Confirmed Speakers

FORUM MODERATOR:

Alberto Padilla: For 12 years Alberto Padilla has been the financial and business news anchor for CNN en Español, and runs the "Economía y Finanzas" newscast, the only daily TV financial news show in Spanish in Latin America. Padilla has regularly interviewed the most influential business leaders, such as Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Donald Trump; and the presidents and CEO’s of many of the Fortune 500 companies such as Hewlett Packard, Cisco Systems among many others, as well as the top business leaders, Presidents and Finance Ministers of virtually all Latin American nations and Spain.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Juan Sepúlveda: Juan Sepúlveda, Director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. In this capacity, he is responsible for directing the efforts of the White House Initiative in engaging Hispanic students, parents, families, organizations, and anyone working in or with the education system in communities nationwide as active participants in improving the academic achievement of Hispanic Americans.

FORUM PANELISTS:

	Rafael Andino: Mr. Andino founded Biofisica, Inc. in 1999 with the vision of developing breakthrough products to expedite wound healing and regeneration of connective tissue in humans. Mr. Andino has successfully led the biotechnology company through five rounds of fundraising. Prior to founding Biofisica, Mr. Andino was a research & development director and senior project manager for CIBA Vision, a leading contact lens and lens care product company. Mr. Andino received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Masters of Science in biomedical engineering from the University of Alabama and an MBA from Mercer University.
	Dalia Paratore-Salazar: Dalia Paratore Salazar is Director of Multicultural Products and Services for PR Newswire. She is directly responsible for the development and maintenance of all the division’s products and services. Dalia Salazar was Chief Operating Officer and Partner of LatinClips, Inc. Dalia, born and raised in Lima, Peru. Prior to joining LatinClips, she was the former manager of the Freedom Forum Library at the Inter American Press Association. Dalia also worked for the Miami-Dade County library system and at Florida Power and Light as a business analyst. Dalia has a Master of Science in Information Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Florida State University.
	George Haddad: George Haddad is an Aerospace Engineer at NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC). He has supported the Integration and launch of many of NASA’s scientific and planetary missions such as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), the GOES weather satellites, the Cassini mission, the Gravity Probe B mission, and recently the STEREO mission. He is the principal investigator for several research projects, and presently is developing the Ground Systems for the Constellation Program at KSC. He has a Master Degree in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Central Florida. George is fluent in French and Arabic. He lives with his wife and three boys in Melbourne, Florida.
	Miguel Galarza: Mr. Galarza has 20 years’ experience in multimillion-dollar civil, environmental, wetlands, and IDIQ program management projects. He has estimated, negotiated, and managed projects incorporating Divisions 2 through 16, with special expertise in utility distribution systems, structural concrete, and marine construction, As President, Mr. Galarza has grown Yerba Buena Engineering from it inception in 2002 from 350,000 in sales to current project revenue of 15 Million dollars in sales, and employing 45 people.
	Juan Pablo Giometti: Mr. Giometti is the Founder and CEO of National Hispanic Entrepreneurs’ Organization. He is also Managing Director of The Latin Focus LLC, a media and marketing consulting firm. Previously, he held managerial positions for Fortune 500 companies, including NACCO Materials Handling Group, IBM, Pepsi Bottling Group, and Motorola. He holds a Bachelor Degree from Universidad Catolica in Argentina, an M.B.A. from Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC Chapel Hill, where he was a Kenan Fellow, and an M.B.A. from Recanati Business School, Tel-Aviv University. He completed Executive Education at Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business. He is fluent in, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew.
	Daniel Vargas: Mr. Vargas is the President and Executive Creative Director. Prior to opening up Vargas & Amigos, Dan came from the traditional agency side where he served as Executive Art Director at BBDO, Creative Director at Wells Rich Greene and Executive Creative Director at RSVT. He also headed up the in-house creative department of AVON In additional to working at some of the top ad agencies, Dan has chaired the advertising department at the prestigious Portfolio Center Ad School in Atlanta. He has served on the board of the Atlanta Ad Club and the Atlanta Creative Club. In 2006 Vargas judged the National Addy Awards as well as several other international creative shows and numerous local Addy Awards.

NHEO FORUM Agenda