In 2014, Rev. Roberto P. Perez passed the torch as the President/CEO of Alfalit to Joseph Milton, becoming President Emeritus. Roberto’s association with Alfalit began in 1967, when he accepted an invitation from the Founders, Rev. Eulalia Cook, Justo Gonzalez and Luisa Garcia de Gonzalez, to accompany them to conduct a training seminar in the Dominican Republic as a volunteer. In 1975, he was instrumental in moving the Alfalit headquarters from Costa Rica to Miami.

Rev. Perez is a retired United Methodist pastor and has dedicated his life to expanding Alfalit’s work to countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Portugal. Since its humble beginnings in Alajuela, Costa Rica in 1961, Alfalit has touched and changed the lives of over SEVEN MILLION people around the world, teaching them to read, write, and do basic math in Spanish, Portuguese, English, Creole and French.

“Alfalit is a tool that enables people to lift themselves out of dependency to better their lives. Education is freedom,” Perez says. “Yet with over 800 million illiterates around the world, there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Roberto Perez was awarded the Presidential Citizen’s Medal by President Barack Obama during a White House ceremony held on October 20, 2011. This is among the highest honors a civilian can receive and recognizes Americans who have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”