Nelson Carrasquillo comes from Arecibo, Puerto Rico, where he worked as an organizer for a fishermen's union and an organizer for PRISA, an ecumenical-based organization in San Juan, Puerto Rico. With his Masters Degree in Social Work, Mr. Carrasquillo worked for several years as director of a social service agency in Puerto Rico.

Since 1992, Mr. Carrasquillo has been the Executive Director of CATA, working with migrant farmworkers located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Delmarva Peninsula as they struggle for better living and working conditions, adequate housing, environmental justice, and dignity and respect. In his capacity as Executive Director, he currently participates on several boards, including co-chair and international representative of the Urban/Rural Mission, the Farmworker Health and Safety Institute, the New Jersey Environmental Federation, Earth Share New Jersey, and the South Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance. As a result of CATA's work on environmental issues and agricultural policy, Mr. Carrasquillo was appointed to sit on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Small Farm Commission in 1998 and the US Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA's) Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee overseeing the Food Quality Protection Act. Mr. Carrasquillo was also on the executive and planning committee for the National People of Color Environmental Summit II. In 2005, Mr. Carrasquillo was awarded the Alston/Bannerman Fellowship for his years of social activism promoting environmental justice and immigrants' rights.