Latino Leadership Institute Class II Bio Book

LATINO LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE CLASS OF 2012-2013 SPONSORED BY

LATINO LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE The Latino Leadership Institute is a skills-based leadership training program whose goal is to develop the next generation of Hispanic leaders for the St. Louis business community. The LLI consists of nine training sessions conducted once a month, each focused on a particular skill set for the developing leader.

The Institute will train this group of young Hispanic professionals on for-profit and non-profit management skills and network development within the St. Louis business community. In addition to leadership training, participants will be encouraged to give back to the St. Louis region through community involvement.

The three essential competencies to be acquired in this Class are leading an organization, leading oneself and leading others in the organization.

The participants of Class II are as follows:

Alvaro Arias

Alvaro Arias is an On-site Supervisor for StaffChex Inc, a CA based staffing firm that has recently expanded into the Missouri area to provide staffing services for one of the organization's national accounts. As an On-site Alvaro's role is multi-faceted. It involves customer service, human resources, risk management, and sales.

Alvaro was born and raised in Southern California, and spent his youth growing up in Orange County and Los Angeles. In the years preceding his relocation to the Midwest, Alvaro held various leadership positions with industry leading companies. He has been an On-site Supervisor for Volt Services Group, Customer Service and Tech Support Supervisor for Verizon Wireless and Shift Supervisor for Starbucks Coffee Company. He has also served as a Sales Consultant for Proge Farm, an Italian pharmaceutical company.

Alvaro has also been involved in various charitable functions and volunteer events with organizations like the American Red Cross, the Verizon Foundation, Human Options, Starbucks Volunteers, Ladies Rock Camp Los Angeles, Muscular Dystrophy Association of Los Angeles, Reading Partners LA, and Children Sports International.

Alvaro believes community involvement is the best investment of one's time.

His favorite pastime is traveling. Alvaro has been blessed to have been to Hawaii, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Colorado, Illinois, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Nevada. He has been lucky to visit Italy twice, and hopes to go back before the end of the year. Although he had a lay-over in Spain, and London, he doesn't think those count as actual visits, because he never left the airport.

aarias@staffchex.com

636.209.6708

Santiago Beltran

Santiago is a native of Manizales, Colombia who moved to Houston, Texas to complete his undergraduate studies in Industrial Engineering. In 2011, Santiago received his MBA from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with an emphasis in Finance and Supply Chain Management. Santiago is an avid learner and looks to complete further studies in other areas of business and engineering.

Over the past 9 years, Santiago has held several roles at Build-A-Bear Workshop ranging from Bear Builder associate to Distribution Bear, responsible for the allocation of plush merchandise throughout the 350 store chain in four countries. Currently, he is the Bear Logistics Planner, responsible for the import management process where he interacts with suppliers in China, transportation providers and different departments within the company.

Santiago volunteers with the United Way of Greater Saint Louis GenNext, is a member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professional and the Regional Business Council’s Young Professionals Network and is an avid tennis player.

Santiago and his wife, SiSi, live in Creve Coeur. They enjoy traveling, eating great food and spending time with their loved ones, including their dog, Nina.

santiagob@buildabear.com

713.261.6384

Colleen Brown

Colleen (Rodriguez) Brown is manager in the Systems Department at State Farm Insurance. She is a process expert in both program/project management and IT Service Management (ITSM). She is currently working on a large transformational effort to improve how Systems delivers value to the business to meet emerging customers’ needs.

Originally from central-lower Michigan, Colleen received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from Saginaw Valley State University in December 1993. She worked as student co-op at Dow Chemical Company in Midland, MI. After college, she worked briefly as a consultant at Ford Motor Company as a systems designer for Marketing Systems in Detroit.

