LATINO BUSINESS ACTION NETWORK

Greetings from LBAN,

We are so excited to announce that on Saturday, December 2, 2017 we officially welcomed the fifth cohort of the  Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative Education-Scaling Program  into the SLEI-Ed familia! Congratulations  to you all - we appreciate your hard work in the program and look forward to being a part of you and your company's journey. Remember to do business with each other and get business for one another!  #WeAreSLEI

LBAN Team (from left to right): Eutiquio "Tiq" Chapa, Alice Rodriguez, Professor Jerry I. Porras, Arturo Cazares, Mark Madrid, Melody Estrada

Tom Chavez, CEO of Krux Inc., speaking to his journey as a latino entrepreneur

Professor Emeritus, Jerry I. Porras, Stanford GSB, giving opening remarks to the fifth cohort

SLEI-Ed entrepreneurs

SLEI-Ed entrepreneurs

SLEI-Ed entrepreneurs

Marlene Orozco, Research Analyst, SLEI

Eutiquio "Tiq" Chapa, Director of External Relations, LBAN

Mentors + LBAN + Videographers (from left to right): Liliana Gil Valletta, President/CEO & Co-Founder, XL Alliance Melody Estrada, Director of Marketing, LBAN Ivette Carolina Lopez, Executive Producer, 3 Lopez Productions

Capital provider conversations

Capital provider conversations

Top 3 winners from our fun video challenge (from left to right): Oscar Casillas, President, BEPC Inc. Pamela Isom, CEO, VR Safety Sarah Sagredo-Hammond, CEO, Atlas Electrical, Air Conditioning, Refrigeration & PLUMBING, Services, Inc.

Arturo Cazares, COO, LBAN, speaking to Alumni engagement

Victor Arias, Jr., Chairman of the Board, LBAN

LBAN team (from left to right): Professor Emeritus Jerry I. Porras, Stanford GSB Alice Rodriguez, Director of Curriculum and Alumni Engagement, LBAN Mark Madrid, Executive Director/CEO, LBAN

Congratulations to the fifth cohort of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative Education-Scaling Program!

Grand Champion of the Fun Video Challenge is Oscar Casillas, President, BEPC, Inc.

MEET THE MENTORS OF THE SLEI-ED PROGRAM...

Here, at the Latino Business Action Network, we provide personal connections through mentorship. We are more than honored to have some of the Nation's Top Executives in our mentor pool. Below are mentors who have been involved with our program in the following ways: Committed to 3+ cohorts with 2+ mentee(s) at a time Have provided a numerous amount of introductions and/or have helped us engage with new partners Continue to receive a 5/5 rating in their mentor/mentee evaluations from our $1M businesses and Alumni

James Perez Foster , Principal, Bainbridge Advisors James has over 25 years of institutional and operational management experience. He is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Solera National Bank, credited as one of the first HIspanic-markets focused on commercial banks in the US. James also co-founded PFS Capital Partners specialized in M&A advisory for US underserved companies and overseeing transactions in the media and retail sectors. As Principal of Bainbridge Advisors, James served as Subject Matter Expert (SME) to the Chief Economist of the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Postal Service in the agency's exploration of a Postal Financial Services Platform targeting US Underserved markets. James sits on multiple national boards including BRAVA investments and holds a BA degree in International Relations from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, James! Thank you!

Noreen Gillen , CFP, CRPC, CPWA, Wealth Management Advisor, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Noreen has been involved with our program since cohort 1! She is on the wealth management team at Merrill Lynch with her focus being on personal wealth management which includes investments, wealth planning, retirement strategies for her clients. Noreen is a speaker on the topic of financial literacy in the community and serves as the co-chair of the Northeast Advisory Board of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, a national non-profit organization that provides guidance and support to college-bound Latino youth and their families. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Noreen! Thank you!

Liliana Gil Valletta , President/CEO & Co-Founder, XL Alliance Lili is an award-winning entrepreneur, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and TV media contributor. She is the cofounder and President of XL Alliance, the place where companies come to unlock the power of today’s multicultural market. She also the creator of Dreamers Ventures, an alliance of investors and business experts that select, mentor and launch products created by Latinos to sell on Television- in partnership with HSN. Prior to launching XL, she had a 10-year career at Johnson & Johnson where she was one of the youngest executives, pioneered multicultural marketing initiatives and co-founded the Hispanic Employee Resource Group HOLA. In 2015 she launched CulturIntel™, a proprietary big data methodology that maps the consumer insights and their decision journey across cultural segments. She is a member of the Harvard Women’s Leadership Board, the YMCA USA Board of Directors and a mentor to the Latino Business Action Network and Stanford University's Executive Education program, the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative Education-Scaling Program. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Lili! Thank you!

