Carmelo Alvarez has been with State Farm for 20 years and is currently the Agency Field Executive (AFE) for the North Metro area of Atlanta suburbs. He is responsible for 35 agencies in this area and works as a business consultant, sales manager for the agents and their teams while acting as a liaison for State Farm’s Corporate Office to the field.

Prior to his current position, Carmelo was a Fire Claim Rep, Workers Comp Claim Rep, Fire Underwriter, Operations Training Administrator, Agency Field Specialist and State Farm Agent in Arizona.

Carmelo transitioned to State Farm’s Corporate Offices as a Business Analyst on a variety of projects that needed agency input. He coordinated the rollout of the State Farm Bank to several zones, assisted on the Mutual Funds development project, and represented the agency on creating an electronic application for homeowners and billing departments. Additionally, he worked on experimental trainee agent models in Florida. Carmelo was then selected to supervise a team in agency learning & development. He was part of the leadership team that transitioned HR, Claims and Agency Training into Corporate L&D prior to leaving the Corporate Offices in Bloomington, Illinois for San Antonio, Texas. While in Texas, Carmelo was a Market Agency Field Consultant in the San Antonio area for one and a half years and then was selected to be a Development AFC for the Houston DAFO. Later, he was selected to be the Zone Agency Administrative assistant for the Southern Zone. Shortly after this role, he was selected to be the Development AFE for Georgia and South Carolina, responsible for all new agents in those states.

His wife, Michelle, and two daughters, Alexis and Taylor, have lived in the Atlanta area for the past 6 years. Carmelo enjoys a healthy lifestyle and participates in triathlons, marathons and tennis. He is proud to be a three-time Ironman finisher and looks forward to his next race.

As Georgia Power’s Community Development Project Manager in the Metro North Region of Atlanta, Ms. Clark supports the local communities through leadership development, strategic planning, existing industry retention and expansions, and with new companies considering an expansion or relocation to the area. Her duties also include working with the fast-growing Hispanic community, where she has represented the company for the past 17 years. Ms. Clark began her career with Georgia Power in 1981 as a writer and editor of the company’s weekly newsletter and two monthly magazines. She worked in communications for 11 years before moving to the Corporate Relations department and beginning her work in the Hispanic community. Prior to joining Georgia Power, Clark was a writer/producer for WSB-Radio.

Carlos Pagoaga is Manager, Community & Multicultural Communications for Coca-Cola North America. He is responsible for developing and implementing communications strategies to support the Company’s business objectives with key audiences. Additionally, he is charged with managing the Company’s relationship with various diverse media organizations.

In addition to his Public Affairs work, he has over 15 years of Community Relations experience with The Coca-Cola Company. During that time he managed the Company’s relationship with key national, regional and local Hispanic organizations.

He also serves on several nonprofit boards. He is past-chairman of the National Hispanic Corporate Council, and current-chair of its Education Committee. Pagoaga also serves on the board of the Latin American Association. He was also a member of the Regional Leadership Institute’s Class of 1997.

Prior to working for The Coca-Cola Company, he served as vice president of Marketing for Custom Designs of Atlanta, a lease department for Macy's South. His responsibilities included oversight of the Customer Service, Advertising and Vendor Departments.

Born in Havana, Cuba, he was five months old when his family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. He is a 1990 graduate of Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and a Marketing major. He received his MBA from Georgia State in 1999. Pagoaga began working at The Coca-Cola Company as a summer intern in June of 1990.

Carlos, an avid scuba diver, is married and has three children.

James Curry retired in May 2004 after 38 years of practice with Deloitte & Touche LLP. He has studied Spanish from September 2004 until the present and traveled to Latin America four times during the last three years. He serves on the Georgia Federal Tax Conference board, and is past chairman of the Atlanta Tax Forum, Families First and Georgia Conservancy boards. He is a member of Leadership Atlanta and the Duke Alumni Association.

Anibal Torres was named Publisher of MundoHispánico, the Spanish-language newspaper published by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in June 2007. MundoHispánico is Georgia’s largest Spanish-language publication and the leading print and online information source for Hispanics in Georgia.