In October, 1994, Colleen started her State Farm career as a systems analyst designing, developing, delivering, and supporting Legal Systems solutions for State Farm’s Corporate Law Department. In 2000, Colleen joined the leadership team as a project manager in the Property and Casualty Systems area. Through subsequent positions as a program manager and ITSM Change manager, she partnered with systems and business partners to establish integrated, robust portfolio, sourcing, program/project, and ITSM Change and Release processes to manage costs, speed delivery and improve quality of IT solutions. In 2010, she was selected to be an executive assistant for the State Farm Systems Vice-Presidents before taking on her current position. th

Colleen and her husband Kevin have two daughters, Lauren 11 (6 grade) and Julia 8 rd (3 grade). Outside of work, Colleen is very engaged in her daughters’ extracurricular activities including coaching soccer and in-town fast pitch softball. She also enjoys singing in her church’s choir.

colleen.brown.gqvh@statefarm.com

309.530.1098

Andre Cantareira

Beginning his career at John Hancock, Andre quickly developed the knowledge and expertise required to become a successful internal wholesaler. This experience became the stepping stone which led to a role as a Financial Advisor with AG Edwards. While at AG Edwards, Andre decided to use his knowledge of the financial industry to pursue his dream of business ownership. He relocated to Florida to become a partner and general manager of a Pan-Asian restaurant.

In 2007, with three boys under the age of three, Andre and his wife decided to relocate to St. Louis to be closer to family. This move afforded him the opportunity to rejoin AG Edwards as a products specialist within the Annuity, 529 Plans, and Retirement Plans department. Following the successful merger of AG Edwards and Wachovia Securities, now Wells Fargo Advisors, Andre accepted a position on the Practice Liaison team. As a member of this team, Andre continued to use his exceptional customer service skills and financial industry knowledge to assist Financial Advisors in transitioning to business ownership, supporting the growth of their business and in the resolution of escalated issues. In November of 2011, Andre was promoted and is currently the manager of the Practice Liaison team.

While not assisting Financial Advisors, Andre enjoys serving as a tutor at the Dunbar Elementary School as part of the St. Louis Public Schools / Wells Fargo Advisors Partnership. Andre also enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking, live music, traveling, fishing and scuba diving. He is a native of New Orleans, LA. Andre and his wife, Colleen, live in Sunset Hills, MO with their children, Max, Ethan and Charlie.

andre.cantareira@wellsfargoadvisors.com

314.604.2811

Carlos Cuartas

Carlos Cuartas recently joined the Boeing Company as a member in the Business Skills Rotational Program. Prior to joining Boeing, Carlos held a marketing position with SanDisk Corporation.

Carlos is currently pursuing an MBA and a graduate certificate in Supply Chain Management at the University of Missouri Saint Louis with plans to complete the program in December 2013. Carlos also obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri Saint Louis and majored in International Business, Marketing and Logistics and Operations Management.

Currently, Carlos is on the board of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals where he helps with educational goals to expand supply chain knowledge. He also works to expand his own business with the hope to one day grow internationally.

Carlos loves playing soccer, watching movies, photography, making films and traveling.

carlos.f.cuartas@boeing.com

314.757.0074

Delia Domingo Davis

Hola! Thank you for taking a moment to learn about my background. I was raised in sunny Miami, Fl by my Colombian mother and Spanish father. From 2002 to 2006 I attended the University of Florida where I received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Anthropology, and was blessed to be the first in my immediate family to complete a college education.

In 2010 my husband, our young daughter, and I relocated to wonderful St. Louis as my husband was given the opportunity to establish a new distribution center for Citrus Springs Beverage Solutions. I took on a role with Fifth Third Bank that allowed me to develop my strengths in creating and executing marketing strategies while providing financial education to St. Louis area residents. I also provide marketing consulting to Madrina’s Brands a retail line of iced coffee and deliciously tropical ice cream flavors; campaigns include the annual George Lopez Celebrity Golf Tournament Sponsorship and the St. Louis Rams Corporate Sponsorship.

In the last two years St. Louis has granted me the opportunity to work with a number of non-for profit organizations whose mission center around improving the lives of St. Louis residents and professionals. These non profits include Money Smart Week, RBC Young Professionals Network Leadership 100 and the Professional Women’s Alliance.