Jim Neesen , Managing Partner, Connor Group Jim is a Managing Partner at Connor Group. Jim is a business leader and entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in biotechnology and technology companies. He was on the management team at Fluidigm for seven years as a Director of Finance and Corporate Controller managing the Accounting and Finance groups and the S-1 filing in 2008. He was also the Finance Manager at Affymetrix for six years where he led the financial planning function during revenue growth from $10M to $200M and the 1996 IPO. Jim has founded two companies, established complex international operations and closed over $150M in equity and venture debt financings. Jim is a former audit professional from Ernst & Young, where he worked on multiple IPO’s and secondary offerings. He is a guest speaker for the SLEI-Ed program. Jim is a Certified Public Accountant, graduated with a Master’s degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business as a Sloan Fellow and graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Economics. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Jim! Thank you!

Marta Michelle Colon ,  Founder and Managing Director, Buena Gente Marta is an innovative Entrepreneurial Strategist and Diversity Inclusion Driver focused on large-scale social impact with vast experience in Government, Business, For-Profit Social Enterprise and the Non-Profit sector. She is a Founder of Buena Gente - a leading performance driver consulting group, that enables individuals and organizations to achieve greater success by building their performance skills, optimizing productivity, and improving competitive advantage. Buena Gente has impacted over 100 clients representing more than $3 billion in revenues combined in the corporate, academic, and government sectors. Marta’s interventions include: identifying opportunities in the areas of: creating organization culture to drive diversity, accountability, performance; human capital development; sustainable strategic planning; business retention and continuity; internal and external customer experience; and audience development. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Marta! Thank you!

Steven Lucero ,   Co-Founder / General Partner at Perpetua Partners LLC Steven Lucero is a serial entrepreneur and business development specialist with the ability to transform a nascent idea into a real business. He has launched or co-founded more than ten start-ups in technology media and telecommunications on three continents and five countries. Mr. Lucero’s companies include an “Inc. 500” & “Hispanic 100” manufacturer (co-founder), and RF engineering company that provisioned all of Mexico’s mobile phone networks (cofounder); Latin Americas first mobile content development & ad agency (Founder); advisor to media and telecom companies in Latin America, USA and UK (Founder). Additionally, He has advised three Mexican Presidential administrations on telecom and technology, was a member of Vice-President Al Gores NAFTA committee and has advised Prime Minister David Cameron. Currently he’s focused on Perpetua Partners, a Venture Capital fund for Hispanic Tech start-ups as well as a separate mobile platform start-up in stealth mode. Mr. Lucero resides in Silicon Valley. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Steven! Thank you!

Tony Quinones , CIO, Cavendish Impact Capital Tony is a tech investor who has successfully commercialized sophisticated technology across various industries. He has managed multi-million dollar accounts while executing strategy and leading project finance in multiple start-up tech companies with a successful track record in building global businesses and leading them to successful exits. He has demonstrated skills in managing multiple investment partners and technical experts in order to ensure alignment of financial goals, exit strategies and regulatory changes by conducting on-site analysis and continuous assessment of technology, business model, financial health, and strategies. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Tony! Thank you!

Eric Gonzales , Managing Director at Montage Capital Eric Gonzales is a Managing Director at Montage Capital and joined the firm in 2011. In addition to co-managing the Montage investment funds, Eric also oversees investor relations, operations and finance at Montage. Prior to Montage, Eric spent six years as a venture investor at DCM, where two of his early stage investments ultimately became billion dollar IPOs. He also founded and ran his own startup company for four years, has eight years of product management experience from Cisco and HP, and has two years of investment banking experience from a Boston-based boutique. Eric has served on numerous boards of directors, mostly while at DCM, but also 5-star Morningstar-rated mutual fund Presidio Fund, and San Francisco-based non-profit Walden House. Eric has been a mentor to many Stanford and Harker School students, and he is an active volunteer interviewer of prospective Harvard students. Eric received an AB in Economics from Harvard and an MBA from Stanford. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Eric! Thank you!

