Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Boston

Nader Acevedo is the Executive Director of the Hispanic-American Chamber of Greater Boston. In this role he is responsible for the daily operation of the chamber’s businesses, individuals, corporations and institutions participation in the economic development of the Hispanic community in the Greater Boston area. With extensive relations with businesses and government leaders at local, state and national levels, he manages all administrative functions and staff and ongoing support of the board of directors.

Prior to joining HACC, Nader was the Director of Latino and Latin American Programs at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences wherehe was responsible for the college’s local and international relationships with educational, government and financial institutions.

Nader a former Vice President of Fleet Financial Group Community Development responsible for the development and financing of Community Development Corporations and Small Businesses throughout the New England Region, was previously, Vice President of Community Banking atFleet Financial Group responsible for the development and maintenance of business relationships with small businesses and community based organizations. Nader began his banking career in 1990 as Regional Board Member of BayBank.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Marketing from the School of Sales and Marketing in Colombia. He completed a two year business program at Bryant and Stratton School of Business in Boston, Massachusetts. A graduate of Shawmut Bank’s one-year Credit Training Program.

Nader has been featured in numerous media outlets, including the Boston Globe, the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Banner, La Semana, TV and radio programs locally and in South America and most recently, he was profile in El Mundo Newspaper. He is a member of the Advisory Board at the Martha Eliot Health Center affiliated with Children’s Hospital, the Latino Professional Network (LPN) and member of the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA). Past Member of the Mexico-Massachusetts Business Alliance.

Andres J. Lopez – President - Massachusetts Community Development Finance Corporation (CDFC). CDFC is quasi public corporation providing financing to small businesses in Massachusetts to which private capital is not readily available with the purpose of creating or preserving jobs and promoting economic development.

Prior to CDFC Mr. Lopez operated Wellesley Square Associates, a consulting firm he started to assist troubled small businesses turn their fortunes around, Lopez worked with his client businesses to develop long range, strategic plans, and helped companies restructure debt to move to profitability. Also, he acted as a liaison between small companies and lenders, and other service professionals. He started his professional career with Arthur Andersen & Co. then moved on to ITT Communications, Bank of Boston and Data General.

He earned a BBA from the University of Puerto Rico and an MBA from Boston College. He resides in Wellesley with his wife Nancy.

 

Victoria-Alicia Lopez,

Vice Chairwomen

Since 1999, Victoria-Alicia López has had positions of increasing scope and responsibility in the Government & Public Affairs Department at the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company. In her current position, as Manager of Government Affairs, she manages state and local legislative functions, as well as corporate community affairs, for Stop & Shop. Vicki also has been responsible for Stop & Shop’s corporate charitable contributions program, and the related educational, community and diversity partnerships within the company’s operational area.

Vicki has a comprehensive understanding of the legislative and regulatory issues affecting the food industry, including health care, labor and employment benefits, pharmacy, taxation, agriculture, environmental policy, trade, and real estate and economic development. More importantly, her work within the legislative advocacy process has, enabled her to develop a broad perspective of government affairs.

Vicki currently serves on the Government Affairs Committees of the food trade associations of Connecticut and Rhode Island. She also works closely with the Massachusetts Food Association, the Food Industry Alliance of New York and the Washington D.C based Food Marketing Institute on grassroots campaigns at the state and national level.

Vicki developed and managed many successful educational, charitable and diversity initiatives. She coordinated and facilitated the creation of partnerships between Stop & Shop and local schools, such as Roxbury Community College and the Jeremiah Burke High School, which provide part-time employment and college scholarships to inner-city youth. She has been an integral part of the fundraising team that coordinated and re-launched Stop & Shop’s United Way of New England campaign, which dramatically increased annual contributions from $664,000 to more than $2.3 million. In addition, she serves on the Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

In her prior role as the Campaign Administrator for Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s literacy program, ReadBoston, Vicki managed all aspects of ReadBoston’s marketing and community programs including implementing the StoryMobile book donation program, which distributed in excess of 12,000 age appropriate books to more than 1,500 Boston children. Additionally, Vicki implemented the federally funded “Reading Is Fundamental” program, recruited community readers and managed celebrity promotional events.