Torres was previously Vice President and General Manager of the New York edition of Hoy, a daily Spanish-language newspaper published by the Tribune Company. He joined Hoy from the Orlando Sentinel, where he served from 2003 to 2005 as Publisher of El Sentinel, a Spanish-language weekly. During those years, he also led elSentinel.com, the newspaper's companion website, and was a director at the Orlando Sentinel. Torres served as division manager for regional advertising for Orlando Sentinel Communications from 1996 to 2003. He was publisher of Passport Orlando, a bilingual publication, from 1995 to 1996, and general manager/owner of COSMOS Radio, a Hispanic radio station in Orlando, from 1992 to 1994. Torres began his career in 1973 as a sales representative in the Puerto Rico office of McGraw-Hill and advanced to managing director/Latin America for the company in Panama City, Panama, and New York. Torres served as chair of the Hispanic Business Initiative Fund of Central Florida, an economic development agency. He served on the board of OsceolaRegionalMedicalCenter in Kissimmee, Fla.; COMPACT, a mentoring program; and the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Alumni. In addition, he is a past president of the Florida Newspaper Advertising and Marketing Executives. A native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, Torres earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio.

Sally M. Davis serves as vice president of Institutional Advancement & Marketing and Communications for Morehouse School of Medicine. Prior to her appointment at MSM, Davis used her consulting expertise in Fortune 100 and 500 public and private companies, not for profit agencies and worked in private and public colleges and universities.

Davis began her career in higher education with an expertise in establishing strategic diversity initiatives and strategic development plans. She continued her diversity and human resources expertise in positions within the corporate sector in Global Diversity, Talent Acquisition and Alliance Management.

She has traveled extensively globally and has intertwined her HR background with a global and business acumen to meet employer’s current and future needs. Davis has also held several human resources positions (e.g. corporate global diversity director, diversity talent acquisition manager, alliance manager, and AVP HR business partner).

She has also held the positions of president of Dimensions, Inc., CEO of Big Brother Big Sister Indianapolis, AVP HR business partner at Mass Mutual, alliance manager and diversity talent acquisition manager, executive director of global diversity at Cummins Engine Company, and assistant to the president at DePauw University.

Barbarella Diaz serves as Manager of Corporate Accounts and Corporate Relations for Diaz Foods, one of the country’s leading Hispanic distributors serving both retail and foodservice establishments across 26 states. Her primary focus is handling some of the company’s largest clients such as Foodlion and Publix as well as managing corporate donations to various non-profits and other organizations. In addition, Barbarella is also part of The Zaid Group, the management company for Diaz Foods, Diaz Produce, Tortillas de Casa, EDUA and International Imports.

Prior to joining the team at Diaz Foods, Barbarella worked for several years in cable advertising sales at CAMA (now Comcast Spotlight) and focused primarily on the Hispanic market.

Barbarella is a graduate of Florida State University where she received her B.A. in International Affairs. She has been involved with several community organizations and currently serves on the board of directors of Diaz Foods, Unicef and the Latin American Association as well as the advisory board of the Girl Scouts Council of Northwest Georgia. In addition, Barbarella previously served as a board member and Chairman of the board of the Mexican Center of Atlanta.

Barbarella has two children, Julia, 19 months and Olivia, 4 months.

Ricki Fairley-Brown
Images USA

Ricki Fairley-Brown has over 28 years of marketing experience including 20 years in brand management at Johnson & Johnson, Nabisco, Reckitt & Colman and The Coca-Cola Company. Her agency experience encompasses strategic planning and consulting for companies including the American Italian Pasta Company, Wyeth, General Mills and ING.

Fairley-Brown manages strategy and planning activities for all IMAGES USA clients. She is passionate about helping clients identify marketplace opportunities via research, establish insight-based objectives and strategies, and then build results-driven campaigns with resonating creative. She has led the implementation of successful and award-winning campaigns for Amtrak, Sara Lee, Wachovia, The National Black Arts Festival, Teach for America and Brown Forman. She leads the Agency's new business development initiatives that maintain the agency's position as a leading multicultural marketing firm. She is currently leading the first comprehensive study on multicultural millennials with The Futures Company (formerly know as Yankelovich), released by IMAGES in January 2010.

As a key member of IMAGES executive management team, Ricki's contribution to the ongoing success of IMAGES USA can be measured in the dedication, creativity and leadership she inspires in our staff. Ricki's leadership and direction are essential to making IMAGES different from all the rest by creating a positive organizational culture for the agency and our clients.

Fairley-Brown holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She is the President of the Dartmouth Black Alumni Association, is a member of the Dartmouth Committee on Trustees, serves on the Board of Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company and the Executive Board of the Magnolia Chapter of The Links, Inc.

Nicolas Ferri
Delta Air Lines

Mr. Ferri currently serves as Delta Air Lines’ Vice President – Latin America and Caribbean.

In this position, Mr. Ferri oversees and directs all of Delta’s commercial activities in the Latin America and Caribbean region, including long-term growth opportunities with SkyTeam partner Aeromexico, future codeshare partner GOL from Brazil and the joint venture agreement with Air France KLM in Mexico.

