October 27-29, 2007 Member Conference
Speakers
Ivette Johnson
Brand Manager for U.S. Hispanic Market
Procter & Gamble
Ivette Johnson has been with Procter & Gamble for 10 years and has worked with Hispanic Marketing for 7 out of those 10 years. Johnson originally from Puerto Rico where she began her career with P&G, moved to their headquarters in Cincinnati in 2004. She has managed the Hispanic marketing efforts for several brands including Pampers, Always, Secret, Pantene, H&S, and more recently Crest.
With the recent shift of Hispanic marketing for P&G from Puerto Rico to Cincinnati, she has returned to that side of the business, thus combining her Hispanic marketing expertise with her recent North American and Global experiences. Johnson, whose husband is also a P&G Brand Manager, have a 2 year-old daughter, Gabriela, and are expecting their second child.
David Rodriguez
Multicultural Marketing Communications, Manager
Ford Motor Company
Dave Rodriguez is the Multicultural Marketing Communications Manager at Ford Motor Company’s Ford, Lincoln and Mercury Divisions. He is responsible for Hispanic and Supplier-Dealer Diversity communications. Dave directs all integrated communications, including advertising, experiential, new media and alliances. As part of Ford’s community initiatives, Dave serves as the corporate marketing liaison to the National Council of La Raza and has been a member of the Affiliate of the Year Selection Committee. In his roles at Ford, he has also overseen African American and Asian marketing efforts. He joined Ford in June, 2005.
Prior to Ford, Dave held various executive-level positions in Advertising, Marketing, and Consulting. His background includes Multicultural and General Market communications in Automotive, along with such consumer categories as Beverage, Financial Services and Sports Marketing. He has also consulted minority agency’s serving the pharmaceutical industry. Dave’s experience includes leadership roles in the agency arena, at such firms as BBDO and Young and Rubicam.
Dave is from Detroit, Michigan, and has also lived in Chicago, IL.
Eloy Garcia
Senior Marketing Manager
Allstate Insurance Company
Eloy Garcia is a Senior Marketing Manager, working within the Customer Experience and Innovation Team for Allstate Insurance Company. In his current role, Eloy leads the development and launch of new insurance products and services. In addition to his work on consumer driven innovation, Eloy has accountability for the Multicultural Customer Experience strategy and associated efforts.
Eloy has been with Allstate for twelve years and during his career he has managed key initiatives as part of the Hispanic Business Team and worked on new ventures within Allstate Enterprises Inc. Eloy worked in Allstate’s Marketing Strategy group from 2000 through 2005, where he managed the company’s customer direct mail plan and Safety and Prevention program, developed and managed regional marketing plans and led the execution of several consumer promotions. Most recently, as a member of the Customer Experience Team, Eloy led the development and launch of Allstate’s multicultural customer experience and referral initiatives.
Eloy is a member of NSHMBA (National Society of Hispanic MBA’s) and PLAN (Professional Latino Allstate Network) and sits on the company’s Operating Diversity Council. Eloy has his MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Illinois University. In addition, Eloy served two years of active duty in the United States Army.
Sandra Murillo Weber
Vice President Multicultural Market Development
Turner Broadcasting System
Sandra Murillo Weber is Vice President of Multicultural Market Development for Turner Entertainment Networks. In this capacity, she is responsible for identifying new marketing opportunities within the Turner Entertainment Networks portfolio.
Since Weber joined the company in 2004, Turner Entertainment’s diverse casting, production and storylines have been awarded recognition by the Imagen Awards, the NAACP and NAMIC, for originals like The Closer and The Black Movie Awards on TNT. Weber has also introduced cartoonnetworkYA.com, a brand-inspired Web site for Latino kids, to the advertiser community.
Weber joined TBS, Inc. from Comcast Spotlight in Miami, for which she served as director of ad sales for multicultural markets for 10 years. Weber conceived and launched a grassroots Hispanic national project that evolved into the organization’s multicultural department. Earlier in her career, she was national sales manager for Hispanic markets with AT&T Media Services and an account executive with TCI Media Services.
Weber earned a bachelor of arts in social communication from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia, and a Master of Arts degree in communication arts from the University of West Florida in Pensacola. She serves on the Board of Directors of the National Hispanic Corporate Council, and is active in Women in Cable & Telecommunications and NAMIC.