Currently, I am obtaining my MBA with a concentration in marketing at Washington University in St. Louis. I plan to bring my unique skill set and track record to pursue a career in Brand Management after completing the program in December of 2013.

delia.domingodavis@53.com

305.710.1070

Arlene Galve

Arlene has over 20 years of professional experience in public administration. She held positions in Mexico City such as Chair of Human Resources, Vice-President of Hospital, and school Principal.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a Special Degree in Health Care, and a Special degree in Public Administration, all of them from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She also has a Special degree in Family Counseling from the University of Pedregal in Mexico City. In the United States, Arlene obtained her Master’s degree in Arts of Teaching from Columbia College, and also obtained an Educational Specialist degree in School Administration from Lindenwood University.

Arlene is expecting to pursue her Doctorate degree in Educational Administration at Lindenwood University in 2014.

Arlene came to the U. S. in 2007 to study her Master’s degree. In 2009, Arlene was invited to be part of St. Louis Language Immersion Schools (SLLIS) as Assistant Head of School, but in 2010 she became the Head of the Spanish School. She has been working at SLLIS for four years. She is proud to be founder of this new and unique educational program in St Louis Missouri, where the Spanish language is the language of instruction, and diversity is a keyword in the school community.

Arlene has been in marriage for 23 years with a Computer Engineer, and has two sons, the oldest one is in college and the youngest is in high school.

Arlene is glad to be part of the Latino Leadership Institute.

arlene@sllis.org

573.424.4493

Antonio Lozano

Antonio Lozano has six years of experience in the utility industry, specifically focusing on settlements, analysis, and reporting related to Ameren's commodity trading and Regional Transmission Organization involvement.

After joining Ameren in 2006 as a Market Specialist, Tony has held various roles in the back office including his current title of Managing Supervisor, RTO Settlements & Financial Analysis. In this role, he oversees all back office functions for Ameren's asset and trading activity in the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) and the PJM Interconnection (PJM), as well as all commodities trading in numerous markets. Additional responsibilities include providing direction and leadership for margin/financial analysis, regulatory reporting, designing controls to ensure Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, and participation in various regional and national industry stakeholder forums.

Tony holds a BS in Marketing with a minor in Computer Science from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, and a MBA from Webster University in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Tony loves spending time with his wife of seven years and their three small children.

alozano@ameren.com

314.604.5260

Julia Macias Garcia

Julia Macias Garcia has been committed to the Latino community and issues of higher education for fifteen years. Prior to moving to St. Louis, Julia was a Program Director for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the nation’s largest not-for-profit organization supporting Hispanic higher education. Julia moved to St. Louis in 2003, where she joined Washington University. Julia is an Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Assistant Director for Campus Life.

In addition to being an Assistant Dean, Julia directs the Annika Rodriguez Scholars Program, an undergraduate scholars program based on four pillars: Academic Excellence, Leadership, Service to the Community and a Dedication to bringing diverse cultures together. The program was named after a Washington University Alumnus from Puerto Rico. Annika Rodriguez was tragically killed while serving in the Peace Corps in Honduras. . Julia advises the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), and helps coordinate Latino Link., a university forum for faculty, staff, and students interested in Latin American and Latino issues.

Julia is on the leadership team for PLAN- the Professional Leadership Academy and Network, focused on building staff leadership at Washington University in Saint Louis. Julia also serves on the Campus Diversity Collaborative, focusing on Diversity and Inclusion issues affecting the campus.

Julia holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Stanford University and a Masters Degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She is happy to be back in her hometown of St. Louis. She and her husband, Dan Garcia, are the proud parents of two young children.

julia.macias@wustl.edu

314.323.2297

Jessica Mendez

Jessica Mendez is an associate attorney in Armstrong Teasdale’s Intellectual Property Litigation group. She represents clients in disputes involving infringement of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets pending in state, federal and appellate courts throughout the United States. For a variety of organizations, Jessica provides guidance regarding infringements of copyrights and trademarks. She also counsels brand owners in matters involving trademark selection, clearance and protection.

Jessica earned her LL.M. in Intellectual Property and J.D. from Washington University School of Law and her B.A. in Public Policy and American Literature from Boston University.

Outside the office, Jessica prioritizes community involvement. Jessica is vice president and a founding member of the Hispanic Bar Association of St. Louis. Jessica helped organize the Minority Counsel Program, a program designed to create opportunities for minority attorneys by scheduling interviews with businesses that require legal services. Jessica is also on the Minorities in the Legal Profession Committee for the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. This committee designed the Call to Action program, focused on increasing minority attorney development and retention in St. Louis. Additionally, last year, Jessica was part of a team that developed a curriculum regarding internet safety for middle school children. The curriculum is currently provided to Missouri school teachers by the Missouri Bar Association.

