Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies Officers & Board Members
Current SCJS Officers
Blanca Carrasco
President 2024-26
Blanca Carrasco is a descendant of Marcos Alonso de la Garza y del Arcón (Falcón), co-founder of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, a center for crypto-Jews in Mexico since the time of Luis Carvajal and Diego de Montemayor. Born in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico, her family migrated to El Paso, Texas. Although raised Catholic, she sought to find the place she could call “home.” In 2007, she and her family reached out to Rabbi Stephen Leon to return to Judaism. In 2008, she officially converted. She became very involved with the local Jewish community and the El Paso Jewish Federation and as editor of “The Jewish Voice” their monthly publication. She is Past Co-President of the Anusim Center and Synagogue and supports its outreach in Mexico.
Blanca was featured in Isaac Artenstein’s film “A Long Journey: The Hidden Jews of the Southwest,” and depicted briefly in Ron Duncan Hart’s book “Crypto-Jews, The Long Journey” as well as in the film “Children of The Inquisition” by Joseph F. Lovett. Blanca is married and has two children. She has a Master’s in Education in Higher Education Leadership, a Certificate in Women and Gender Studies, a Bachelor’s in Graphic Design with a Minor in Speech, and an Early Childhood Certificate. She is currently the Program Manager for Student Success and Strategic Initiatives in the Department of Civil Engineering at University of Texas El Paso.
Rosa Marina Seigal
Past President and Latin America Community Outreach
Born and raised in El Salvador from parents who are descendants of colonial Crypto –Jewish families of Western Honduras, Rosa Marina Siegel is a biologist who worked as a consultant for the Green-COM USAID Environmental Education and Communication Project. In 1995 she created texts for the Spanish Ecology children booklets “Colección Retonitos”, and published similar publications with Environmental NGO. She also worked in El Salvador as consultant for various projects including Environmental Impact Evaluations, Hazardous Waste Management, and Environmental Legislature. She implemented activities with schools, colleges, NGO and rural communities to address a range of environmental issues like Biodiversity Conservation and Ecotourism. In 1999, she worked with Pesticide Action Network to help create a database of Spanish educational materials for Californian farm workers, about the risk from pesticide poisonings, how to get medical health and workers’ rights. She has been a member of the North American Association for Environmental Education, Audubon Society of El Salvador and “Unidad Ecologica Salvadoreña”. Rosa attended NOVA Southeastern University for the Coastal Ecology Program, and currently works and lives in Florida with her husband. They have four daughters and one son. She is currently an avid researcher of converso Jewish ancestry in Central America, through family narratives, DNA, Colonial and Inquisition records, and is an SCJS member, past contributor to HaLapid and a past SCJS conference presenter. She is an active member of the Sephardic congregation of South Florida and a guest member of the Sephardic congregation of Honduras and El Salvador.
Cynthia Seton-Rogers
Past President
Cindy Seton-Rogers is a doctoral student at The University of Texas at Dallas, where she also received her BA and MA in historical studies. Her declared fields of research for her PhD are early modern European history, anti-Semitism, and Holocaust literature. The focus of her dissertation will be the Sephardic Diaspora in general and crypto-Jews in particular. She currently serves as the academic and outreach events manager for the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at UT Dallas. Email: cynthia.rogers@gmail.com
Corinne Joy Brown
Vice President of Communications and Editor of HaLapid
Corinne is the award-winning author of nine books and a freelance writer for several magazines. A member of the Colorado Authors’ League, she is past president of the Denver Woman’s Press Club, and a charter member of Women Writing the West. She was also board chair of the Mizel Museum of Judaica in Denver from 1990-2000. Corinne created Writing the West, an accredited literary conference, now a part of Colorado University Gunnison’s humanities program. She is a Fellow of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Website: corinnejoybrown.com
Diane D. Mock
Treasurer
Diane D. Mock is a crypto-Jew with maternal ancestry who hails from the San Luis Valley. She’s a freelance writer and retired educator who resides in Denver, Colorado with her husband Freddy and dog Dulce.