Tony Suarez
Vice President, Multicultural Marketing
McDonald’s Corporation
Tony Suarez is The Vice President of Multicultural Marketing at McDonald’s. He is responsible for all efforts from the company focused against the Ethnic consumer. He is in charge of leading brand building initiatives, sales volume results and community efforts that target the Hispanic, African American and Asian segments.
Tony is responsible for leading and influencing the advertising, marketing and community efforts with these consumers.
Prior to his current role, Tony was the International Marketing Director responsible for growing Coca-Cola business in all of Latin America through the largest global customer for the Company: The McDonald’s Corporation. Tony returned to The Coca-Cola Company after six years of absence, gaining experience by holding senior positions with The BCOM 3 agency network. He worked for both Clarion Marketing and Communications and for Bromley and Associates.
He was Senior Vice- President, Director of Retail Accounts with Clarion Marketing and Communication in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to joining Clarion, Tony was President of S&S Marketing and Promotions. A wholly owned division of Bromley and Associates in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to joining the agency world, Tony was a Retail Marketing Manager for Coca-Cola USA for three years. Before this assignment, Tony was in charge of marketing to Black and Hispanic segments for two years.
Tony holds an undergraduate degree from California State University and a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University.
Mary Lolich
Director
Experience Engineering
Mary Lolich
Experience Director
Equipped with an MBA in marketing from the University of Saint Thomas and twenty years of business experience, Mary draws on a variety of research tools and disciplines to break human experience down into simple, practical (and perhaps most importantly) do-able components. Part project manager, part translator, she is an invaluable resource for clients as, together with Experience Engineering, they work to strengthen their customer experience.
Lupe M. Gallardo
Associate
Barraza Consulting Group
Lupe M. Gallardo is an experienced marketing professional with a unique blend of expertise in Hispanic Marketing, Human Resources, and Education. She has 20 years of experience in corporate, education, and entrepreneurial environments.
Before joining Barraza Consulting, Gallardo served as founder and President of a successful non-profit sports organization. She spent 18 years working for the Allstate Corporation holding various positions in Field Operations, Human Resources, and Hispanic Marketing.
Gallardo wrote and published Allstate’s Hispanic Best Practices manual, unveiled at the 2001 National Council of La Raza Conference and endorsed by renowned Hispanic marketing author Isabel Valdes. She designed and launched Allstate’s first Hispanic point-of-sale team and directed point-of-sale collateral and creatives for the market-entry of Allstate’s products and channel support for Puerto Rico.
Ms. Gallardo was recognized for Diversity Leadership in the Wall Street Journal. She is a graduate of Illinois State University and holds a B.A in Education, and a Master’s in Spanish Language and Culture, and International Business.
Christopher C. Pinney
Director of Executive Education
The Center for Corporate Citizenship
Pinney is an internationally recognized authority on corporate citizenship and community involvement. He is currently Director of Executive Education at the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College where he oversees the development of the Center’s global executive education programs and corporate citizenship management programs.
From 1994 to 2004 he was Director of the Imagine Program, Canada’s leading national program to promote corporate citizenship with 600 member companies, and Vice-President of Corporate Citizenship at the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy. Chris was instrumental in moving the Imagine Program from a philanthropy focused approach to one that embraces the full spectrum of corporate responsibility and citizenship. From 1998 to 2001 Chris also served as the coordinator for the CIVICUS global corporate engagement program, an international network of NGOs, private and public sector leaders from 90 countries working to strengthen citizen action and civil society throughout the world. Prior to that, Chris was Director of Public Affairs for the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC).
As a volunteer, Chris was chair of the International Coalition for Development Action in Brussels from 1982 to 1986, and founder and president of Co-development Canada, a Vancouver based international development agency. He currently serves on the board of a number of voluntary agencies.
Chris holds a B.A. in Political Science from McGill University and M.A. in Communications from Simon Fraser University.
Ralph D. Reid
Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility
Sprint Nextel Corporation
Ralph Reid is Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility for Sprint Nextel. In this role, he has responsibility for Community Relations, Employee Volunteerism, and Corporate Diversity and Inclusion. He also directs Sprint’s philanthropic activities as President of the Sprint Foundation.
