Calendar Of Events
HSBC Welcomes PRIMER to Its Head Office
03/01/2007
The world’s local bank, HSBC, rolled out its red carpet for PRIMER’s March 1st networking reception. Over 70 members and prominent leaders gathered in New York City and enjoyed the red-carpet treatment at the head office of HSBC Bank USA. If a picture speaks a thousand words (and we have many pictures from the networking reception), actions speak even louder. HSBC demonstrated its commitment to our organization convincingly and soundly on Thursday evening.
Chris Davies, head of HSBC Commercial Bank – North America, was the gracious and insightful host of the networking reception. Chris was accompanied by Gloria M. Witter, AVP, Global CRM Relationship Manager; Leslie LaFontaine, Administrator, CB China Business Development, who coordinated the event; and Carlos E. Coto, AVP, Glenn Oaks and incoming president of the Hispanic Latin Diversity Committee.
Our own PRIMER member Rubén Muñiz, SVP, CB Management, skillfully facilitated the session. Special thanks also to Margarita Pinilla, SVP, Chief Financial Officer, Americas; Julia Campos, Executive Assistant, PB Americas; Xinyue Jasmine Geffner, Regional Head, Americas, China International Business Development; Jean Acosta, Vice President, Institutional Sales, Americas, Michele Chow-Tai of Structured Derivatives and leader of the African Heritage Council; and Cherrie Illidge-Mckenna, Vice President of Diversity, for joining us on this special occasion. We thank all of them for their hospitality and for making us feel comfortable at their home-away-from-home.
At this remarkable landmark building everyone celebrated the inductions of four new members, connected with one another and leveraged PRIMER’s influential membership and deep-rooted relationships.
Four New Members Inducted
We were pleased to welcome four new members into the PRIMER family. Ivy Latimer, PRIMER’s Vice President of Membership introduced the new members, which are listed below:
Charles Patrick Garcia, Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Hispanic Capital Markets Group – VFinance Investments, Inc. Boca Raton, FL
Mr. Garcia founded Sterling Financial in 1997, whose competitive advantage was its focus on the Hispanic consumer. The firm began with three people operating out of the cleaned out broom closet of another firm and grew to more than 60 offices in seven countries, offering investment banking and financial advisory services. In May 2006, it was sold to Vfinance Investments Inc. In November 2006, Winn Dixie Stores, a Fortune 500 company, elected Charles to their Board of Directors, and he serves on the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Charles is frequently sought by Telemundo, Univision, Fox, ABC, NBC and shows such as CNN's Crossfire to lend his unique insights into issues of national significance.
Toti Cadavid, President and Co-Founder, Xcelente! Marketing. Denver, CO.
Ms. Cadavid has over a dozen years of corporate marketing experience in international marketing, campaign development and expansion into US Hispanic markets. She has worked with clients such as Inasco, Keith Walker Oil and Gas, Colorado Department of Education, American United Mortgage, Media One (now Comcast), and The Hallmark Channel. Toti has worked with many community organizations including the Junior League, Business Marketing Association, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA) to name a few. Ms. Cadavid is a former president of the NSHMBA Denver chapter and is the Western Region Vice Chair.
Marc Rodriguez, Employee Benefit Specialist, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, New York, NY
Marc has been working in Sales for over 10 years and has helped each company he’s worked for significantly increase its revenue. As a sales manager, he also helped a start-up company grow from 3 employees to over 100 in a matter of 3 years. He became self-employed in 2003 and has helped his company grow its business substantially since then. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Village Care of New York (nonprofit, nursing home). Along with other Board members, he helps to oversee policies and provide new ideas that help the organization to provide better service and increase donations.
Jose M. Fernández, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs New York, NY
José has over 20 years of experience covering some of the largest Hedge Funds in the world. Mr. Fernández manages a team of 110 people. He is also the co-head of the Hispanic and Latino network for the Fixed Income and Equities divisions at Goldman Sachs. He is a former head of the firm wide Hispanic and Latino Network at Goldman Sachs and is actively involved in many of the Diversity recruiting efforts of the firm.
Distinguished Guests Actively Participate
Once again, PRIMER’s invitees provided meaningful perspectives to our discussions. They added an abundance of good insight and their high-level of intellect as they honored us with their participation. First-time guests included:
John Leguizamo, an Emmy, OBIE, and ACE winner and a Golden Globe Award nominated comedian, actor and producer;
Bill Dannecker, Chairman, Retirement Systems Group;
Marc Miller, President, Miller & Partners;
David Olivencia, Director, Insight Program, Technology Business Unit, Oracle;
Scott OKeefe, co-founder ORM;
Oscar Zamora, Senior Counsel, SL Green Realty;
Rey Polanco, Agency Field Consultant, State Farm Insurance;
Marlo J. Paredes, Director, Hispanic Marketing;
Ishmael Kolthoff, Associate Director of Sales, Puerto Rico Convention Bureau;
Benny Lorenzo, founder and chairman of ASPIRA Capital Management;
Robert Federico, Executive Director of El Repertorio Español and his associates
John Mejia, Jose Antonio Cruz.