Anne Marie Roussel , Entrepreneur Anne-Marie Roussel is an entrepreneur and investor based in Silicon Valley. She cofounded media startup Seespace Ltd in 2014, raising pre-seed funding from Kickstarter and seed funding from DFJ-Vina Capital in 2015. Previously, Anne-Marie handled venture investments for Microsoft’s Xbox and Surface and headed Sharp Electronics’ acquisitions and partnerships in the US. Before that, she was based in Paris (her hometown) as a VP for Gartner Group. In her spare time, Anne-Marie is a wine aficionado, forever seeking the perfect bottle wherever her travels take her. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Anne Marie! Thank you!

Arturo Cazares , COO, Latino Business Action Network Arturo Cazares has over 20 years of executive leadership experience in technology companies with extensive experience in building and leading high-performing teams, growing company revenues and their profits. As Chief Operating Officer, he is responsible for all go-to-market functions including Sales, Business Development and Alliances, Marketing, Customer Success, Service, and Support. Arturo has experience at pre-IPO technology companies as well as executive leadership experience at large publicly traded technology companies. He has lived and worked in Europe twice as well as Mexico, and has run global operations with significant experience in Asia. Arturo was born in Mexico, his father was a migrant field worker and the family moved to the California Central Valley when he was a child. As a boy Arturo sometimes joined his father in the fields. He attended Stanford University where he earned a BSEE as well as an MBA degree, he has called Silicon Valley home ever since. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Arturo! Thank you!

Jan Smith , Partner, KoreFusion Jan is Founding Partner of KoreFusion and responsible for directing the firm’s Latin American and EMEA offices. For over twenty years Jan has advised executive teams of acquirers, MTOs, flagship processors, and banks. He has a seasoned career in consulting and payments, including founding and selling the Latin American focused firm, InfoAmericas Inc., to Kroll Associates Inc. (formerly part of Marsh & McLennan). Prior positions include Director at Edgar, Dunn & Company, and VP of Product Development at Banco del Progreso Dominicano. Jan serves on the Financial Services Advisory Board of the Inter-American Dialogue, and on the board of two payments companies. Jan is a recognized thought leader, published by Palgrave (ISBN 978-0-230-61047-7), and quoted in a number of media outlets including Newsweek, Cardline, The Economist, and Forbes. Jan holds degrees from the Universidad de las Americas, in Mexico and the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo in Brazil. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Jan! Thank you!

Jorge Zavala , CEO, Kinnevo Jorge Zavala is an entrepreneur that has been involved in the high tech companies related to industrial automation, communication, e-commerce and content management. Currently, Jorge is mentor of companies in the areas of education, skill development, marketing and business printing. Jorge loves to help people and companies setting up new projects looking to innovate with new products for the market. His experience in transforming ideas into viable products has been shared in conferences and workshops training entrepreneurs and organizations how to find the way to start new ventures. Jorge Zavala holds a Electrical Engineering from Universidad La Salle in Mexico and a Master in Mathematics in the University of Waterloo. In 2012, Jorge wrote the book Think Like Silicon Valley Been Anywhere. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Jorge! Thank you!

Karolyn Ortega , President, New Start Karolyn is driven by the power of technology to make businesses of all sizes more innovative, nimble and productive. She calls this the “era of the digital enterprise.” She is the Founder of New Start, a telecommunications company helping client partners leverage the power of telecommunications technology to connect to opportunities. New Start provides customized telecommunications solutions representing over 20 different industries. She is experienced in business development, client relationship management, consultative sales, and technical and business operations management. Karolyn has demonstrated success delivering bottom line results, identifying new revenue opportunities, and increasing operational performance. She has broad experience in areas of strategic planning, program management, and negotiations. Significant experience managing cross-functional and culturally diverse teams, leading negotiations, executing transactions and developing new business. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Karolyn! Thank you!

Louis L. Besses, IV , Agency Sales Consultant, American Family Insurance Louis L. Besses IV, started his career at American Family Insurance in 2001, the nation’s 13th-largest property/casualty insurance group and ranks No. 315 on the Fortune 500 list, he has held several leadership positions in marketing and sales where he provided leadership in the areas of agency business consulting, new market ventures, sales channel development, financial services, and strategic business development and growth initiatives.He also helps agency business owners increase their financial performance in the marketplace through strategic transformations. These strategic transformations include increasing revenue and reducing cost through sales, operations and process improvements. Louis holds a Bachelor’s degree in sociology and mathematics, and two master’s degrees, one in marketing with a graduate certificate of specialization in brand and customer management and another in business administration. He also is an accredited small business consultant (ASBC) from the Association of Accredited Small Business Consultants. Louis serves on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce: co-chairing the Finance Committee and serves on the Board of Directors for Positive Growth Inc. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Louis! Thank you!

