Help keep the next step within reach.
Founder & President
Raised in a hardworking immigrant family, Juan was once at risk of not graduating from high school. The Youth ChalleNGe Academy in California opened a different path—one that led to military service, college, business ownership, and a lasting desire to help others move forward.
Juan retired as a Master Sergeant after 20 years of military service—17 years in the U.S. Air Force followed by his final three years in the Air National Guard. His career combined logistics, recruiting, team development, and program operations—experience he now puts to work building a dependable, youth-centered nonprofit.
His service included combat deployments and missions across Europe and the Middle East. Over his career, he traveled to more than 35 countries and spent more than seven years living overseas with his family in Italy and England. Working across cultures—and navigating deployments and international moves as a family—deepened his adaptability, perspective, and appreciation for the people beside him.
During eight years in recruiting, Juan helped people turn an interest in service into a practical plan. In National City, California, he personally guided 197 recruits into Basic Military Training. As a Flight Chief in Orange County, he led 12 recruiting professionals whose combined work brought 333 people into the Air Force. In New Mexico, he helped expand a two-person recruiting team into a broader statewide operation with dedicated recruiting, training, and marketing support. Those experiences inform his mentoring today: listen carefully, explain the options, and help someone follow through on their next step.
His service has been recognized with three Meritorious Service Medals, four Air Force Commendation Medals, the Air Force Achievement Medal, and the New Mexico Distinguished Service Medal. He sees those honors as reminders of responsibility, teamwork, and the trust placed in him.
The full-circle moment came when Major General Aguilar and Brigadier General Henry gave him the opportunity to help launch New Mexico Job ChalleNGe Academy at Expo New Mexico from day one of Cycle 1. As Program Manager, he helped establish operational processes and internal systems across administration, academics, logistics, and recruiting. A former cadet was now helping build opportunities for the next generation.
Juan continues to volunteer with Youth, Job, and Governor’s Summer ChalleNGe. Through Cornerstone, he carries that commitment beyond graduation: removing barriers, staying connected, and mentoring alumni to become leaders who open doors for others.
Juan earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Information Technology from Columbia Southern University while serving in the military. He also holds two separate associate degrees—in Human Resources and Logistics—from the Community College of the Air Force.
As owner of Mountain Faith LLC, a real estate holding and property management company, Juan brings experience in single-family and multifamily investment, new construction, rehabilitation, mortgage lending, and creative financing. His broader investment experience spans California, Texas, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Florida. Managing projects, evaluating costs, coordinating people, and adapting when plans change are lessons he brings to Cornerstone’s stewardship and to mentoring young people exploring work and entrepreneurship.
Juan’s military experience taught him to improve the systems people rely on. At Royal Air Force Base Lakenheath in England, he led three process-improvement projects credited in his award citation with saving 7,000 staff hours annually.
His performance reports describe redesigned priority-cargo procedures, consolidation of overlapping work, better shipment tracking, and improved after-hours workflows. One report credits him with reducing average cargo processing to under six hours against a 24-hour Air Force standard. The lesson he brings to Cornerstone is simple: listen to the people doing the work, remove unnecessary steps, and build a process they can use consistently.
Today, he designs full-stack web-based tools that connect case management, follow-up, program records, and nonprofit administration. The goal is practical: spend less time chasing paperwork and more time helping people take their next step—with clear records and human oversight.
For Juan, no rank, award, or business accomplishment means more than the family beside him. His wife has shared the sacrifices of deployments and moves around the world. He is proud of their daughter’s progress toward a master’s degree in architecture and their son’s initiative as a high-school junior taking college courses, gaining paid work experience with the State of New Mexico, and exploring the trades. Both are developing entrepreneurial ambitions of their own.
His parents came to America with dreams of a better life, and their example taught him the value of hard work. Juan does not claim to have all the answers. He credits God’s grace, his family’s sacrifices, and a willingness to keep learning and working through difficulty for the opportunities he has received. Retirement has given him more room to serve with purpose, practice discipleship, and encourage others.
Where someone starts—or the mistakes they have made—need not define their future. Siempre Adelante—always moving forward.
Good soil, patient care, and a shared harvest offer a simple picture of mentorship. By building trust, removing barriers, and staying connected, Cornerstone helps young people from every background find room to grow.
Good soil — trust, encouragement, and help removing practical barriers.
Growth — regular check-ins, guidance, and opportunities to build skills.
Fruit — supporting young people as they pursue their own goals in education, work, and independence.
A shared harvest — alumni returning to mentor, lead, and open doors for the next person.