hugo transitioned into becoming a Manufacturing Engineer at Edwards Lifesciences in Irvine, CA. His role includes sustaining production of artificial aortic heart valves, equipment validation/qualification, completing non-conformance reports, and improving manufacturing process.

Outside of work he is involved in the SHPE Orange County chapter as its Secretary, and is also currently training for the LA Marathon.


​PO BOX 25918, Santa Ana, CA 92799

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