Board President

Mark J. Calaguas (he/him) is an attorney practicing at the intersection of law and technology, with interdisciplinary experience in nonprofit leadership and public service. As co-founder and legal counsel for Tayo, he provides legal and strategic support for a community data hub that first launched as an online public health education and media literacy platform. Mark also performs data privacy consulting and management services for startup founders, small businesses, and institutional clients.

Mark is a past president of the Filipino American Lawyers Association of Chicago (FALA Chicago), a founding board member of the National Filipino American Lawyers Association (NFALA), executive council member of the National Conference of Bar Presidents (NCBP), and a member of the Communications Advisory Group of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Previously, Mark sat as a federal appointee on the Illinois State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and served as a community representative and FOIA officer on the local school council of Skinner North Classical School on Chicago’s Near North Side.

Mark has presented at diverse, multidisciplinary venues such as RightsCon, the National Academy of Sciences, National Science Foundation, National Communication Association, Center for Democracy and Technology, ABA Bar Leadership Institute, Filipino American National Historical Society, Collaborative Journalism Summit, and Block Club Chicago, among others. He first became involved with AFIRE as a volunteer legal reviewer at monthly citizenship workshops hosted by the New Americans Initiative. Mark’s prior experience serving immigrant communities includes pro bono work with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago and an internship at the Sevilla office of CEAR, a nongovernmental organization that provides legal and social services to refugees in Spain.

Mark holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature and English from the University of Michigan and a J.D. with Certificate in International Law and Practice from Loyola University Chicago.