Our Team

Meet the hardworking individuals that keep the Encuentro Project running and will guide you through your experience on the U.S - Mexico border.

For over 35 years Michael Costello has been a member of the Church of St Francis Xavier, a Jesuit parish in New York City. Michael has served as a volunteer, embracing leadership roles as Director at the Xavier Mission / Welcome Table, in programs in support of the homeless, elderly, migrants, veterans, the formerly incarcerated, along with food insecure and marginalized residents of the city.
Retired from a career in financial services, Michael sought spiritual direction for the next phase of life and heard the call, “go to the border”, “go to the border.” In October 2022, Michael commenced as a lay volunteer with the Jesuit/Marist Encuentro Project and various shelters in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez offering humane support of migrants seeking the bare necessities of existence. Assisting refugees fleeing unspeakable horrors in Central, South America, the Caribbean, middle east and other conflict regions of the world, Michael has sought to create a spirit of invitation within the context of Ignatian Spirituality, Catholic Social Teaching and to always look for God in the Other.
In June 2024 Michael started as Executive Director of The Encuentro Project.
Michael is a widower with three adult boys living in Charleston, Pittsburgh and Madrid.

Executive Director

Program Coordinator

Sigrid Gonzalez brings a multicultural perspective as a Mexican-American who grew up along the U.S.-Mexico border. With over 20 years of experience in immigration issues, she currently provides humanitarian migrant assistance, supporting initiatives that offer hospitality to migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Previously, she served as an Advisor for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during the Obama and Biden Administrations. In this role, she worked on the ground along the southwest border and in Mexico, contributing to the operationalization of immigration initiatives and humanitarian operations during mass migration events, including the 2014 U.S. migrant influx, the 2021 Del Rio Haitian mass migration, and CBP One implementation/expansion. She has also been part of the World Central Kitchen relief operations team providing food aid relief to vulnerable, undocumented, and refugee populations throughout the world.
Sigrid holds a B.B.A. in Accounting and International Business from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas.

Administrative Assistant

Coralis has been a Maryknoll Lay Missioner for the past 21 years. In May 2020 she moved to El Paso and worked as a community volunteer at Casa Vides, a shelter for asylum seekers, and at La Tilma, the food pantry and restaurant at Sacred Heart Parish in El Paso. Coralis joined the Encuentro Project staff as Group Shepherd when the Encuentro Project resumed its in-person immersion programs in July 2021.
Before moving to El Paso, Coralis served for 19 years in various roles at the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa, Kenya. She worked as the administrator of H.O.P.E. Project (Helping Orphans Pursue Education); started the Epilepsy Clinic in the rural area of Shimba Hills, South Coast; managed two clinics in Kikambala, North Coast; participated in a committee that set up the first secondary school for the deaf in Kilifi, North Coast; and contributed to building the rescue center for abused children of the Archdiocese of Mombasa.
Coralis was born in the Philippines and graduated from Maryknoll (now Mirriam College) with a liberal arts degree majoring in International Studies. She migrated to San Francisco, California with her five children, and worked as administrator in an investment banking firm. She was active in St. Cecilia Parish and volunteered at the San Francisco HIV & AIDS Suicide Nightline.
Coralis co-authored a book based on her mission experiences entitled, “What’s So Blessed About Being Poor” [Orbis Book, 2012].

Itzá Torres is a college student at the University of Texas at El Paso pursuing her degree in Anthropology and Communication Studies. Born in El Paso, Texas to a Guatemalan mother and Mexican father both with professional backgrounds in border justice, she has lived her entire life learning about immigration and the border. She has volunteered since childhood serving migrants at detention centers and asylums such as Annunciation House.
She hopes to pursue a career serving the underserved communities of the world through journalism and anthropology.

Social Media Coordinator

Our Group Shepherds

Meet our Board of Directors

Br Héctor Dessavre Dávila, FMS