Dr. Hernández is Empowerfy’s CEO, founder, and lead consultant. He is a proud Nica/Nicoya– terms used to describe someone with Nicaraguan roots. He is the proud father to Aella Mia and husband to Isabel. 

Dr. Hernández is a dynamic and results-driven leader with a rich blend of experience across corporate, nonprofit, and higher education sectors. Known for a relational and entrepreneurial approach, Dr. Hernández brings a strong background in organizational strategic planning, project management, staff development, and cultural competence.

In addition to leading Empowerfy, he is also the founder and president of Faithful Teachings, Inc. a nonprofit organization that aims to be a catalyst through partnerships with local faith-based communities on holistic initiatives for the transformation of society in Latin America.

Dr. Hernández also serves as the Associate Provost of Engagement and Inclusive Teaching and Learning (aka Chief Diversity Officer) at Fresno Pacific University. His previous roles include being the Director of the Jesse Miranda Center for Hispanic Leadership at Vanguard University, leading a corporate training team that served an international audience, and leading teams of higher education professionals who pioneered institutional efforts in creating an infrastructure to support fully online undergraduate and graduate students.

Dr. Hernández has presented and published on various leadership topics. He contributed a chapter entitled “Identity, Intersectionality, and Leadership: Leading While Brown” included in Ludmila Praslova’s book Evidence-Based Organizational Practices for Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging and Equity. He has published in academic journals, which include “A double paradox: Servant leadership and gender scripts in the Latin American context” in the Theology of Leadership Journal and “You Hide Pieces of Yourself”: Navigating White Spaces as U.S. Missionaries of Color” published in Transformation. Dr. Hernández is also a part of the Publisher’s Circle at Hispanic Executive where he has published articles entitled “The Art and Responsibility of Leading as a Latino” and “Embodying Brown Leadership in Predominantly White Institutions. Hispanic Executive.” He is also the author of Pursuing Self: Body, Mind, Spirit, which presents a set of poems that speak to the lived experience of a hyphenated identity.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with an emphasis on culture and society from California State Los Angeles, a Master of Arts in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies from Biola’s Cook School of Intercultural Studies. He is currently pursuing an Executive MBA at UCI’s Paul Merage School of Business.

His research interests include Latin American identity, theology, contextualization, leadership, justice, and ADEIB - accessibility, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.