Our Team

Fundación Empresariado Sonorense A.C. (FESAC), legally established in 1999, is a Mexican nonprofit organization based in Sonora that focuses on community development in the border region. The Nogales Project supports the Nogales sector of FESAC through fundraising and building a binational network across the US-Mexico border.

Alma Cota de Yanez

Executive Director

Born in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Alma Cota de Yanez graduated from the Technical Institute of Monterrey (ITESM) with a degree in Business Administration. She began working with NGOs as a part time translator for Save the Children during her university studies. Alma served as a part-time teacher for ITESM, La Salle University in Obregón and Kino High School in Magdalena, Sonora. She also served as a board member of Lourdes Catholic School for cross border collaboration. She has been Executive Director of the FESAC Nogales chapter since January 2003, working to promote civil society, philanthropy, culture and an NGO network. FESAC works in close partnership with the Border Community Alliance in Arizona on a variety of cross border programs. Alma is the director for the Nogales Project.


Robert Phillips

Senior Advisor and Coordinator

Bob Phillips lived and worked on the AZ/Mexico Border from 2005 to 2015. He was the Executive Director of a children's clinic serving low-income families in New Mexico; he also directed and helped found a cross border community foundation, Border Community Alliance. Prior to this work, Bob was the CEO of a California nonprofit helping train a bicultural healthcare workforce with UCSF Family and Community Health. A Dartmouth and Stanford graduate with a MA degree in International Relations, he was a Stanford exchange scholar to the American University of Beirut. He is a member of the Community Advisory Panel for KQED (N. California NPR station), a lead consultant for the Green Valley Foundations Road to Recovery project, a Senior Advisor to FESAC and volunteer coordinator of the Nogales Project.