Prior to joining the Corporate Social Responsibility Department in 2003, Reid led Sprint’s Emerging Leadership Programs. In this role, he was responsible for designing, developing and leading accelerated developmental programs for Sprint managers and executives. During his 24-year career with Sprint, he has held a wide range of financial and operations management positions with the company.
Reid has a B.S. in Business Administration and Accounting from Oakwood College, Huntsville, Ala. He also received a Law Degree from the University Missouri – Kansas City. He is currently President - Board of Directors of the Kansas City Downtown Minority Development Corporation, and Vice President – Board of Directors of the Kansas City United Community Action Agency. He also serves on the Boards of Shawnee Mission Medical Center, Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City, Kansas City Repertory Theater, Heart of America United Way, Salvation Army, Greater KC Urban League, Greater KC Chamber of Commerce, Oakwood College and Park University.
Mickey Silberman
Partner
Jackson Lewis LLP
Mickey Silberman is a Partner with Jackson Lewis LLP, the national workplace law firm. He is the Managing Partner of the firm’s Denver office and is a member of the firm’s Affirmative Action Practice Group. Mr. Silberman represents management exclusively in all areas of employment law and specializes in affirmative action and EEO compliance and Diversity. He counsels employers from all industries and all areas of the country in this area of the law and is a frequent speaker at programs throughout the country on the topic. In addition, he is Legal Counsel to and serves on the Executive Committee of the National Industry Liaison Group (NILG) Board, an affirmative action employers association.
ILGs are comprised of large federal contractors that regularly meet with local, regional and national representatives of the OFCCP and EEOC to engage in information exchange and to give corporations a “voice” with the regulatory agencies. Through his work with the NILG, Mr. Silberman frequently meets with top OFCCP and EEOC officials to discuss the agencies’ regulatory initiatives and enforcement trends and present the federal contractor community’s feedback on these developments.
Mr. Silberman received his Juris Doctor degree from the St. John’s University School of Law with a concentration in the study of Advanced Labor Law. He graduated with honors from the City University of New York. He is admitted to the Bars of the State of New York and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
P. Alex Vasquez
Associate General Counsel
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
P. Alex Vasquez, Associate General Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel, Legal Administration Division, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., is responsible for the development and coordination of diversity for the Wal-Mart Legal Department. In his role, Alex focuses on continued diversity within the Legal Department, commitment to diversity by Wal-Mart’s outside counsel, and advancing diversity in the legal profession. Alex is actively involved in the review of outside counsel relationships, including the hiring of new law firms and the evaluation of existing law firm relationships.
Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, Alex was the Associate General Counsel for Planning and Development in the Litigation Division of the Wal-Mart Legal Department and was responsible for strategic planning and attorney development. He began his career with Wal-Mart in March 2003 as an Assistant General Counsel assigned to the Commercial Litigation Section.
Prior to joining Wal-Mart, Alex practiced law with firms in Dallas and Abilene, Texas. He also served as law clerk to the Honorable Jorge A. Solis, United States District Court, Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. Alex earned his Juris Doctor from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1991.
Alex and his wife, Cindy, reside in Rogers, Arkansas with their three children, Michel, Cristian, and Julian. The family regularly enjoys the outdoor activities of Northwest Arkansas.
Rey Celaya
Partner
Barraza Consulting Group
Ray Celaya, Partner, Barraza Consulting Group, joined the firm in 2006 after 28 years with Allstate Insurance Company. He is responsible for assessing client opportunities, developing strategies and implementing actions that deliver results. He works closely with clients to implement a systematic and holistic approach to multicultural marketing.
At Allstate he launched strategic initiatives in Corporate Diversity, Hispanic Marketing, Multicultural Marketing and Supplier Diversity. From 1995 to 2001, Celaya and his marketing team more than doubled Allstate’s annual Hispanic market premium from $1.0 billion to $2.2 billion. This success prompted Allstate in 2001 to expand its effort to other major ethnic groups. As leader of Allstate’s Multicultural Markets Team he focused on developing business growth within the African American, Asian American and Hispanic market segments. Success throughout this period prompted numerous research firms and authors to capture insights on his successful journey.
In addition Ray served on the Board of Directors for the National Hispanic Corporate Council (NHCC) from 2000 to 2005. Ray also served on the Florida State University Advisory Board for the Center for the Study of Hispanic Marketing Communications working closely with the Center’s Director supporting development of curriculum.
