Tessie Guillermo

President/CEO, ZeroDivide

Tessie Guillermo is the CHW Board Vice Chair and is the President and CEO for ZeroDivide, a foundation that invests in community enterprises that leverage technology to benefit people in low-income and other underserved communities. Through its community, philanthropic and corporate partnerships, ZeroDivide helps nonprofit organizations find new revenue sources to become more self-sustaining.

Prior to her work with ZeroDivide, Ms. Guillermo was one of the founders and the longtime president of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum from 1986 to 2002.  Under her leadership, the Health Forum established an extraordinary record of legislative and regulatory policy successes that positively impacted Asian and Pacific Islander communities nationwide.  The numerous advocacy achievements of the Forum included the Asian and Pacific Islander Health Improvement Act of 1990, the 1997 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services API Initiative and Healthy People 2010 Objectives for the Nation.  Under Ms. Guillermo's guidance, the Health Forum also played the lead role in establishing the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders under the Clinton Administration.  This effort resulted in the formation of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, on which Ms. Guillermo served as one of the inaugural members.

Ms. Guillermo holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the California State University Hayward.