Jill Montes—Co-Founder & President

Jill is a biological, bonus, and foster adoptive mother to ten children, a wife, a domestic-violence survivor, and a lifelong advocate for families navigating abuse and the family-court system. Her own experience inside that system shaped a clear calling: to protect children, empower parents, and reform the institutions meant to keep them safe. Professional Background: Holding a B.A. in Psychological & Brain Sciences, Jill has worked as a child-behavior therapist, a Screen Actors Guild actress, and for more than fifteen years as a foster and adoptive parent in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties. In 2021 she was honored as San Diego’s Resource Parent of the Year for her dedication to reunifying children with protective family members and sustaining lifelong bonds with those she’s served. A Voice for Reform: Her personal struggle for justice led her to legislative advocacy and to collaboration with a national network of survivors, researchers, and reformers. Out of this work came Advancing Justice in Family Law: Best Practices for Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence and Their Children, a groundbreaking guide for family-law professionals.

Ron Comerchero — Co-Founder & CEO

Ron began his career as an independent trader on the floor of the American Stock Exchange, later gaining trading floor membership at NYMEX/COMEX, where he served as a Board member and chaired the Arbitration Committee and the Rules and Regulation Committee. He went on to found and run a proprietary hedge fund with a far broader and more sophisticated range of activities, trading global macro, equities, arbitrage, and derivatives strategies.

Alongside his financial career, Ron has a long record of direct community service. He co-chaired the NYMEX Charitable Foundation, started a mentorship program for underprivileged inner-city kids, and regularly volunteered at soup kitchens — including time spent with children at a battered women's shelter, an early connection to the population Shield now serves.

Ron holds a B.A. in English Literature and an M.A. in Government from Johns Hopkins University, with a concentration in Democracy Studies, and is one course from completing a second M.A., in Liberal Studies. As CEO, he sets Shield's policy and strategy and leads its work on position papers and legislative partnerships — engaging directly with other organizations to translate survivors' experience into systemic change.