Ray is a retired U.S. Army Major having served tours of duty in Vietnam, Europe and the Middle East. He is a graduate of California State University, Hayward and from the University of the State of New York, Albany.
Dr. Samuel Betances
Executive
Souder, Betances & Associates, Inc.
As a biracial, bicultural, and bilingual citizen of the world, Dr. Betances has worked in all fifty states, all six U.S. territories and in various countries including Japan, Korea, Germany and Mexico.
Decades of university teaching, publishing articles and consultantships with private and public organizations bring to each event a breadth and depth of understanding on how we must make sense of differences. His newly released educational book/tape series Ten Steps to the Head of the Class has been outstandingly received by audiences everywhere.
This great motivator was not supposed to make it. Out of the bowels of inner city poverty, stigma of minority group status, violence, welfare and illiteracy in two languages, he arose. With strong spiritual convictions and a passion for reading, Samuel Betances has taken the hard lessons from the mean streets of life and reshaped them into his personal vision. He embarked on a journey from dropping out of school to a Doctorate from Harvard University. Today, America’s foremost communicator on the challenge of casting away barriers to success is an honored Professor Emeritus, a consultant to U.S. Presidents, CEOs, managers, community groups, clergy members, educators, and a role model for youth.
His success at bringing cultures together has earned him many awards. As he puts it, “Our mission is to make America stronger, healthier and freer than when we found her.”
Horacio E. Gutiérrez
Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
Microsoft Corporation
Horacio Gutiérrez is Microsoft Corporation’s Vice President and Deputy General Counsel in charge of the company’s worldwide Intellectual Property & Licensing Group. Prior to his current position, Gutiérrez was based in Paris, France, where he led Microsoft’s legal department for Europe, Middle East and Africa, overseeing all legal, regulatory and government affairs matters in that region.
Gutiérrez is a frequent lecturer on intellectual property, competition and electronic commerce policy issues, and has provided advice to several Governments on proposed legislation on the subject of e-signatures. He was selected by the U.S. Department of Commerce to represent the United States in the FTAA Joint Government-Private Sector Committee of Experts on Electronic Commerce. He is also a member of the Steering Committee on Electronic Commerce of the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade and of the Center’s working group on Electronic Contracts.
Before joining Microsoft in 1998, Gutiérrez was a member of the international practice group at the Miami office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where he focused on international intellectual property, international commercial transactions and corporate finance.
Gutiérrez is trained and has practiced law both in civil law and common law jurisdictions. He holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, which he attended as a Fulbright Scholar; a J.D., summa cum laude, from the University Of Miami School Of Law; an LL.B. from Catholic University (Caracas, Venezuela); and a Specialization in Corporate and Commercial Law from the same institution.
Gutiérrez is a member of the New York, Florida, American, International and Federal District (Venezuela) Bar Associations and is fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.
John M. Esquivel
Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Associate
General Counsel, Shell Oil Company
John Esquivel is the Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Associate General Counsel for Shell Oil Company. As Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, John oversees, coordinates, and facilitates the ethics and compliance efforts in line with the Shell Code of Conduct and promotes senior management responsibility and accountability for ethics and compliance. He has served in a management capacity for over 18 years. John served on the company-wide strategy study team on Diversity and serves as the management representative on the Diversity Council for the Legal Organization. He is also on the Executive Advisory Board for the Shell Hispanic Employees Network. John also serves on the company’s Economic Development Council, which provides oversight for the Corporate Supplier Diversity Program and assists in the development of related strategies, goals, and objectives.
John is currently on the boards of The Ronald McDonald House- Houston and the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. John has served on the Board of the Houston Hispanic Bar Association and has served as co-chair of the Houston Bar Association committee on opportunities for minorities in the legal profession. John is also on the board of Neighbors in Action, Inc. and has served on the board of the Wesley Community Center (both being non-profit organizations focusing on the needs of the Houston Hispanic community).
John received his B.B.A. (accounting major) from St. Mary’s University in 1976 and his J.D. from the University of Michigan in 1979. He is licensed to practice law in the states of Texas and California.