Jessica is Puerto Rican. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking and music. She looks forward to becoming more involved in the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce through the Latino Leadership Institute.

jessica.m.mendez@gmail.com

203.525.7789

Missy Muñoz

With over 10 years of banking experience, Missy Munoz likes to add her own personal flair to create amazing banking relationships through mixing oldfashioned, personal customer service with new technologies and banking products. “I don’t see myself as just a banker to my clients, but as their financial partner” says Munoz, “I believe that I can be an integral part of their success and love providing solutions to help them achieve their goals.”

With a BA in Management, Munoz is also currently studying to earn an MBA from Webster University.

Recently named the West St. Louis County Business Person of the Year, Munoz stays active in the community by coaching select softball, participating as chairperson of the West St. Louis County Chamber’s Young Professional Group, and serving as a volunteer summer camp counselor for the Missouri Burns Recovered Support Group.

Munoz takes pride in her Cuban-American heritage and is excited to learn and grow through the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Latino Leadership Institute program. “I’m truly honored and eager to be involved with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. This is a great opportunity for me to develop both professionally and personally” says Munoz.

mmunoz@eaglebankandtrust.com

636.524.9349

Erick Prado

I am from Toluca, State of Mexico. I moved to St Louis, MO in December 2011. I am an International Accountant supporting subsidiaries for Monsanto Company in Colombia, Venezuela, El Salvador and Puerto Rico. I started my career in Monsanto Mexico, working as a Treasury Analyst supporting mainly Mexico and Venezuela.

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, and a Diploma in Corporate Finance from the ITESM (Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey). I studied English in Vancouver, Canada for a period of four months and coursed a full exchange program in Boston College MA related to my Bachelor’s degree.

I enjoy meeting people outside the office and I expect to gain leadership skills not only from the teachers but also sharing experiences and knowledge from my working group. I love tennis; I like traveling and watch football.

eoprado@monsanto.com

314.785.8517

Carol Mena Quick

Carol Mena Quick was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to parents who immigrated to the United States from beautiful La Paz, Bolivia. Ms. Quick is an Elder & Disability Law Attorney at Debra K. Schuster, P.C., located in Olivette, Missouri.

Ms. Quick earned her B.A. in Spanish Literature at the University of MissouriColumbia, and her M.A. in Legal Studies from Webster University in St. Louis, MO, where she was awarded the university’s West Legal Student of the Year award in 2007. Ms. Quick received her Juris Doctorate and Certificate in Health Law from Saint Louis University School of Law. Prior to studying law, Ms. Quick worked as a legal paraprofessional in the health care industry, including positions at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacia Corp., Pfizer Inc. and Express Scripts. In 2006, Ms. Quick was a Pfizer-St. Louis site’s YWCA Working Women in the Workplace award recipient.

Ms. Quick is active in the local St. Louis Hispanic community. At SLU, Ms. Quick was the vice-president of the Hispanic Law Students Association. Ms. Quick is a member and past president of the Bolivian Society of St. Louis, MO and member of the Hispano-American Society. Ms. Quick is also a member of the local American Heart Association’s Madrinas outreach committee.

Ms. Quick is licensed to practice law in Missouri and is a member of the Missouri Bar Association, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, the American Bar Association, Life Care Planning Law Firm Association, the Hispanic Bar Association of St. Louis, and MO NAELA, Missouri chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.

Ms. Quick’s interests include watching movies, traveling and spending time with her husband, a visual artist, and her young son, who is a St. Louis Blues fanatic.

cmq@dschuster.com

314.456.3098

Edna Rodriguez

Edna is a Vice president and mortgage backed securities (MBS) trader at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. She has 10 years of Fixed Income trading and Capital Markets experience. She manages a group of MBS Traders in the Agency Best Execution group. She is responsible for developing a trading strategy according to the market characteristics and the desired hedged position for each product. She manages the cross hedge and cross coupon exposure in the pipeline/warehouse to reduce risk and maximize profit.

