Desireé Hernandez Ortiz (left) and Jennifer Cintron Mestre (right), both natives of Puerto Rico, were recently chosen to serve as Program Manager and Deputy Program Manager for Tidal Basin Caribe’s newest Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) project on the island through the Puerto Rico Department of Housing (PRDOH). Both will provide project oversight for Case Management Services for Economic Recovery Programs and will work directly with PRDOH representatives and the Economic Development Bank of Puerto Rico to provide the needed financial support to businesses across the island of Puerto Rico. Both have been supporting Tidal Basin’s recovery projects on the island collectively over five years.
Desireé Hernandez Ortiz is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) by trade, bringing 12 years of both financial and managerial experience to the new economic recovery program at Tidal Basin. On the R3 project, she led the program’s Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) functions related to Damage Assessments and Milestone Inspections. Her past work also includes providing accounting consultation services to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), grant analysis to the Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewers Authority (PRASA) FEMA Public Assistance (PA) program, and project consulting to the Puerto Rico Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Desireé holds a Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico.
Jennifer Cintron Mestre, Esq. is an attorney with over six years of experience. Like Desireé, Jennifer also served as a QA/QC lead on the R3 project, but her role was that of Scoping Manager. She also supported the program by working with the closing team as a certified notary public, familiarizing the program’s applicants with the legal documents they were required to execute prior to receiving housing construction assistance. Prior to her experience on the R3 program, Jennifer supported Tidal Basin Caribe during the implementation of Tu Hogar Renace (Your Home Reborn), FEMA’s largest Sheltering and Temporary Essential Power (STEP) program to date.Outside of the recovery industry, Jennifer has also worked directly with legal clinics and as an academic tutor. She holds a Juris Doctorate from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico’s School of Law.
