Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Boston
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About Us
Ariel Schmidt,
Ariel Schmidt is the president and owner of Atlantic Graphic Services, Inc., a commercial printing company located in Clinton, Massachusetts. When Ariel started his business, in 1982, the facility was generating sales of $100,000. Atlantic Graphic Services, Inc. provides customers with outstanding printing and graphic services. Atlantic has earned a reputation as a top-rated supplier of commercial printing services by specializing in the production of one to six color-plus projects. Atlantic Graphic Services, Inc. is owned and operated as a minority company and runs a state of the art facility. Before entering into his own business Mr. Schmidt served as vice president of manufacturing and plant supervisor at the Eusey Press, in Leominster, Massachusetts. Ariel entered the rich world of printing at a very young age. It was while he was living in Santa Clara, Cuba, with his missionary parents, that Ariel got his hands into some ink on an old letterpress machine ink has run in his veins ever since!
Nader Acevedo,
Executive Director
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 Lopez,
Treasurer
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 Lopez 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.  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.  Carolina Trujillo, Board
Member
Carolina Trujillo was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She received her law degree at Universidad Catolica Andres Bello in 1999. In Venezuela, she worked five years as a volunteer in government and non-profit organizations as a legal counselor, focusing her efforts on problems related to abandoned and abused children. At the same time she worked in corporate and banking law for a private law firm. Carolina came to the United States in 2000 for her Masters Degree in Banking and Financial Law at Boston University. Carolina joined NOAH in 2005 to work with the BHA program, helping low income families getting prepared to purchase their first home. In October of 2007, Carolina started a foreclosure prevention unit that has helped over 700 families to negotiate with their lenders in order to maintain their homes. In addition, she teaches First Time Homebuyer classes, and works individually with customers in the areas of credit, financial fitness and mortgage counseling. She is continuing her education by pursuing a Masters Degree in Financial and Economics at Boston University. Carolina also hosted an educational Spanish radio program in an effort to help the Latin community better understand the mortgage and real estate world. She is on the Board of Directors of the Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce and participates on the Advisory Board of Veritas Bank (the first Latino bank of New England).
 Ana Portillo, Board Member
A long-time contributor and activist within Greater Boston's Hispanic community, Ana is the Director of Membership Development and Services for the HACC. Ana is currently a realtor in Arlington, MA. She is fluent in Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and English. She started her diplomatic career for the Mexican Government as the Advisor to the Undersecretary of Economic Affairs. In Portugal, at the Mexican Embassy, She served as the Diplomatic Officer and Commercial Attaché, Economic, Commercial and Tourism section.
Ana Portillo was the Cultural Attaché for the Mexican Embassy in Bern, Switzerland. In Mexico City, Mexico, she worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Program Manager, and General Coordination of Women's issues. Recently, she has worked for the Office of the State Senator Jarrett Barrios, where she was responsible for organizing the Latino Community. Ana Portillo Consulting LLC, Boston, MA, Translation and interpretation Services specializing in the medical, financial and legal fields - Portuguese, Italian and Spanish into English.
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.
Maria Delgado,
Board Member
Maria E. Delgado R. is Unit Manager for Marketing and Development at WGBH Educational Foundation, the public television station dedicated to enrich people's lives through educational programming. Maria's 15 years of professional career in the corporate world started in Venezuela, after complete her Law Degree at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, in Caracas. After that, Maria worked as a corporate attorney for different companies in Caracas, being her last position as a Senior Corporate Counsel for Brahma Venezuela (now part of Ambev). During that time, she also finished a graduate program in Tax Management at Universidad Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado. After working for Brahma, Maria decided to come to the United States to pursue graduate studies in administration. She took some courses in Accounting and Management at Quincy College and then, she finished a Graduate Program in Administration and Management at Harvard University. She has been actively working with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce since March 2007.
 Alexandra Rodriguez-Vazquez, Board
Member
Alexandra is a Registered Representative and Financial Advisor at Strategic Financial Partners is Waltham. She has been working in the financial services industry for about 3 years. Alexandra's areas of focus include retirement planning for individuals starting in the workforce and financial strategies for young families. Her business philosophy is to provide such individuals and small business owners with assistance in building their financial freedom,. Alexandra's personal goal is to become a lifetime resource for each and every client. Currently she holds her securities licenses 66, 7, as well as her Life, Accident and Health license in MA and FL.