Vicki earned a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Latin American Studies and Spanish from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. She resides in Boston, Massachusetts and is originally from the Dominican Republic. 

 

 

Raymond Santos,

Vice Chairman

 

Raymond Santos is Marketing Manager for Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. (ATS) a Norwood, MA-based engineering and design firm specializing in the cooling of electronic components. At ATS, Raymond is responsible for public relations, branding, advertising, direct mail and special events. 

 

Prior to ATS, Raymond was an account manager for Colette Phillips Communications, Inc. where he managed public relations efforts for KeySpan Energy Delivery, YWCA Boston and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

  Over the years, Raymond has also practiced media relations and crisis management for two of the Boston-area’s largest public relations agencies, Lois Paul and Partners and Cone, Inc. Raymond’s areas of focus were media relations, media strategy, crisis counsel and management and in-depth media research. While at Cone, Raymond worked on media relations campaigns for some of the best-known brands in the world, including Dunkin Donuts, Timberland and Jiffy Lube.  
 

   

In addition to his public relations experience, Raymond is also actively involved in Massachusetts politics having served on the Robert Reich for Governor Latino Steering Committee, as an assistant press secretary on the Committee for Dorothy Kelly Gay, as a congressional intern with Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II and twice as a delegate to the Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention. 

Raymond was born in Puerto Rico and graduated from Northeastern University with a B.A. in political science. He lives in Boston with his wife Danielle.   

 

Juana Horton,
Board Member

 

Juana Horton , President and CEO of Horton Interpreting Services Inc., is responsible for establishing an interpreting business located at 45 Royal Little Drive Providence, RI that has become the number one interpreting agency in Rhode Island. The agency presently has offices in Providence and Massachusetts.

H.I.S. staffs over 200 professional translators and interpreters that are available 24 hours a day. Ms. Horton is responsible for prospecting for new clients for her agency and for guiding its strategic development. She is dedicated to addressing the need to communicate in other languages with an ever-increasing foreign speaking clientele and helping businesses locally and nationwide to understand the complexity of translating medical, legal, educational, and marketing materials. Part of her mission is to provide the highest quality services in over 85 languages with a strong emphasis on superior customer service and flexibility.

Ms. Horton has more than 10 years of practical application experience in translating and interpreting. She attended Southeastern Massachusetts University and is also a member of the Massachusetts Medical Interpreters Association, the American Translators Association, the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators and the New England Translators Association.

As Chair, Ms. Horton has been instrumental in the formation and implementation of the Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce, an affiliate of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. This organization assists the Hispanic businesses in the Rhode Island market with startup, legislative advocacy, and networking opportunities with other businesses.

On November 4, 1997, she was presented with a Special Achievement Award from the Small Business Administration (SBA) during its Minority Enterprise Development Week. On November 20, 2000 she received the prestigious “Small Business Leader of the Year” award at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce annual dinner.

Ms. Horton received the SBA’s RI Minority Small Business Person of the year award, presented to her during its Minority Enterprise Development week on January 23, 2002. She was also awarded the 2002 Rhode Island and New England’s “SBA’s Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year” on May 20 th, 2002.

More recently, Ms. Horton was recognized in the Providence Monthly article “10 People You Don’t Know Now but Soon Will” in 2003. She was also highlighted in Parade Magazine’s “What People Earn” issue. In 2004 she was awarded the YWCA’s Hallmark Women Award for Women’s Economic Empowerment.

 

 

Brenda Jovenich,

Board Member

 

Brenda Jovenich is a Relationship Manager with primary responsibility for providing commercial banking services to small businesses and non-profit organizations. Brenda's 15 years in banking began as a financial consultant for San Francisco Savings and Loans in Bolivia when she served as a Peace Corps volunteer. She served an additional tour in El Salvador working in microcredit lending. After her return to the U.S., she joined the commercial lending area of USTrust Bank. With the acquisition of USTrust by Citizens Bank, Brenda joined the bank as a Relationship Manager. Brenda is fluent in Spanish and served as a Spanish/English translator at the 1996 Olympics Games in Atlanta. In addition, she has served on the board of People Making a Difference Through Community Services, a local volunteer non-profit organization. She currently serves on the boards of the Immigrant Learning Center, Inc. and Our Space Our Place, Inc. and on advisory committees at Hispanic American Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Third Sector New England, Inc. and Roca, Inc. 

