Dan West
Mr. West serves as the Founding Board Chairman of Brillante Academy. As a lawyer, financial expert, and educator, he has the skills and expertise to closely monitor operational, financial and academic indicators to ensure the success of our students.
In his role as Vice President at SCF Partners, Mr. West provides board leadership and strategic coaching to entrepreneurs, helping them to manage budgets, track outcomes, and deliver results. His past experience as an educator includes teaching college-accredited courses for deployed service members aboard a Navy ship, developing military training as a member of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps and an active duty officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, and teaching undergraduates at Harvard College, where he was recognized with five awards for excellence in teaching based on student evaluations.
Mr. West holds degrees in law, business administration, and economics from Harvard University, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Luciana Hampilos
Ms. Hampilos serves as a Board Member of Brillante Academy. As a Rio Grande Valley native and an attorney with experience in higher education and public policy, Ms. Hampilos monitors the academic, financial, and operational indicators to support the continued flourishing of Brillante Academy.
Prior to joining Brillante Academy, Ms. Hampilos worked as an attorney and advisor in all three branches of the federal government. Ms. Hampilos’ experience also extends to higher education. As the former Assistant General Counsel of the University of Dallas, she provided legal counsel to the University and managed its legal affairs. She also served as the University’s Civil Rights Director and Title IX Coordinator, during which time she oversaw the University’s compliance with state and federal civil rights laws.
Ms. Hampilos is a graduate of McAllen Memorial High School. She received her B.A. in Government from Harvard University and her J.D. from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law.
Continuing the legacy of her great-grandparents and grandparents, who were the founders of Milano’s Italian restaurant in Weslaco, Ms. Hampilos has deep roots across the Rio Grande Valley. She and her husband (Bennett) recently moved to McAllen to start a new chapter of their lives as parents.
Victor Saenz
Victor Saenz, Ph.D., is the executive director of the Houston Institute (HI). The mission of HI is to help the people of Rice University and the Texas Medical Center think deeply about the best way to live through the study of the liberal arts, especially philosophy and literature. The goal is to foster in students a habit of seeking and loving truth concerning life’s fundamental questions. The work of HI is rooted in the natural law tradition–with Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas as central figures—and has a particular focus on virtue, vice, and human flourishing. Nevertheless HI programming aims to look at the best thinkers with a range of views in a fair-minded way. All students committed to serious intellectual engagement are welcome, regardless of their views. HI accomplishes this through targeted student reading groups, public lectures, courses, and one-on-one mentoring.
Victor holds a B.A. in philosophy and classics from the University of Notre Dame (2009), an M.A. in philosophy from Texas A&M (2011), and a PhD in philosophy from Rice University (2018). He was a lecturer at the Rice University Philosophy Department until Spring 2024. He taught Contemporary Moral Issues, Introduction to Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and upper-level seminars on Plato and Aristotle. Victor’s area of expertise is classical philosophy and he is currently working on a series of academic articles on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.
Alfredo Villalobos
Mr. Villalobos serves as a founding Board member of Brillante Academy. As a entrepreneur and local business owner, Mr. Villalobos financial and operational acumen will support the launch and ongoing management of Brillante Academy.
Mr. Villalobos is the managing partner of McAllen Valley Roofing Co., which started in McAllen and has expanded to serve clients across Del Rio, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Laredo, and Corpus Christi and across the Rio Grande Valley. Mr. Villalobos also serves as an active leader in various non-profit organizations. He will be able to bring his extensive start-up and construction experience to support the oversight of facility planning, renovations and general operational indicators.
Mr. Villalobos holds a business degree from the Ohio State University.
Ysmael Fonseca
Justice Ysmael D. Fonseca was born and raised in South Texas. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. degree, with honors, in Political Science and Spanish Literature in 2003 and a J.D. degree, with honors, in 2009. Prior to attending law school, he served as a Paralegal Specialist for the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C. assisting in the prosecution of civil rights cases, with a particular focus on the prosecution of human trafficking offenses. He continued in public service while in law school through his work with the United States Attorney’s Office in McAllen, Texas and with Senator John Cornyn in the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate. During his law school years, Justice Fonseca served in the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy as note editor, and in the Notre Dame Legal Aid Clinic as a student-lawyer representing indigent clients in small estate, guardianship, and other probate matters.
Justice Fonseca’s career as an attorney began with his service as judicial law clerk for Judge Randy Crane of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. He then continued his practice at Guerra & Sabo, PLLC (formerly Guerra, Leeds, Sabo & Hernandez, PLLC) where he specialized in civil defense, municipal law, and small business and non-profit representation. By appointment of Governor Greg Abbott, from 2019 to 2020, Justice Fonseca served as Judge of the 464th District Court of Hidalgo County, and, from 2023 to 2024, Justice Fonseca served as Judge of the 476th District Court of Hidalgo County, courts of general jurisdiction overseeing criminal, family and civil cases.
Justice Fonseca’s service extends to several entities and organizations in his community. He currently serves on the boards of the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan Del Valle, McAllen Pregnancy Center, and RGV LEAD. Justice Fonseca is a member of the Texas Bar Foundation and the College of the State Bar of Texas.
Justice Fonseca was elected to Place 4 of the Thirteenth Court of Appeals on November 5, 2024. His tenure on the Court began January 1, 2025.
Contact our Board: info@brillanteacademy.org
Mailing Address: 706 N. Los Ebanos Rd. Mission, TX 78572
Interested in Joining our Board?
Board Meetings
Per Chapter 176 of the Texas Local Government Code, local government officers are required to disclose relationships with certain vendors by completing the online CIS Form and/or CIQ Form. These documents are required to be posted online for up to three years from date of filing or longer if the conflict continues. At this time, no Brillante Board Member or employee subject to the disclosure requirement has a conflict.
