DEVAL Leadership - Our Expert Team Consultants

Leadership

DEVAL Leadership — Principals with direct federal agency experience, managing portfolios exceeding $230 billion since 2003.

DEVAL’s leadership team brings together licensed attorneys, credentialed finance professionals, and former federal agency executives with direct experience at HUD, VA, GSA, FDIC, Treasury, the World Bank, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Our principals are directly engaged in every client engagement — you work with the people who won the contract, not a junior team assembled after award.

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Meet our Leadership Team

Deborah García-Gratacós – Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Ms. García-Gratacós founded DEVAL in 2003 and has since led the firm in managing portfolios exceeding $230 billion across federal agencies including HUD, VA, DOI, DOS, GSA, FDIC, and USDA. Ms. Deborah García-Gratacós, a licensed attorney with a professional and educational background in real estate and finance is responsible for the overall strategic direction and operating results of the company. Ms. García-Gratacós leads operations and provides strategic direction having full responsibility for bottom-line factors, including long-range planning and management. A provider of consulting services to both private and public clients, Ms. García-Gratacós has served clients on numerous levels.

In this capacity, Ms. García-Gratacós has served federal agencies such as the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”), the United States Department of the Interior (“DOI”), the United States Department of State (“DOS”), the United States General Services Administration (“GSA”), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Prior to founding DEVAL, Ms. García-Gratacós worked as a Real Estate Consultant for Arthur Andersen LLP Valuation Group in Vienna, Virginia.

Ms. García-Gratacós has a Master’s of Business specializing in Real Estate from the University of Florida Warrington College Of Business; a Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law; a Dual Bachelor’s of Arts in Public Administration and Criminal Justice from the University of Central Florida.

Ms. García-Gratacós is also a Certified Residential Underwriter with the Mortgage Bankers Association and currently sits on the following boards:

Truist Bank Community Advisory Board
The Five Star American Mortgage Diversity Council
The Commonwealth of Virginia Housing Minority Business Advisory Council
The Operation Renewed Hope Foundation Board
The American Bible Society

Ms. García-Gratacós has been recognized as a national leader on housing matters and has been awarded the Excellence in Leadership 2025 by the Latino Coalition and the 2019 Five Star Conference “Women in Housing” Cultural Leader Award. Ms. García-Gratacós, a native of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is fluent in Spanish.

Osvaldo L. Gratacós, CFE, CAMS, MORS – President & Chief Investment Officer

Mr. Osvaldo L. Gratacós is President & Chief Investment Officer of DEVAL LLC and is responsible for the general operations, strategy development, and implementation and oversight of DEVAL’s business lines and its hundreds of staffs, including direct managing and investment responsibilities of the firm’s multi-family real estate investment portfolio and other investments. In addition, Mr. Gratacós, with DEVAL’s CEO, directs the overall strategic growth of the firm, its portfolio, and investments.

Mr. Gratacós has extensive expertise in organizational and portfolio oversight having held senior executive positions at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), The World Bank Group, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) where he was appointed as Inspector General by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. As part of his duties, Mr. Gratacós frequently testified before the U.S. Congress. Prior to joining Ex-Im Bank, Mr. Gratacós held various positions in Motorola, Inc. and the U.S. Agency for International Development, Office of Inspector General (USAID/OIG).

Mr. Gratacós holds a Bachelor degree from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, an M.B.A. degree from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Florida, and a Master in International Policy & Practice from The George Washington University. Mr. Gratacós is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), a Certified Management and Occupancy Review Specialist (MORS) .

Mr. Gratacós sits on the following boards:

The Innovation for Gospel Impact Board
The World Shoe Inc. Board
The Academy for Christian Education (ACE) Board
The Boost Others Board

Mr. Gratacós, a native of Puerto Rico, is fluent in Spanish.

Edgar Garrido – Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Edgar Garrido is the Chief Financial Officer and is based in DEVAL’s Vienna, VA office (Washington DC Metro Area). An accounting and business professional with over 15 years of experience in all aspects of accounting and financial management.

Mr. Garrido is responsible for the company’s accounting operations, including the production of periodic financial reports, maintenance of an adequate system of accounting records, and a comprehensive set of controls and budgets designed to mitigate risk, enhance the accuracy of the company’s reported financial results, and ensure that reported results comply with generally accepted accounting principles or international financial reporting standards.

Mr. Garrido has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Strayer University, an M.B.A. and a Graduate Certificate in Financial Management from The George Washington University. Mr. Garrido, a native of the Dominican Republic, is fluent in Spanish.

Gena Thornton – Senior Vice President – Loan Servicing

Mrs. Gena Thornton is a seasoned attorney with over 20 years of leadership experience in financial services, specializing in default mortgage servicing, compliance, licensing, litigation, bankruptcy, and real estate. Mrs. Thornton joined DEVAL in October 2022 and is responsible for procuring new service opportunities, overseeing contract performance, and managing client and subcontractor relationships.

Prior to DEVAL, Mrs. Thornton served as Senior Vice President and Corporate Counsel at Selene Finance LP, where she directed legal, litigation, compliance, and human resources operations and provided guidance on regulatory matters across GNMA, FNMA, FHLMC, FHA, VA, USDA, and private investor guidelines. Earlier, she served as Vice President and Counsel at Sparta Special Servicing LLC, a start-up mortgage servicer where she built the legal, compliance, quality assurance, and human resources departments from the ground up.

Her earlier career includes roles at Select Portfolio Servicing, Atlantic Mortgage & Investment Corporation (ABN/AMRO), and her own private practice, the Law Office of Gena K. Thornton, P.A., where she handled residential real estate, mortgage, bankruptcy, and related matters. She also served as a Judicial Intern to the Honorable Thomas E. Morris in the U.S. District Court.

Mrs. Thornton holds a Juris Doctor from Florida Coastal School of Law and a Bachelor of Science from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Cielo Henao – Chief Information Officer

Cielo Henao serves as Chief Information Officer at DEVAL, where she leads the design and development of enterprise-level IT systems and oversees their full lifecycle — from implementation through ongoing maintenance and support. Ms. Henao manages large-scale technology infrastructure and serves as the primary technical point of contact for client projects. With a highly diversified technical background, she specializes in building and deploying technologies that capture, evaluate, and analyze large volumes of data, translating complex business needs into efficient, systematic solutions.

During her tenure at DEVAL, she has served clients including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Small Business Administration (SBA), the U.S. Department of Treasury, and Ginnie Mae.

Ms. Henao holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of ICESI in Colombia and a Professional Certification in Financial Risk Management Models from the same institution. She is also a Certified Management and Occupancy Review Specialist (MORS).

Liza Ramos-Santos – Director, Caribbean Region

For the past ten years Mrs. Liza Ramos-Santos has been DEVAL’s Director of the Caribbean regional office based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mrs. Ramos-Santos oversees all DEVAL’s government accounts in the Caribbean, including the federal agency of United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) and state agency account for the Puerto Rico Department of Housing (“PRDOH”).

As such, she managed HUD’s Closing Agent Services Program and the Buyer Select Closing Agent Program for HUD as well as the Puerto Rico Title Clearance Program for PRDOH.

Prior to working at DEVAL, Mrs. Ramos-Santos was a Junior Associate at a mid-size law firm dedicated to corporate and labor law, and general practice, for two years. Mrs. Ramos-Santos has a Juris Doctor Degree from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico School of Law (Cum Laude) and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Pre-Law from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus (Cum Laude). Mrs. Ramos-Santos is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and is also an Authorized Public Notary for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Mrs. Ramos-Santos, a native of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is fluent in English and Spanish.