Quemuel Arroyo Peña, a Dominican who lives and works in New York City, is the winner of the 2023 Oscar de la Renta Emigrant Award in its 5th version. The Ministry of Foreign Relations organizes the award as a tribute to excellence of Dominicans abroad.
Quemuel Arroyo Peña stands out for his work as an urban designer of architecture and social work, especially given his physical motor disability.
Arroyo Peña is the Chief Accessibility Officer of the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) since February 2021. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is North America’s largest transportation network, serving a population of 15.3 million people across a 5,000-square-mile travel area surrounding New York City, Long Island, southeastern New York State, and Connecticut. The MTA network comprises the United State’s largest bus fleet and more subway and commuter rail cars than all other US transit systems combined.
Arroyo Peña leads the implementation of policies, initiatives, and programs that advance accessibility throughout the organization.
Before joining the MTA, Arroyo Peña had served as interim president and global head of community at Charge, an e-scooter charging and docking company. Before Charge, he served as the first chief accessibility specialist at the New York City Department of Transportation, where he helped settle the largest accessibility claim in the nation.
Arroyo Peña obtained an MPA degree from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service and a BA in Urban Design and History of Architecture from New York University. A Harlem resident and avid scuba diver, Arroyo serves on the boards of New York City Outward Bound Schools, Hudson River Community Sailing, and the Heidi Latsky Dance Company.
The Oscar de la Renta Dominican Emigrant Abroad Award is awarded by the Ministry of Foreign Relations with the support of the Corripio Foundation, Grupo Puntacana, Grupo Rizek, Kah Kow, CEPM and Energas. The winner receives RD$1 million in cash.
“Overcoming obstacles and assuming challenges, they have achieved top academic and professional levels, exercising leadership in their communities, reaffirming and asserting their Dominican identity with great dignity, while extending it to other cultures,” said the Minister of Foreign Relations Roberto Álvarez, when speaking at the ceremony.
Álvarez said that Dominicans abroad are natural ambassadors of the Dominican Republic and a country brand and maintains that it is important to protect and follow their actions and endeavors.
Arroyo Peña was chosen by a jury chaired by Haydee Rainieri; ambassador and vice minister Carlos de la Mota; María Amalia León and the Ministry of Foreign Relations vice minister María Alejandra Castillo.
Businessmen José Luis Corripio Estrada and Eliza Bolen are also part of the awards committee as permanent advisors.
“The time is always perfect to do the right thing,” said Quemuel Arroyo Peña, upon receiving the award in a ceremony at the National Theater.
The nine finalists of the 5th Emigrant Award were:
Rafael Antonio Núñez Cedeño,
Iris Violeta Rijo Matos,
Esperanza Ozuna,
Emely Rosaura Duvergé,
Luis Emilio Rodríguez Vicente,
Carmen Torruella Quander,
Evelyn Miosotis Rodríguez,
Fidel Aquino Robles
Ari Peralta.
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Ministry of Foreign Relations
Ministry of Foreign Relations
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Hoy
18 December 2023