 

Brenda received her BA from Providence College and received her MBA and Certificate in Public and Nonprofit Management from Boston University. 

 

 

Ana Portillo,

Board Member

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alba E Alvarez,

Board Member

 

Alba Alvarez is a franchise Owner of Metropolitan West Real Estate. Alba’s primary focus is the analyzing and assessing of her clients’ needs for housing. Alba then helps her clients to decide whether purchasing a property or renting a property is appropriate for them at that time. She specializes in sales and, rentals of residential and corporate properties. 

Alba is an Independent Life Span Planner and Consultant Specializing in the Insurance and financial services Industry. She is able to assess strengths and weaknesses in her clients’ business and personal plans. She is able to provide recommendations and suggestions to fulfill her clients’ needs and enhance their life insurance & health insurance portfolios. 

Alba spent her first six years in the insurance and financial services industry with New York Life Insurance Company. Currently she is an independent broker and continues to work extensively in the Hispanic market, assisting Hispanic population with their insurance needs. 

Nicolas Garay, Alba’s Father, founded Bay travel in 1983. Alba bought the travel agency in 1989 and was the proprietor for 17 years and recently sold her Travel Agency after expanding it from a single agency to a three-site agency. Alba’s business of 17 years was one of the largest travel agencies providing unprecedented service within the Hispanic community for discounted travel and corporate travel to and from South and Central America. (Bay Travel-Chelsea, Bay Travel –Cambridge) was well renown within the Latin Community of Boston, Cambridge and Chelsea. The company serviced the Latin community and corporate accounts traveling to south-central America. 

Alba is an exceptionally giving person, volunteering her time to various non-profit organizations including The Greater Hispanic Lions Club as The Treasurer-Member 2001, Casa Nueva Vida, Board Member (Shelter for Homeless Mothers & Children), American Heart Association, Board Member-served two years, Devon & Nicole House (Home away from Home for Families with Children having Heart Surgery) and Little Heart, Board Member-served two years (Support Group for Families with Children with Heart Disease). 

Alba was born in Argentina and came to Boston 32 years ago to finish her studies. She has taken many courses in a variety of areas ranging from marketing and sales to financial planning and life span planning, public speaking (top of class in presentations). Alba graduated from American Travel & Tourism School of Boston in 1983. 

Alba currently resides in Newton, Massachusetts; she is the mother of six children (Marcela 20 2nd year at Bentley College, Gerardo 17 at NNHS, Martin 15 at NNHS, Mariela 14 at Day Jr. High, Luca 8 & Nicolas 7 attending Horacemann Elementary School). 

 

 

Jacinto Patrick Carrera,

Board Member

 

Jacinto Patrick Carrera is the Laboratory Manager for Pollak a Stoneridge division located in Canton, MA. 

Pollak designs and manufactures switches, actuators and sensors for the automotive industry. Patrick is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt. 

Prior to Pollak, Patrick had several positions in Polaroid from 1979 to 2005, such as Systems Quality and Reliability, Hardware Product Safety & Compliance, Motor Laboratory supervisor, Reverse Engineering, Licensing support for Branded Products Business, Product Design Engineer, Research and Development Engineer, and Electromechanical Engineer. He holds several patents and disclosures. 

Patrick was an Invited Lecturer in Electrical Engineering Department from 1981 to 1989, where he taught Electromagnetic field theory, Circuit Theory and Systems, Communication Theory, Computer Architecture and Electronic Labs. 

In addition to his professional experience Patrick was actively involved with the Polaroid Foundation in the Community Subcommittee, and he was a founding member of the group Hispanics in Polaroid. 

Patrick was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador and graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with and MBA. Also he has a degree as Electrical Engineer, MS and BS in electrical engineering all from Northeastern University. As a student he worked in the MIT Aerophysics Laboratory and Andrew Alford Consulting Engineers. He is a Newton resident since 1980. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

   

Joselin Mane

Internet Marketing