Alexandra originally is from San Juan, Puerto Rico and came to Boston in 2001 and obtained her BA in Economics from Boston College in 2005. She is very active in the community and has volunteered at the Food Bank in Boston several times. She is part of a mentorship program for young high school students known as PANAS. Alexandra is also involved in other organizations such as Las Comadres, a women's networking group and is also part of the Board of ALPFA (Association of Latino Professionals and Accounting). Securities products and investment advisory services are offered through New England Securities Corp.(NES), a broker-dealer (member FINRA/SIPC) and a registered investment adviser. Branch office: 800 South Street, Suite 505, Waltham, MA 02453, Tel (781)788-4600. Strategic Financial Partners is a separate entity from NES. L10086980[exp10/09][FL,MA] 
Felipe Lopez,
Board
Member
Felipe was born and raised in Venezuela. He received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from "La Universidad Metropolitana" in Caracas. Felipe worked for 4 years as a Project Engineer and eventually moved to Boston to attend Northeastern University, where he earned his MBA. Ever since, he has lived in the Boston area.
Upon graduation, Felipe enter the computer/network sector and held positions in Harvard University's Office of Information Technology for near 9 years; Boston Gas (a.k.a. Keyspan Energy Delivery; now National Grid) for 5 years; Guardent, Inc; Massachusetts College of Art. Felipe is currently working at American Student Assistance (ASA), a non-profit organization that acts as a "guarantor" to provide and service Federal Educational loans to students. In addition to his organization's noble mission, ASA's ethnic diversity is one of the company's greatest benefits. He started as a Project Manager over a year and a half ago and now, in a new role as Changepoint Integration Lead, he is supporting the implementation of a new application for Project Portfolio Management, to enable the company to become a Project oriented/focused organization. Felipe lives in Newton Corner since 1986. He has 2 daughters Natalie 18 and Nicole 16. He became an US citizen in 2006. Outside work, Felipe served until July of this year on the Board of Directors for a community organization in Waltham called "Breaking Barriers". The group offers empowerment, language, and career programs to recent immigrants to accelerate their successful integration into American culture. He is also an active member of the Latino Professional Network (LPN) and in his Parish "Our Lady's Help of Christians", where he is part of the Honduras Committee, which looks for ways to serve the needs of the people of San Marcos, their sister parish, primarily a coffee growers community. 
Joselin Mane,
Internet Marketing
Joselin Mane is a Passionate Internet Marketing Consultant with 20 years of computer technology experience. This is complimented by his 8 years of Online Marketing experience and 10 years of business development experience, which when put together create a powerful combination that is rarely seen in this new media market. His focus is working with small/midsize businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs to best leverage internet technologies to systematically reach their financial and/or growth goals.
He specializes in wrapping marketing around technology to help grow his clients businesses in a more efficient way. As demonstrated within his first 2 years at IBM, he was highlighted in a full page ad for the work he did to contribute to Herman Miller saving over 1 Million dollars. Joselin has been known in the corporate world for his resourcefulness, he now has an online reputation and recognition of this skill. His way of finding information and adapting new technology makes him able to quickly access opportunities for growth and provide several easy to understand tactical plans based on his clients overall strategy. Joselin's diverse background, a first generation Dominican American, and life experience allows him to analyze opportunities from various perspectives. Joselin has traveled intensively across the United States and around the world. His previous business endeavors have taken him places including 3 Months in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and 6 Months in England, Sweden, Norway, Germany, France and Spain. He now leverages his International experience to develop global marketing campaigns for his clients. His expertise put him in an elite team within IBM's elearning division where he was personally requested for any large and/or strategically sensitive deals. Joselin has a lifetime of experience working with and being a part of many organizations including the The Boys Scouts, Lawrence Boys & Girls Club, Inroads, and NSBE to name a few. Most recently he developed a marketing plan that systemically produced the fastest growing and largest professional Latino membership site in Massachusetts history. His internet marketing consulting has helped many of Massachusetts Latino business large and small, including HACC and El Mundo, achieve their growth goals.
As the founder & lead consultant of LITBeL Consulting, Joselin brings all of his experience, knowledge, and resources together. One of the strengths he brings to his clients is the ability to handpick the perfect team, one created from the skills and talents of the clients' current team accented by the best of the resources of LITBeL. Using this strategy he is able to create great teams of professionals which are completely customized based on the individual clients needs.
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