Fernando Espuelas | Recruitment Outreach

Fernando Espuelas was the founder and CEO of StarMedia, one of the most popular content sites for Hispanics in the U.S. and Latin America with over 24 million unique users a month. Prior to its sale to France Telecom, StarMedia was publicly traded with a market capitalization of $3.8 billion. Fernando went on to start Voy, a digital media company serving the Hispanic market. Forrester Research Voy’s portal at the leading pure play social network in Latin America. Time and CNN named Espuelas as one of the “Leaders of the Millennium” and in 2007 he was honored by being named a Henry Crown Fellow through the Aspen Institute. Today, Fernando mixes entrepreneurship with social activism, hosting Café Espuelas, a radio show on Univision 1020. He is the author of the book Life in Action and has been interviewed and featured in major press including CNN, New York Times, Business Week and the Wall Street Journal.

Jorge Castro | Corporate Governance

Mr. Castro is Chief Executive Officer of Lombardia Capital Partners, a firm that manages $2 billion of equity investments on behalf of pension funds, endowments, foundations, and high net worth individuals. In 2008 Hispanic Business magazine named Mr. Castro among the 100 most influential Latinos in the US. Mr. Castro served as Vice Chairman and was a founding board member for the New America Alliance, a non-profit organization bringing together the nation’s most prominent Latino business leaders to better the Hispanic American community. Mr. Castro is also active in civic affairs, having served as a director of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a water utility serving 16 million residents in six Southern California counties. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University and studied for his Ph.D. in government at Harvard University. Jorge was born and raised in Huntington Park, California and now lives with his wife Nancy and their son Dominic Diego in Pasadena.

Moctesuma Esparza | Community Partnerships

Moctesuma Esparza, an award-winning filmmaker, producer, entertainment executive, entrepreneur and activist, is revered for his contributions to the movie industry and commitment to Latinos everywhere. Esparza established Maya Cinemas, a growing chain of modern movie theatre complexes, and Maya Entertainment, the only Latino owned Entertainment Company targeting U.S. Latinos today. Some of his production credits include: Selena, The Milagro Beanfield War, The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca, and most recently Walkout for HBO. Esparza founded the Los Angeles Academy of Arts and Enterprise Charter School, is Co-Founder of NALIP, Co-Founder of the Smithsonian Latino Center, and founding Member of the Cesar Chavez Foundation. Moctesuma was appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Commissioner to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and, most recently, was appointed by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to the planning commission of the National Museum of the American Latino.

Jim Maloney | Information Security

Jim is a renowned information security expert having served as Vice President of Information Security for Amazon.com and Head of Security for Barclay’s banking operations in Western Europe and the UK.  Jim is currently the Director of Information Security for Intuit, supporting their Small Business Group.  He has current CISSP, CISM and CGEIT certifications and has been directly involved in the full lifecycle of security product and services development from both business and technology perspectives. Jim holds an MS in management from Stanford University, an MBA from City University, an MS in engineering from Northwestern University and a BS in system design from Marquette University.

Chad Cooper |  Corporate Finance

Chad Cooper is the head of institutional sales for Roth Capital Partners based in Newport Beach, CA.  He has been with Roth since 2002.  He was was previously a Vice President with eSamsung Ventures and an Associate with Friedman Billings Ramsey.   His focus and expertise is helping private and capital markets and understanding the  Chad received his MBA from Georgetown University and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Southern California.

Rick Ross | Software Development and Client Tools

Rick Ross is the founder and CEO of Ross Software Corporation.  Using a people-centric approach the company specializes in the development of commercial software packages for business, healthcare, scientific, educational, government and non-profit organizations. Rick also mentors business and technology executives and has trained hundreds of developers.  He’s been a featured guest on nationally syndicated radio, founded and led organizations for developers and given numerous presentations at software development and business conferences.  Prior to founding the company in 1997, Rick led the development efforts at firms that varied in size from businesses with a few employees to a national bank and finished his corporate career as an executive for a Fortune 50 insurance provider. During his tenure he directed the development and nationwide rollout of both enterprise and commercial systems.

Al Adamsen | HR Analytics

Al Adamsen is the founder and managing partner of People-Centered Strategies, a management consulting firm specializing in talent management and human resources analytics.  Al’s work is based on aligning HR strategies to the economics of a business and in turn, building metrics and decision-making processes that enable leaders to manage their organizations more responsively and effectively.   Al has worked with leading companies such as Charles Schwab, Ernst & Young, Gap Inc., and Kenexa.  At Gap Inc. Al was responsible for HR metrics & reporting, employee surveys, and workforce planning & analytics.  Al holds an Economics degree from the University of California, Davis as well as a Masters degree in HR and Organizational Development.

Matt Jarvis | Internal Branding

Matt is a partner at 72andSunny, a design and advertising company based in Los Angeles and Amsterdam that serves clients such as Nike, Bugaboo, Quiksilver and the Discovery Channel. Previously, he was the Executive Planning Director for Deutsch/LA where he led the strategy and business development efforts of the west coast office.  Prior to Deutsch, he was president of the retail division of Justice Telecom, an international telco ranked the “#1 fastest growing company in America” by Inc. Magazine in 1998.  Matt grew up in a small college town in Pennsylvania, where both his parents were professors. A graduate of Brown University, where he studied comparative literature, Matt got his start in marketing at Leo Burnett in Chicago. When not directing brand strategy for 72andSunny clients, Matt is surfing or playing with his wife and kids in Venice, CA. He is also a fan of jamon serrano.

Jeremy Kestler | Web Based Training

Jeremy B. Kestler is a corporate learning and development consultant specializing in e-learning instructional design, web-based training development and project management. He has developed global training programs for clients including SAP, The Coca-Cola Company, America Online and the U.S. Department of Labor. Jeremy has also developed e-learning courses for leaders in the cable/broadband industry including Cox, Adelphia, Comcast and Time Warner.   While at Caliper Corporation,  he personally led the course development and company-wide roll out of an online learning management system. He has a B.A. in English from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.