From the moment I moved to the U.S. Pacific Northwest to build a new life, now so many years ago, I have never ceased to be awestruck by the beauty and majesty of the mountains, forests, and the waters around Puget Sound and beyond, and by the amazing treasure that are our national parks.

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised in Barcelona, Spain, Antonio comes from a multicultural / multinational background. A Seattle-area resident for the past 42 years, Antonio retired in 2018 from The Boeing Company after 38 years of professional life as an aeronautical engineer. Since then, he has been engaged in numerous part-time volunteer activities, including supporting the Seattle-area Latinx and immigrant communities as an interpreter, translator, and English language teacher and tutor and, of course, our state’s national parks.

With his sons enrolled in Scouting as they were growing up — all three boys eventually attaining the rank of Eagle Scout — Antonio was also actively involved in the program, serving as a Scout leader for over 15 years. As an adult leader, he encouraged boys to love the natural world and to go beyond the ordinary, to never be afraid to dream big.

It was thanks to the time he spent with Scouts and on many family trips that Antonio came to fully appreciate the magnificence of Washington’s national parks. Later in life, the memories of so many wonderful visits and backpacking trips to our state’s outstanding national parks made supporting Washington’s National Park Fund an easy personal choice for a truly outstanding cause.

Antonio is both humbled and excited by the opportunity to serve with the Board of Directors of Washington’s National Park Fund.  His personal goal is to work with the Fund to help our state’s three largest national parks in promoting and developing programs that help traditionally underrepresented communities to be more present in the life of the parks.