John and his wife Minerva have two children. Chris is a recent graduate of the University of Texas in Austin (film major) and Bianca is a junior at Baylor University (social work major). John and his family have gone on mission trips to Costa Rica, Guatemala, Navajo Nation, Mexico, Venezuela, Honduras, Peru, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Romania, Ukraine, Viet Nam, and Thailand.
Emilio Gonzalez
Executive Director for Public Affairs, Policy and
Communications, Verizon Communications
Emilio Gonzalez is Executive Director of Public Affairs, Policy & Communications for Verizon Communications, a Dow Jones 30 company.
As Executive Director, he manages Hispanic and Asian American Affairs nationally, public policy formulation and strategic partnerships with national organizations. Mr. Gonzalez also serves as the Verizon federal lead for Legislative Affairs with Hispanic members of Congress.
Prior to joining Verizon, Mr. Gonzalez was a political appointee of the Clinton Administration, serving as a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Education and as Policy Advisor for the U.S. Commerce Department, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
From 1990 to 1993, Mr. Gonzalez was a Senior Policy Analyst with the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and co-authored Making Government Work: Electronic Service Delivery in the Information Age.
Mr. Gonzalez lives in Washington, DC. He holds a Bachelors and Masters degree from Harvard University.
Johann D. Lopez
Region Director, Government Affairs
Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.
Johann D. Lopez is Region Director of Government Affairs for Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. In this capacity, he manages the company’s state government affairs activities for seven states in the Northeast, as well as Puerto Rico.
Lopez is responsible for developing and implementing political and legislative strategies and monitoring regulatory actions that affect the company’s interests. This includes building coalitions and directing public affairs and media strategies to achieve long and short-term business objectives.
Prior to joining the Government Affairs Department, Lopez worked for Anheuser-Busch’s Corporate Relations Department as Region Manager. In that capacity, he was responsible for developing and implementing corporate outreach programs for the Hispanic community.
Lopez joined Anheuser-Busch in 1992 as an Internal Auditor. He was responsible for all phases of financial and operational audits involving domestic and international affiliates. His emphasis was on wholesale operations, breweries, corporate functions, bakeries and special projects.
Before joining Anheuser-Busch, Lopez worked for Ralston Purina Company in St. Louis, as Senior Internal Auditor. In this role, he was involved in all phases of financial and operational audits and special projects for international affiliates.
He is a member of the Cuban American National Council - Corporate Board of Advisors.
Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Lopez graduated with a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Sacred Heart in San Juan, P.R. He is fluent in English and Spanish. He is single and resides in Washington, DC.
Susan Gonzales
VP, Comcast Foundation and Corporate Senior Director of Federal and External Affairs
Comcast
Susan Gonzales serves as Vice President of the Comcast Foundation and Corporate Senior Director of Federal and External Affairs. Susan is responsible for outreach to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus members on telecom policy issues. In this capacity, she communicates the cable industry’s position on key telecom policy issues. Susan also serves as Comcast’s representative for external diversity outreach. In this role, she is responsible for creating partnerships and programs with the Hispanic, African American, Asian, Disabled and GLBT communities. Prior to joining Comcast approximately 5 years ago, Susan served in several roles within the public affairs and communications industry for 20 years. She is based in the Washington D.C. office and resides in Northern California and Washington D.C.
Al Barraza
President
Barraza Consulting Group
Al Barraza is President of Barraza Consulting Group, a management consultancy that provides outstanding business strategy, insight, and operational practices to companies targeting high growth markets. Al’s sector expertise includes global beverages, insurance, financial services, food, transportation, retail, and household goods.
Prior to starting Barraza Consulting Group, Al directed the market research group for Allstate, driving the business decisions in Advertising, Brand Strategy, Multicultural Markets, and Independent Agencies. In the early ’90s he pioneered multi-cultural research at Allstate, partnered with the Hispanic Market Business Unit, led strategic research to establish Allstate’s operations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Most recently, he and his group were instrumental in the design and launch of Allstate’s “Our Stand” advertising campaign, an enterprise-wide segmentation, as well as new efforts to target African-American, Asian and other emerging growth markets.
In 2004, Al established Barraza Consulting Group with a strong mission to help his clients grow profitably. He believes that companies can achieve a positive return on their marketing investment if they objectively utilize robust, quantitative customer insight in conjunction with sound management judgment and principles.
Al received his MA in Economics, and B.A. degrees in Economics and International Relations from San Francisco State University.
 
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