Mayra Urbano , Founding Partner, Moneta Partners Mayra helps passionate entrepreneurs who are looking for strategic help to solve a pressing social or environmental issue in the eco-business and green society niches to bring their visionary ideas into reality with capital investment and business strategy. She grows companies in agricultural technology, renewable energy, water, and societal improvement and helps entrepreneurs in Latin America to enter the U.S. market.  Mayra is a founding partner at Moneta Partners, where she helps visionary startups and entrepreneurs succeed by working on long-term projects that will take the evolution of eco-business and green society to the next level. They provide strategic advice, interim management, board development, growth equity, and network connections. We also work with investors who are seeking pre-analyzed investment opportunities in their area of interest. Mayra brings years of experience with methodical corporate finance and operations work, an entrepreneurial mindset and passion for technological advancement. She loves the chaotic environment of startups and helping “mad scientist” types to create real-world business plans and help them execute the plans. Mayra is fluent in Spanish and English, working between Canada, the United States and Latin America. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Mayra! Thank you!

McKenzie Slaughter , CEO/Founder, Prohaus Group McKenzie M. Slaughter is a finance and technology entrepreneurial leader with 10+ years of software development, tech startups, economic ecosystem development, and alternative capital raising. McKenzie founded Prohaus Group in 2009 and leads the vision as Founder & CEO, and leads for all venture capital and financial innovation initiatives for the company. McKenzie got her start in building startup ecosystems as former COO and startup advisor at MD Idea Lab, a Boston-based accelerator for digital healthcare startups. She is an active mentor and capital partner with several venture programs focused on the development of entrepreneurs in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. Most recent venture programs McKenzie has worked with are World Bank's Caribbean Mobile Innovation Project, Pitch Agrihack (CTA), InnovatetheNext Foundation, and Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative. As General Partner for Prohaus Capital, early stage investments include Socredly, Beyond Capital Markets, Mindful Society, Honor AI, and Osusu Labs. McKenzie received an M.B.A. in finance from Hofstra University and Bachelors of Science in mathematics and computer science from Hampton University. McKenzie is a has also received CAIA / 100 Women in Hedge Funds scholarship. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, McKenzie! Thank you!

Salvael Ortega , IoT Investments, Samsung Innovation Salvael has a proven track record of helping companies of all sizes create and launch new high-growth technology businesses through collaborative innovation. His passion is taking the culture and work methods of successful startups into large corporations, and launching new outside-the-core businesses via startup partnerships and early-stage investments. Additionally, he often advises technology entrepreneurs on how to best leverage corporate resources to accelerate and scale their disruptive impact. As part of Samsung’s Strategy & Innovation Center, Salvael supports and spearheads many of Samsung’s open and new venture efforts, particularly in the Internet of Things (IoT). These include early-stage investments, partner relationships, and product incubation and co-development with startups. Salvael began his career in the academic space, first as a lead researcher for ‘The Innovator’s Method’—a Harvard Business Review publication authored by Drs. Nathan Furr and Jeff Dyer, and which focuses on helping executives make use of leading innovation practices—and then as the founder of a new one-of-a-kind pilot program at his alma mater, teaching design thinking to a cohort of students through experiential projects. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Salvael! Thank you!

Sara Reyes , Senior Division Director, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County Ms. Reyes has worked for Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County for 15 years. She is currently the Senior Division Director for the Children, Youth, and Family Development Division. She is responsible for the implementation of over 100 projects, leading over 200 employees, and managing a $7 million dollar budget. The projects span from early childhood programs, juvenile justice, and older adult services. Prior to Catholic Charities she worked for the City of San Jose for over 6 years. Ms. Reyes holds a Bachelors in Liberal Arts from The National Hispanic University and a Masters in Public Administration from San Jose State University. Some of her active memberships include, board member for the Voice College-Bound Language Academy Charter Management Organization, board member for the California School-Age Consortium, steering committee member for San Jose State University’s CommUniverCity program, and committee member for the Santa Clara County Office of Educations’ Opportunity Youth Academy. We are so honored to have you as a mentor, Sara! Thank you!

Thank you for your continued dedication to LBAN and our programs!

SEE YOU ALL IN 2018...

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