Pierre Bonnefil, Esq., Partner, Epstein Becker & Green;
Also with us for the first time were senior executives like:
Manny Mendez, Dr. Richard Torres, Luis Diaz, Dr. Alex Rosado, Ray Medina, Gus Quiniones, and Mark Lugris.
Presentation by Charles Patrick Garcia
Charles discussed a high level competitive fellowship that he is creating, affiliated with the Center For Creative Leadership, that would cultivate the future Hispanic-American leaders of Fortune 1000 companies. He will be sending the members a "brown paper" outlining the basic structure and curriculum to all the members for their input.
Presentation by Junior Achievement of New York
As part of our responsibilities as a soon-to-be 501(c)(6) organization, we invited Luis Davila-Ortega, Director, Hispanic Initiative for the Junior Achievement of New York (JANY) to discuss possible ways in which PRIMER members can support this organization, including the following:
Increase participation of first generation Hispanic students in JANY programming in New York City and Long Island.
Increase the number and percentage of Hispanic volunteers in the JANY volunteer base.
Create materials to engage parents in JANY programs.
Create a Hispanic Initiative Advisory Council comprised of business leaders, community leaders, educators and students.
In addition, through workplace experiences, members may be able to support a Job Shadow program (hosting 1-2 students for 3-5 hours to show them a typical day at work) or support the Hispanic Youth Conference using the employee network groups to host 20-30 students for a whole day of activities related to interviewing skills, careers and leadership skills at your workplace.
Refinements for Future Sessions
We discussed how to maximize the value of the networking receptions for our members and agreed that the recently announced slow down of our membership growth effective July 12, 2007 was the right decision for PRIMER to better manage growth, effectiveness, and unity. We also discussed options for making the program more effective for all. For example, going forward we will schedule fewer agenda items to allow members to better interact during the formal part of the program. We will also consider starting at 5:00 p.m. to extend the unstructured networking reception of the meeting.
What is PRIMER?
Daniel Guadalupe led a discussion describing what PRIMER is – and what PRIMER is not -- and what we are striving to make it both for its short- and long-term future. Above all, he described PRIMER as a network of business and professional leaders who leverage our collective resources to create opportunities, sponsorship and success for each other and for the community at large. It is “an extended family,” Daniel added, where members proactively identify business and professional development opportunities for each other.
Dan stated that PRIMER offers members a unique value proposition and reminded us that its success depends on how individual members interact, help and support each other in their careers, particularly during the period between our sessions. PRIMER enables members to grow to their full potential, proactively identify opportunities for each other and stands without a rigid organizational structure that other organizations have (meetings, debates, politics, etc.).
Dan also described what PRIMER is not. It is not a civic, civil rights, social service, political or public affairs organization. It is not an organization that will replace, overlap with or perform roles already undertaken by others. He then went on to highlight the many companies that are represented in PRIMER. Many members were impressed. These companies include, as of 03/07:
5th Street Advisors
Frito-Lay
Pinnacle Achievement
Advo
Goldman Sachs
Ponce de Leon Bank
Aetna Inc.
Housing Works
Princeton Associates
AG Edwards
HSBC
Sam Ramirez & Co
Altria Group Inc.
Kimberly-Clark
Sandoval Assocs.
Babbalu.Com
Montefiore Medical Center
Sodexho USA
Citigroup
Negron Consulting
Space-Craft Manufacturing
City of Denver
Norris McLaughlin & Marcus
Sunset Shores Adult Care
Construction Project Management
Northwestern Mutual
Sterling Hispanic Capital Markets Group
Consultiva Internacional
New York University
The McGraw-Hill Companies
DiversityInc
Office of the NJ Governor
Verizon Communications
Ernst & Young
PepsiCo
Xcelente Marketing!
Dan shared the diversity of countries represented at PRIMER. Of them, the United States of America is a common one for all of us, but others
include Puerto Rico, Cuba, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Africa and Panama. We have arrived at a new point of success as an organization and as members and the goal of coming together as an extended family is getting closer every day. We have maintained our focus even in the midst of tremendous growth, guided by our vision of keeping PRIMER a unique organization for its members. PRIMER is stronger than ever and firmly committed to providing the sponsorship and support its members need to succeed.
Coming Up on May 10th in Hartford
A special presentation about the misperceptions that may still exist about the Hispanic-American executive. It will be a discussion led by a Caucasian male partner of an executive search firm revealing the untold views that may still linger in Corporate America. The discussion will include stereotypes, perceptions, fears, and the distinction between legitimate marketplace competition and xenophobia. PRIMER members will have an opportunity to discuss these views and should walk away with a better understanding of these issues and tools to address them as part of their individual growth.
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