Georgina Esther Garza, M.Ed. SPED.
Secretary
Ester Garza De Leon was born and raised in Monterrey, Nuevo León. Ester comes from the 13 original Crypto-Jewish families arriving at Nuevo Reino De León. Her ancestors are Luis De Carvajal de la Cueva, Diego De Montemayor, and Marcos Alonso de La Garza Y Falcón (Arcón). Ester graduated from the University of North Texas with a Bachelor’s in Rehabilitation Studies, a Master’s in Spanish Language and Culture from Salamanca University Spain, a Master’s in Reading and Literacy, and a Postmaster as an Educational Diagnostician from Lamar University. She has a certificate as a genealogist and Social Media specialist. She works as a School Educational Diagnostician and helps many students with learning disabilities. Her hobby is helping others with their genealogies.
Ricardo Villarreal, Ph.D.
Membership Chair
Born in Corpus Christi, Texas he is a descendant of Marcos Alonso de la Garza y del Arcón (Falcón) and Tomas Sanchez de La Barrera, the founder of Laredo, Texas.
Ricardo is a Professor of Marketing at the University of San Francisco and author, with many years of experience in consumer behavior research and methodology. His areas of expertise include consumer behavior, media behavior, identity and branding, culture and marketing, and research methodology. He has held various notable appointments, including Chair of the Marketing Department (2019–2023) and Co-Chair of the Faculty Development Committee (2015-2019; 2022-present).
Isaac Amon, J.D., LL.M., J.S.D.
Parliamentarian/Historian
Attorney and Counselor at Law and Director of Academic Research at Jewish Heritage Alliance, Isaac graduated summa cum laude with Highest Honors in History, with a focus on the Spanish Inquisition, before earning a J. D., LL.M in alternative dispute resolution and a J.S.D. (PhD in Law) in comparative criminal procedure, all from Washington University in St. Louis. He was a Legal Fellow at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Legislative Director at the Missouri Department of Corrections, and an ISIS war crimes investigator. He studied at Utrecht University, Hebrew University, and the Sorbonne, and in Summer 2024 was a scholar-in-residence at Oxford University through the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP).
The grandson of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Jewish immigrants to the United States in the 20th century, Dr. Amon’s paternal ancestors originated in 15th century Spain before leaving the Iberian Peninsula due to the Expulsion of 1492. Over the centuries, following their arrival in the Ottoman Empire, they served as Chief Rabbis, diplomats, and physicians to the Sultans. Dr. Amon has presented (in-person and online) to universities, conferences, synagogues, and Jewish communities across North America, Israel, Europe, and Australia.
He has been published in law review and professional journals and he often speaks on the law, international criminal justice, and Jewish history, including antisemitism, crypto-Judaism, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust. To learn more, please visit www.isaacamon.com or https://jewishspeakersbureau.com/index.php/speakers/isaac-amon.
Dr. Douglas Schar., B.A., DipPhyt., MNIMH., Ph.D.
Academic Outreach
A former ethnobotanist and health journalist, author of books and columnist for the health magazine Prevention. Having moved on from medical research, he now dedicates his time to the study of the Crypto-Jewish phenomena. His areas of interest are the lesser studied Crypto-Jewish communities who fled Spain, Northern Europe, Gypsies throughout Europe, Afro-European Crypto Jews of the New World, Cape Verde, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Forced conversion occurred wherever Jews lived; and Doctor Schar is interested in Crypto Jews, wherever they came from or live now.
Douglas Jewish Ancestry comes from all different directions. All four of his grandparents have Jewish ancestry. He descends from English crypto-Jews, Spanish crypto-Jews, French crypto-Jews (Huguenots), Swiss crypto-Jews (Mennonites), and Italian crypto-Jews (Waldensians).
