President's Message

Distinguished Business Partners:

I am honored and privileged to have been elected as the new President of the Moreno Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for the year 2011.

For the past several years, I have served, with great respect and sense of responsibility, as Director and last year as the President-Elect. I have had the opportunity to work with a great group of leaders seeking to bring the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to a higher level, and to serve our growing Hispanic business community.

We all know that the Spanish speaking community in our city continues its rapid growth. I feel it is important that this growth is paralleled with that of all other segments of our community, including business; this way not one segment is left behind in terms of opportunities and progress. This is what I strive to do together with my colleagues at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce: to promote and support business growth.

As your new President, I am committed to working with all of you to fulfilling the mission and vision we have established for the chamber and for ourselves. With the help and support of the Board of Directors I will continue to work hard to ensure that the Hispanic Business community finds in this, their Chamber, the resources and tools it needs to have an opportunity to succeed.

2011 promises to be a great year. I am excited about the many opportunities we have ahead of us to bring this Chamber to that higher level. Just to give an example, I have already proposed to the Board of Directors to plan for a Business Expo, where we will be able to allow many of our local businesses to show case their products and services. We need to promote our local businesses so our community knows what is available within our city. That way we can keep the same or increased level of our local revenue, generated by these businesses. That means progress for our city.

Overall, the impact of Hispanic customers in our region is enormous and identifying the shared opportunities is important. I will ask our Board of Directors to seek the help and support of other organizations so that together we can make this expo a success.

Establishing partnerships with our two sister Chambers of Commerce is an essential part of our success. I would like to thank both Presidents for the assistance that has been shared over the years between the three organizations. I do believe we can share a lot more. Strong relationships with other local organizations and governmental agencies will be the key for a stronger economy in our city. I also like to thank our city officials for the support provided to our chamber over the years, and I will continue asking for that important support, and more this year.

Thanks to the past Board of Directors. Every year one or several individuals leave the Board and we always hope they can stay close so that we can contact them and ask them to come back and help. The doors will be open for those who have been members of this Board of Directors to come back and serve in one or more of several working committees, which we will be forming within the year.

Along with that idea, I would like to thank all of our Past Presidents; those who have lead this board and the Chamber over the years. Every one of them with different ideas, different styles, but without a doubt, all with the same desire to see this Chamber succeed. I am sure all of them left the organization when their term expired, thinking there was something else they wanted to do with, and for the Chamber. So I have proposed to the Board of Directors to allow me to form, what I call the Council of Past Presidents. This will be an advisory group to the Board of Directors. Members of this council will be all past and current Presidents. I have talked to some of our Past Presidents and they have all welcomed the idea and are ready to come back together in that capacity.

I thank my brand new Board of Directors for their willingness to work with me in the great opportunity we have to bring the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to the next level. Every one of them brings outstanding skills, which I hope we can explode to the max, to benefit our Chamber and its members.

Lastly, I want to thank all my friends for their support. No names so I do not forget anybody. Most especially, I thank those who are my everyday, every hour, every minute inspiration and support, my family.

We are ready to embark in a new year with our theme: “Achieving Success beyond the Horizon!”

Respectfully,

Jesus M. Holguin
2011 President Moreno Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce