Chair
Rene Diaz – Diaz Foods

Experience

The Zaid Group LLC, President & CEO, a Management Company for Diaz Foods, Diaz Produce, Tortilla de Casa, Lime Taqueria and Tequila Bar, EDUA and International Imports. Combined total 2010 forecasted gross sales over $200,000,000. Atlanta Journal Constitution, Accounting Clerk 1980

Education

• Diversity Leadership Academy of Atlanta 2001
• Middle East Travel Seminar 1997
• Regional Leadership Institute (RLI) 1995
• Leadership Atlanta 1994
• Georgia State University, BBA Marketing 1987
• Marist School, Atlanta 1980

Corporate boards

• Diaz Foods, Inc., Chairman, Board of Directors 1980 to present
• The Coca-Cola Hispanic Advisory Council, 2007 to present
• Atlantic Capital Bank,  Founding Board Member, 2006 to present
• The ZAID Group, LLC. Founder and President 2004 to present
• Diaz Produce, LLC. Founding partner, Managing Partner, 2002 to present
• EDUA, LLP. Founder and Managing Partner 1990 to present
• Tortillas De Casa, LLC.  Founding partner,  Managing Partner, 1999 to present

Currebt community boards

• Atlanta Rotary Club Member 2010 to present
• Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Board Member 2010 to present
• Emory University Center for Ethics, Advisory Board, 2009 to present
• GSU Robinson College Advisory Board, 2007 to present
• Centro Foxes Presidential Library, Advisory Board Member, 2007 to present.

Chair Elect
Rick Perez – Turner Broadcasting System

Rick Pérez is Senior Vicepresident and General Manager of TNT, TCM, ISAT, SPACE and truTV for Latin America. He is in charge of setting network guidelines, as well as supervising programming, marketing and creative services.

Under his leadership, TNT has become one of the television networks with the greatest pan regional distribution, and has launched four different exclusive feeds for Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela, gaining one of the top three positions in film channel viewership in Latin America.

Rick Pérez is also responsible for the reface of SPACE channel, as well as the repositioning of I-SAT channel, pushing the launch of both networks into new markets. As a result of his administration, TCM network has reached the impressive number of 15 million subscribers in just 4 years of existence.

Pérez joined Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) in October 1990 as Programming Director for TNT Latin America, and was appointed Vicepresident in 1993. As such, he was in charge of all aspects of programming, and supervised original productions and on-line services.

Before working for TBS, Pérez was station manager for K-40, an independent television station in Lubbock, Texas. Previous to that, he did promotion and production work for Fox-KJTV and NBC-KCBD, also in Lubbock.

Pérez got his Masters in Communications and a degree in Telecommunications at the Texas Tech University, where he is currently part of the Steering Committee of the School of Collective Communication. Originally from Cali, Colombia, he speaks fluent Spanish and English.

Vice Chair
Gabriel Vaca – UPS

Gabriel Vaca is a former chair Board of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Vaca has demonstrated his commitment to the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce by serving as a Board member since April 2004. However, his support does not end there; he also serves as Board member of the Hispanic American Center for Economic Development (HACED) starting December 2007. It is through Mr. Vaca’s efforts the GHCC continues to receive support from The UPS Foundation, contributing to the strengthening and economic wellbeing of our continued work. Mr. Vaca is the Director of Strategic Accounts Sales for UPS international products in the Southeast Region, where he has been involved for over 15 years in developing international trade between the U.S and countries around the world, especially the Latin American markets. He contributes his commitment to helping Hispanic small businesses, based on his personal experience as a small business owner where he received support and business opportunities through the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Vaca has a degree in Business Administration, was born in Mexico City and raised in Washington, D.C. He has two children and lives in Roswell, GA.

Treasurer
Michael Liss – SunTrust

Education

He received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and earned his Global Executive M.B.A. from the Georgia Institute of Technology. While attending Georgia Tech he studied Latin American Business at the Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires during his Argentina residency, followed by studies in China.

Accolades

Recently he was recognized by the faculty and staff of Georgia Tech Executive Education Programs as an “Outstanding Alumni Ambassador”. Previously he was chosen as the feature for billboards, Business to Business Magazine, the Georgia Tech Dean’s Report, as well as numerous other publications for Georgia Tech’s Global Executive M.B.A. of which he is an alumnus. Further, he was recognized as the top banker in his segment of the bank three years in a row, while winning the Chairman’s Club Trip in 2007.

Boards and Memberships

ORT America-Atlanta Region; Board of Directors Chair of Corporations & Foundations Committee Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity, brother & Past President.

Secretary
Roxana Doritis – Tensor Consulting

Past Chair
Leticia Maspons Willis – Willis Mechanical, Inc.

Mrs. Leticia Willis is founder and President of Willis Mechanical, Inc. Willis Mechanical, founded in 2002, deals in commercial, institutional and industrial HVAC and plumbing. Willis Mechanical was the recipient of the GHCC’s award for small business of the year. Mrs. Willis currently serves on multiple Boards including the Gwinnett County Advisory Board for BB&T, Hispanic American Center for Economic Development (HACED) Board and the Emory Center for Ethic Advisory Board. Willis Mechanical is a member of The Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) and The Mechanical Contractors Association of Georgia (MCAG). Mrs. Willis earned her B.S. in Business and public administration from the University of Texas, Dallas. Mrs. Willis was born and raised in Mexico, and is married with two children.

Parliamentarian
David Richards – The Richards Law Firm, LLC

Director
Gary Sanchez – AGL

Director
Brenda Cornelius – The Cornelius Group

Director
Louis Besses – American Family Insurance

Director
Arnaldo Ruiz – Hartsfield-Jackson Airport

Director
Patrick Birchall – Intercontinental Buckhead

Director
Victor Delerme – Delerme CPA, LLC

Director
Michael Burrell – Telemundo ATL

Michael Burrell's broadcast career spans over 25+ years, currently holding the position of General Manager for WKTB-Telemundo Atlanta where he is overseeing and managing all station operations. Before Telemundo-Atlanta he held the position of Vice President-General Manager for Four Points Media Group in West Palm Beach Florida from May 2005 until June 2009. He oversaw all station operations for the company's 4 stations consisting of the CW, MyNetwork TV, Azteca-America and RTV (Retro Television Network).

Mr. Burrell began his career in the late 80's at NBC in NY working on the affiliate research team. Quickly his calling was for sales as he was relocated to the NBC station in West Palm Beach Florida. Six years later he was headed to the NBC affiliate in Atlanta where for 13 years he would hold the positions of Account Executive, National Sales Manager, Local Sales Manager and ultimately overseeing all sales operations as General Sales Manager.

A native New Yorker, Mr. Burrell earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication Arts & Television from St. John's University in May of 1985. Grandson of Brooklyn Dodger Hall of Famer Roy Campanella, Burrell was a walk on free agent with the NY Jets and participated in several other NFL camps before moving into the broadcast industry. He's been a member and mentor of the 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc. Serves on the board of directors for the Boys and Girls Club of Riviera Beach, and also served on the board of directors for Junior Achievement of Atlanta. Mr. Burrell is married to Dr. Lisa Andrea Burrell, DMD and resides in Alpharetta GA with their three children, Mike Jr., Justin and Gabrielle.

Director
Juan Soto – Tesoro Payment Solutions.

Juan is the founder of Tesoro Payment Solutions, a payment consulting and merchant services organization based in Marietta, Georgia. He is a payment industry veteran having spent the past twenty-five plus years in the retail point-of-sale, credit card transaction processing and merchant acquiring marketplace. Tesoro's products and services range from major credit/debit card and ecommerce processing to industry specific point of sale systems and flexible business loan programs. Juan has viewed the industry from many angles and leverages his sales, finance, operations and systems experiences to better serve the Hispanic and general merchant community. Juan has held senior sales management and business development positions in different industry verticals including stints at Fleetcor (fleet card issuer & processor), Planet Payment (dynamic currency conversion processor), Noblett & Associates (payment technology consultancy), Chase Merchant Services & NaBANCO (credit card merchant acquiring), and IVI Checkmate/Ingenico (POS equipment manufacturer). Juan holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Florida International University in Miami where he majored in Finance and Marketing. He also holds technical and pre-engineering associate degrees and is fluent in Spanish.