Sean Schifano
Archivist
Sean is a graduate student at New Mexico State University, where he is currently pursuing an MA in Public History and a graduate certificate in Museum Studies. His Master’s project and internship training involve the assembly, processing, and formal establishment of the Crypto-Jewish Historical Archives (CJHA), a repository focused on identities of converso descent. Before turning to these fields, Sean earned his bachelor’s in history with a hybrid minor in Religion & Philosophy. As a doctoral student in the History of Science and Technology at Johns Hopkins University, he completed a dual internship at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, gaining his first experience with archival and museum settings. The latter drew his attention to the prospect of shifting career paths from traditional academia toward archives and public history.
Potential collaborators and donors to CJHA are encouraged to contact Sean at stschifano@gmail.com.
Elisheva Irma Diaz
Conference Chair 2025
Irma Elizabeth Diaz (also known as Elisheva Irma Diaz) is a born and raised Angeleno. She is an International author, public speaker and lecturer whose inspirational communication skills have helped nurture many through spiritual, mental and emotional health struggles. She has worked in the slums of Brazil helping families and orphanages rescue infants and children from the streets enabling the help needed to stabilize their lives. She is a distinguished figure in the realm of cultural preservation and interfaith dialogue. As a proud Sephardic (Hispanic) Jew with a deep connection to the Holy Land, she has dedicated herself to fostering a greater understanding of Jewish history and culture. In addition to her academic pursuits, she is also an ordained rabbi and a prominent figure in the Los Angeles Jewish community, serving as vice president of the Kol Sephardic Choir (ROSE). Her passion for preserving Sephardic traditions inspires others to connect with their roots.
Art Benveniste
Member-at-Large and Society Historian
Art has been an SCJS member since 1993, traveling with society members to Belmonte, Portugal when the SCJS conference was held there in 1994. He has served as president, HaLapid editor, membership chair, website administrator and treasurer. He is a retired teacher of history, government and economics. His interest in crypto-Judaism has led him to travel to Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Spain, Portugal and the American Southwest. He is active as a speaker on crypto-Jews and Sephardic history and culture in California.h
Donna Medina
Member-at-Large
From Denver, Colorado, Donna’s Jewish ancestors came up the Santa Fe trail in the 1800’s and settled in Trinidad before moving to Denver. Rabbis confirmed her parents’ belief that they were descended from those who fled the Spanish Inquisition, prompting a lifetime of heritage research. With a B.A. in Music Education from Metro University/Denver plus graduate work at Denver University, the University of Colorado, and Mozarteum University of Salzburg, Austria , Donna has served as both District and State representative for the Colorado Music Educators Association. She has played in theatre and festival orchestras and is a board member of the Colorado Hebrew Chorale, on the planning committee of Temple Aaron in Trinidad, Colorado, and a supporter of Hadassah, the Israeli American Council, and the Jewish National Conference.
Seth Ward, Ph.D.
Member-at-Large
A senior professor and lecturer in Islam and Judaism, Dr. Ward teaches at the department of religious studies at the University of Wyoming. He has done extensive studies of crypto-Jews, has presented papers at SCJS conferences, and contributed to HaLapid.
Senior Advisors
Stanley Hordes, Ph.D.
Senior Advisor to the Board
A founding member, Stan received his doctorate in Colonial Mexican History from Tulane University with his doctoral dissertation on the crypto-Jewish community of Mexico in the 17th century. He is the author of To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico.
Debbie Wohl Isard
Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Debbie Wohl Isard has a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from New College, Hofstra University, and a Master of Social Work from Hunter College, New York. A former social worker, program director, event planner, litigation paralegal, and business owner, she has served as a management consultant for funeral homes and an assistant elementary education teacher specializing in working with gifted/learning disabled students. She has also written articles about family health, pregnancy, ADHD, and education for a variety of other publications.
Genie Milgrom
Senior Advisor to the Board
Genie Milgrom of Florida has traced her Sephardic lineage to pre-Inquisition Jews, as well as authored several award-winning books including “My 15 Grandmothers”, the story of the search for her roots in Spain and Portugal. She is a sought-after speaker and researcher on the topic and has received many important accolades for her work around the world. Website: geniemilgrom.info