Edna recently celebrated her 10-year anniversary at Wells Fargo. Her first job here was in the Pipeline/Warehouse Asset Valuation group as a Financial Analyst. Before joining Wells Fargo, she worked as an auditor for Fortune 500 companies at Ernst and Young, LLP. She obtained her CPA while working there. Before that, she worked as an accounting teacher’s assistant at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign while finishing her Master of Science in Accountancy (MSA) program.

Edna obtained her bachelor’s degree in International Business Management in December, 1997 from Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), in Sinaloa, Mexico.

Edna is a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for Wells Fargo Home Lending, her focus is on building awareness of diversity and inclusion across Wells Fargo.

Since Edna is fluent in Spanish, she loves volunteering to interpret and translate. She volunteered with Wells Fargo to interpret in a NACA (Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America) event in St. Louis to help borrowers restructure their mortgages.

ednam.rodriguez@gmail.com

314.566.1937

Jaqueline Shafer

I was born and raised in Brazil, and I moved to the United States nineteen years ago to work as an Occupational Therapist. I received a Bachelor degree in 1986 from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

I’ve been working at Barnes Jewish for a total of fifteen years. I worked eleven years at Barnes Extended Care and for the last four years I have been working at Barnes Jewish Home Care as a leader therapist. During that time I worked as a field work supervisor for Washington University and St. Louis University students. I also work part time for Washington University in the Occupational Therapy Program assisting Professor Susan Stark’s research in home modification. Occasionally I am invited to teach a class in occupational therapy at Washington University.

I stay connected to my Brazilian roots by serving as a President of Viva Brasil Association in St. Louis to promote Brazilian culture and sponsor and support events that will benefit the Brazilian community.

Jaqueline.shafer@gmail.com

(636) 207-6534

Roberto Tsuchiya

Hello my name is Roberto Tsuchiya, I was born in Mexico City. My Father is Japanese and my mother is Mexican. I got married to a US citizen and I moved to the US. My first passion in life was electronics and I got my associate degree in electronic from Fox Valley College in Appleton Wisconsin; from there I started working for an International company installing printing presses all over the world.

Around the late 90’s I got a new job and I went back to school. I started a new career change and I got my Bachelor’s degree in computer science and presently I am almost done with my Master’s degree in the same field (computer science). I presently work for A&T and I enjoy running and spending time with my family.

My future goal is to get my Doctoral degree and one day to become a professor.

roberto.tsuchiya@att.com

314.608.6387

Cecilia Velazquez

Cecilia Velázquez graduated from the Universidad del Valle de Mexico with a B.A. in Industrial Psychology. She began her work experience with the Sonoco Company, starting as a trainee and advancing within the company reaching the Human Resources Corporate Manager position, which she held for ten years. After that, she worked in Ralf Wilson International as the Human Resources Director for two years.

Velazquez received her MBA from ITESM in Mass Communications and Journalism in 1993, and began working as a freelance writer for many newspapers and magazines in Mexico.

In 1998, Cecilia moved to the U.S where she started her own business, launching a Hispanic Newspaper, “Red Latina”, where it became the only Spanish newspaper within the metropolitan St. Louis, Jefferson City and Columbia, Missouri.

Velazquez´s passion for communications inspired her to start a Hispanic Radio, Radio Cucui 770 AM. For the last ten years it has become the only Hispanic radio station with a major focus on the Hispanic audience reaching the Saint Louis and Illinois areas. This has been the principal vehicle of communication for events, entertainment, news and topics of interest for the Latino Community. Her knowledge about target audience and experience acquired over these 10 years on the air, are without a doubt, some of her strongest assets.

Velazquez has been a long time member of the Hispanic Leaders Group of St. Louis, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and a Board member of Promotores Unidos USA. In 2009, she was named “Business Person of The Year” by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

cecilia@redlatinastl.com

314.330.0454

Program Dates: October 12, 2012

February 8, 2013

November 9, 2012

March 8, 2013

December 14, 2012

April 12, 2013

January 11, 2013

May 10, 2013

June 14, 2013 *Graduation

Program Sponsors: Title Sponsor

Session Sponsors