Prior to joining Delta, Mr. Ferri was Vice President-Commercial for the oneworld alliance, where he was responsible for all sales and marketing activities with worldwide application.

Over a 10-year-span, Mr. Ferri also served in a variety of management positions of increasing responsibilities at United Airlines and worked in Uruguay, Costa Rica, the U.S., Italy, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Mr. Ferri was born in Montevideo, Uruguay and was educated there. He is fluent in English, Spanish, German, and Italian.

Based in Atlanta, he reports to Delta’s president, Ed Bastian.

Stratton Frank
Consultant/Instructor

Stratton was born in Coral Gables, Florida, the son of Greek immigrants. He received his childhood education in Coral Gables and Miami and graduated from Miami Senior High School in 1950. He attended the University of Miami from 1950 to 1953 at which time he enlisted in the U. S. Army. His military service included tours of duty in Korea and Japan.He was discharged from the military in 1956 and immediately enrolled at The George Washington University, Washington, DC where he completed his studies for a Batchelor’s Degree in 1958, majoring in management and minoring in psychology. Post graduate studies include Industrial Psychology and Marketing at Purdue and Butler Universities, Indiana. Stratton is married to Maria Isabel and they have three children and five grandchildren.

Stratton worked 30 years for the Federal Government. He worked in Indianapolis, Indiana at the U. S. Army Enlisted Evaluation Center for almost 3 years researching and constructing personnel evaluation tests for the military. He worked in Miami for ten years at the U. S. Cuban Refugee Emergency Center as the Office Manager/Administrative Officer. In 1971, he transferred to Atlanta to work in the Regional Office of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, in Human Resources, and later as the Regional Hispanic Employment Program Manager with responsibility for Hispanic advocacy throughout this region. Stratton’s last assignment was as the Administrative Officer for the Atlanta Regional/District Offices and the Regional Laboratory of the U. S. Food and Drug Administration. He retired in January, 1988.Other work experience since retirement includes being a Consultant/Instructor in matters of EEO/Affirmative Action/Race Relations/Human Relations.During his first year in Atlanta, Stratton met Angel Ortiz, the founder of the Latin American Association. It was Angel’s foresight and his realization of the need of an organization which could provide assistance to the Latino community. Stratton became involved when Angel was seeking federal funds to establish an office for the Association and he worked with Angel to establish such an office and operation.Stratton has received numerous awards for his work in the Latino community as well as the Greek community. He is a Life Member of the LAA Board of Directors.

He received the U. S. Food and Drug Administration National Equal Opportunity Achievement Award; the Federal Government Regional Hispanic Employment Program Award; LULAC Council #950 Community Service Award; Chapter AHEPAN (Greek organization) of the Year; etc.He has held numerous elected positions in all organizations in which he has participated.

He was a member of the Georgia State Committee, U. S. Commission on Civil Rights; a member of the United Way of Metro Atlanta Board of Directors; co-founder of the Federal Hispanic Employment Program Manager’s Council of Atlanta; Graduate of Leadership Atlanta, Class of ’89.

Dr. Alex Garcías
Urology of Greater Atlanta

Member at Large

Joe Izganics
Consultant

Mark J. Newman
Troutman Sanders LLP

Board Member Elect

Jorge Perez

Kenesaw State University

Associate professor of information systems and associate director of the Center for Hispanic Studies at KSU, has been named faculty executive assistant to the president, replacing Sarah Robbins,

who accepted an endowed chair at Texas Christian University. In his new role, Perez

will provide a faculty voice on the president’s cabinet and lead special projects. Perez

earned a bachelor’s in English and a master’s and doctorate in management information systems from Florida State University. Perez has taught a range of information technology courses, including e-business, Web design, systems analysis and design, quantitative analysis and data communications. His current research focuses on IT literacy — identifying, measuring and expanding skills needed by computer and Internet users.

Arnaldo Ruiz
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Juan D. Saca
Capgemini

Juan Saca leads Capgemini’ s Telecommunications Wireless practice in North America since November of 2004. Mr. Saca is responsible for further developing wireless account relationships for the Telecom, Media & Entertainment practice in the U.S., as well as for the growth of the business unit's wireless strategy and solution offerings, driving sales revenues in TME' s top cable and wireless accounts. He also oversees the advancement of the company's wireless provider-specific offerings and overall strategy for taking them to market.

Mr. Saca joined BellSouth International in 1992 as director of Operations in Latin America with initial stewardship responsibilities in Mexico. He later became the Director of Business Development for Israel and Latin America. In 1997, he was appointed Vice President/COO for BellSouth Chile where he oversaw operations. In 2000, he became President and General Manager of BellSouth Peru.

