Board of Directors

Mr. Angel Salinas

ACTS Missions Board President Emeritus

I lived my ACTS retreat in January 2014. Ever since, I knew I had to share the gift I had received with others. I served as an ACTS retreat team member between 2015 and 2017 and then as a co-director and director for ACTS Missions in 2018 and 2019.

I had the opportunity to join the ACTS Board in 2020 and now I have the honor to be the President. As the President of our Board, I feel committed and passionate about furthering our mission.

I’m blessed to be married for 24 years and I have two amazing children.

What do I do when not serving ACTS? I’m a sales trainer. I have the joy of helping sales professionals reach their full potential and I work with business owners and sales organizations building effective sales processes.

Ms. Melissa A. Ochoa

ACTS Missions Board President

As a teenager I always wanted to be a missionary. Then life happened. After serving on team for many ACTS retreats since my first one in 2007, I realized that my calling to be a missionary was right in front of me. I love serving on a team. I heard God’s call to be a missionary in a different way than what I ever expected when I was younger. I look forward to serving my brothers and sisters.

Mr. Scott A. Sanders

ACTS Missions Board Secretary

In 2013, as a former Baptist, married to a cradle Catholic, I went on my ACTS retreat. The retreat experience profoundly deepened my understanding of our faith and my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Spending the weekend with 50 men so passionate in their faith, solidified my decision to convert to Catholicism. After serving on several Retreat Teams, I joined our parish Core Team. Shortly after my time to roll off the Core Team in 2020, COVID shut down our parish retreats, and an invitation to join the ACTS Missions Board of Directors appeared in my email; a sign from God as to the next step he wanted me to take. ACTS has become a big part of the personal ministry of my wife Kathleen and myself. The story continues …..

Mr. Roland J. Garcia

ACTS Missions Board Vice President

Roland first lived his ACTS Retreat in 2011 after many years of resistance and avoidance. He left that retreat on fire and has served in many teams since. From 2019 through 2022, he served on his parish’s Core Team as Facilitator and Co-Facilitator. After completing his term on Core, he applied to serve on the Board of Directors where he has served since 2022. He currently serves as a member-at-large on the Executive Committee.

Roland and Sonia, his wife of 25 years, are the parents of five children and parishioners of St. Anthony Mary Claret Parish, where Sonia now serves on the Core Team.

In addition to his service to ACTS, Roland is a practicing attorney and serves as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in San Antonio. He’s a past president of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of San Antonio and has served in the planning committees for the Red Masses in San Antonio and Austin.

Mr. José Ignacio Sordo Galarza

ACTS Missions Board Director-At-Large

With over three decades of experience in global digital strategies across five continents, I offer a breadth of knowledge to the ACTS Missions Board. My time at Procter & Gamble was characterized by leading global initiatives, and I am humbled by being recognized as one of America’s Most Influential Hispanics in IT.

I’ve had the opportunity to author two books on digital uncertainty and strategic thinking and establish the Hispanic Innovation Center Chicago Foundation to support technology in education.

Being part of the ACTS Missions Board is a profound honor, allowing me to serve in furthering the evangelization of Jesus Christ thru our unique ACTS retreats.

Based in San Antonio, Texas, I am deeply committed to our mission of Adoration, Community, Theology and Service.

Mrs. Pilar Del La Vega

ACTS Missions Board Member

After attending my first ACTS retreat in 2008, I re-discovered my faith along with the desire for wanting to serve and evangelize others in my community. The ACTS experience opened my heart to the power of serving. I have been fortunate enough to serve in retreats in Mexico and other parishes in the United States with the Spanish retreats group. My dream came true when I was elected to be part of the Board of Directors for ACTS missions.

My husband and I are devout Catholics and am beyond blessed to have his unconditional support.

Mrs. Anne H. Smith

ACTS Missions Board Treasurer

A Personal Sharing About The Power Of Our Lord Manifested Through The ACTS Community

My loving husband, James, passed away unexpectedly in 2002 after 36 wonderful years of marriage. For the next five years after his death, I fell into a deep, dark hole of despair. Each day, it took every ounce of strength and effort I had to put one foot in front of the other. The love of my life was gone…and I was now incredibly alone.

I prayed for the courage to accept his death and the strength to go forward with my new single life. God heard my prayers, and, through the Holy Spirit, He nudged me to go on an ACTS Retreat in 2007. It proved to be a life-changer! Over the next three years, my continued involvement with the ACTS Community helped me to “shake off my grave clothes” and to completely heal from the inside out!

My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through the power of His Holy Spirit made me new and
transformed me spiritually in ways I could have never imagined. The catalyst for this change was my local ACTS Community whose love and compassion during my grief journey never wavered. Ever-so-slowly, the deep black hole of my sadness and loneliness was replaced with peace and happiness, along with an intense hunger for a face-to-face encounter with Our Lord each and every day.

Over time, My Lord anointed me with the oil of joy, and I was given a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Now, I acclaim His Unending Love for me, thanking Him for all He has done and continues to do in my life through ACTS. I also thank Him for sending a Godly man into my life after 17-1/2 years of being single. Longtime friends, neither Bill (also a widower) nor I envisioned that our relationship would blossom in ways beyond our understanding. We were married on October 4, 2019, and we are now living in His Presence, expectant of great things every day and grateful to have each other as we continue to journey through life.

I am so very thankful for my ACTS Community through which the Power of Our Lord has been manifested in amazing ways. It is my heartfelt desire to continue to shine the Light of Christ through ACTS in order to foster the opportunity for transformation for women and men from all walks of life as they seek the love, mercy, and forgiveness that Our Lord so freely offers.

Blessings,
Anne Hodge Smith

Bishop Gary W. Janak

ACTS Missions Ex-Officio Board Member

Having served as pastor of three different parishes, all with ACTS CORES, I have witnessed the vitality and excitement ACTS retreats bring to a parish community. It has been a joy for me to serve on many ACTS retreats over the years. Each retreat is a faith-filled and life-giving experience. I appreciate the opportunity to now serve as an ex officio member of ACTS Missions. I continue to witness the importance of ACTS in our Church and its role in formation and evangelization.