Dr. Betty Siegel, of Kennesaw, is Distinguished Chair of the Siegel Institute for Leadership, Ethics & Character and President Emeritus at Kennesaw State University. Dr. Siegel was the first woman to head an institution in the 35-unit University System of Georgia and was the longest serving woman president of a public university in the nation. She was President of Kennesaw State from 1981-2006. Under her administration Kennesaw State grew from 4000 students with 15 baccalaureate-degree programs to an 18,000 student University with 55 baccalaureate and graduate degree programs. Dr. Siegel is a long- time member and former chair of the Board of Directors of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). She serves on the Commission on Women in Higher Education as well as numerous corporate and community Boards. Dr. Betty Siegel and her husband Joel have two sons who are professors and two grandsons.

Ralph Trujillo is a Vice-President of Sales for U.S. Strategic Accounts at UPS, the world's largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain and freight services. He has been with UPS for 34 years with much of his time dedicated to managing business development teams across various parts of the United States. During his career with UPS, Ralph has also managed operations groups, customer service call centers, corporate special project teams and has been involved in Public Affairs at the local grassroots level.

Ralph has been involved with United Way for the past 25 years and has served in their Loaned Executive Program. He is a current member of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and has been a National Council of La Raza (NCLR) conference attendee representing UPS for the past four years.

Ralph earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University and a Certificate of Logistics Management from Michigan State University.

He and his wife Gina and his three daughters are from Phoenix, Arizona. They now reside in Roswell, Georgia.

Mr. Alfonso Villarreal is the Managing Director of Norsan Group, a corporation founded in 1987 by Norberto Sanchez. Norsan is composed of several companies in the media, hospitality, and food processing, packing and distribution industries. With more than 800 employees, this corporate group is leading the way for Hispanic-founded companies and is reaching to the Mexican community in the United States by actively leading and participating in a broad of community programs.

Mr. Villarreal is an innovative and visionary leader with 19 years of experience in the fields of operations, finance, marketing, and information technology. He has provided the strategic leadership critical to building corporate value, improving customer service, accelerating revenues and earnings and strengthening operations. Most notably:

• Reengineered and restructured the corporate and business units of Norsan Group. Developed new core value propositions for all business, defining strategies that implemented control and management systems that help the company achieve its financial objectives for the last 4 years. His plan is to take Norsan Group as one of the Top 500 Companies in The United States of America

• As head of e-Business and Consumer Dialogue for British American Tobacco, Mr. Villarreal implemented the transformation process of the company by being a champion of multifunctional teams and driving the professional development of all the members. He also set strategic direction, managed and developed different solutions to better manage the relationships with Consumers, Customers, Suppliers, Employees and other Stakeholders. As one of the leaders of Corporate Affairs , he reach out stakeholders in multiple programs, particularly the development and implementation of a cooperation program between the company and universities

• As Director of Professional Services for MicroStrategy Consulting, Mr. Villarreal managed the start-up of the subsidiary in Mexico including funding, legal and administrative requirements. Prior to that, managed and developed production and sales consultants throughout the gulf states of the United States of America. Customers include Continetal Airlines, EDS, Goodyear, TAMSA, Aeromexico, Banco de Credito del Peru, Worldcom, HEB, Banorte, AT&T and MCI among others

• As Marketing Manager and Supervisor for Procter and Gamble, Kellogg and Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, he evaluated strategic implications and led the negotiations of joint ventures, implemented product launches, managed and executed market research and media productions

• Founder of Agencia y Consultoria en Investigacion de Mercados, S.A. and the Sierra Madre Consulting Group

Alfonso Villarreal also participates in the board of different organizations such as Mexican American Business Chamber, Lazos and Hombre Nuevo. He also gave classes at The University of Texas at Austin and developed the Customer Relationship Management course, the first of its kind in Latin America, at the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey where he was a professor of the marketing department. He graduated from The University of Texas with a Master of Business Administration and prior to that from the I.T.E.S.M. where he got his bachelor degree in Marketing.

Justin R. Williams is senior director of business operations and Turner Sports Illustrated digital manager for NASCAR.COM. There, he leads a team of more than 20 members in its daily operation, including content, video production, ad sales, marketing, product development, technical operations, public relations, licensing and ecommerce.

Prior to his position at Turner, Williams was founder and principal consultant at JWT, LLC, a digital media marketing firm. He also held the positions of vice president of strategic development of echo (A Ticketmaster Company), senior director of new media at Gospel Music Channel, and senior director at Turner’s Cartoon Network.

He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a master’s degree in business administration from Kenan-Flagler Business School and a bachelor’s degree in journalism and American history.