OUR MISSION:

"To promote excellence in Hispanic marketing"

OUR VISION:

"To become Florida’s premier promoter of Hispanic marketing excellence, to play a leadership role in this field, and to be recognized for it"

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President:
Elena Del Valle - LNA World Communications

Secretary:
Christine Clavijo-Kish - Hispanic PR Wire

Treasurer:
Jose Fernandez - Performance Consulting Group

Member at Large:
Tony Moreno - Huellas.com

Interacción

Editor
Lourdes de la Torriente

Graphic Design and Layout
Cris Ascunce

The Hispanic Marketing & Communication Association is a non-for-profit, Miami-based, independent organization whose members are individuals of diverse backgrounds with a common interest in the Hispanic market in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Our roundtables and seminars serve as forums to discuss interesting, timely issues; to encourage professional development; and to provide opportunities to network among practitioners in marketing, advertising, media, public relations, and other communication fields, who practice or have an interest in the Hispanic Market.

Elena Del Valle - LNA World Communications
A 17-year Marketing and Public Relations veteran, Elena has worked extensively with U.S. and international Hispanic markets. Prior to founding her own Marketing and Public Relations firm four years ago, she headed the Hispanic practice at the largest independent public relations firm in Florida. Before that, she attended law school nights while she was in charge of domestic and international Hispanic marketing/public relations for a major private South Florida company. She began her career working in the Public Information Office of one of the best known cities in the U.S. Multilingual and a published author, she is a graduate of Leadership Miami, the Center for Creative Leadership, the National Hispana Leadership Institute, the Embassy of Spain Young Hispanic Americans, the Cuban American National Council, and the Harvard John. F. Kennedy School of Government leadership programs. She is a 1988 recipient of the Up & Comers Award in Public Relations. A past chairwoman of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Hispanic Business Group, Elena is also founding President of the Hispanic Marketing & Communication Association, HMCA, a Miami-based organization that focuses on marketing and business communications related to Hispanic markets. She is past chairwoman of the National Public Relations Society of America, PRSA Multicultural Section. She is a member of the prestigious PRSA Counselors Academy. She has served on a number of community boards including: the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors, the Health Council of South Florida, the Alliance Francaise de Miami , the SEFLIN Free-Net Miami Advisory Board, STARS/H.O.P.E., the National Association of Women Business Owners, and Carrfour Corporation.

As a professional Elena brings special insight and broad knowledge to the field of communications through her experience in both corporate and agency environments during her career. She has worked as a journalist (in English and Spanish) and language instructor. She holds advanced degrees in international business and law and speaks four languages.

Elena co-founded the first Public Relations Society of America Section dedicated to the Hispanic market. She is a dedicated community volunteer, a graduate of several leadership programs and the recipient of the Up & Comers Award in Public Relations.

* National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), Board Member 1998-1999
* Past Chair of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) National Multicultural Section 1999
* Past Chairwoman of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Hispanic Business Group 1995-97
* Founding President Hispanic Market & Communication Association (HMCA) - present
* Executive Committee and Board Member of the Health Council of South Florida - present
* Board Member Alliance Francaise de Miami - 1999-2000
* Speak Out Public Speaking Clinic graduate 1999
* Co-Chair Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce (GMCC) Procurement Committee- 1999-2000
* Graduate of the Young Hispanic Leaders Program of the Embassy of Spain
* Fellow National Hispana Leadership Institute (NHLI) - 1999

Elena@hmca.org

Christine Clavijo-Kish - Hispanic PR Wire
Mrs. Clavijo-Kish has spent more than nine years as a public relations practitioner and became an expert in developing multicultural, multilingual strategies and promotions for the U.S. market as well as Latin America. Most recently she was Vice President & Leader of one of Porter Novelli's fastest growing national service areas: the Multicultural Marketing Practice. During her tenure with this top rated international marketing firm, she was a founding member of the PN practice and grew it over nearly three years from specifically focusing on Hispanic marketing to encompass African American and Asian American marketing outreach as well. Additionally, she spearheaded the consumer marketing group and served as the PN Florida liaison for all client service initiatives and corporate staff training programs.

While at Porter Novelli, Cristy developed and directed award-winning campaigns targeting Hispanics and other ethnic groups for top Fortune 500 agency clients including: Procter & Gamble brands (Tide and Gain detergents, Crest toothpaste, Dawn and Downy liquids); The Florida Anti-Tobacco "truth" Campaign; National Cancer Institute; Kellogg's cereals; Novartis Pharmaceuticals; Bristol Myers Squibb; Hewlett Packard and deremate.com. She was on the key account team for all Procter & Gamble business, the agency's largest client.

Throughout her career, Cristy has demonstrated leadership in special event planning, coordination of international media relations efforts and promotions while representing companies including: McDonald's, Carnival Cruise Lines, Port of Miami, American Red Cross, Banco Santander and Interval International among others. She directed an award-winning account team that was recognized by the American Resort Development Association for an innovative, pan-regional public relations campaign across Latin America.

Her media relations and event planning experience includes the coordination of press rooms at leading tourism and healthcare industry conferences and seminars. She was part of the host press management team for the 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami that was coordinated by the Clinton Administration.

Among her professional affiliations are the National Hispanic Student Scholarship Fund; Leukemia Society of South Florida; the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the University of Miami Alumni Association and local public television.

She is a native of New Jersey of Cuban and Spanish decent, and is a graduate of the University of Miami with a bachelor's degree in Communication and English Literature.

Cristy@hmca.org

Jose Fernandez - Performance Consulting Group
Mr. Fernandez is the President and CEO of Performance Consulting Group, Inc., a Miami, FL international consulting firm, founded in 1996, specializing in organizational excellence. He is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in performance improvement, specializing in Baldrige and Sterling assessments, strategic planning, employee and customer satisfaction, and supply chain management. He has 33 years of experience in the utility, government, and healthcare industries, where he held various management, staff, and line positions. Jose has consulted for organizations in the US, Spain, Venezuela, Panama, Jamaica, Barbados, Dominica and Grenada. His clients include organizations in the electrical utility industry, healthcare, telecommunications, government, education, and manufacturing. Jose received his BS in Chemistry, and his MBA in Management from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. He is a Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) by the American Society of Quality, and a Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.) by the National Association of Purchasing Management. Jose was also certified as a Statistical Expert by Florida Power & Light Company.Mr. Fernandez is currently a Master Examiner for the Florida Sterling Award Board of Examiners, serving on this board since 1993. He was also nominated in 1996 for the NAPM J. Shipman Award for Excellence in Purchasing. Mr. Fernandez served on the External Editorial Review Board for NAPM Purchasing Today magazine during 1993-1996, Miami-Dade County's Performance Commission during 1994-2001, the Performance Excellence Council of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce during 1998-2000, and currently serves on the Florida Sterling Council's Examination and Conference Committees, the Hispanic Marketing and Communication Association, and the South Florida Manufacturers Association's Performance Excellence Conference Committee.Jose has written several articles on purchasing issues for NAPM Insights, NAPM InfoEdge, and NAPM Purchasing Today magazines. He has also presented workshops at the AQP/EEI Total Quality Conference, the Florida Sterling Quality Conference, and the Florida Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Conference.

Jose@hmca.org

Tony Moreno - Huellas.com
Tony Moreno is a Hispanic marketing consultant and multimedia event producer. He has been a PR and marketing advisor to a select group of clients, including printed and audiovisual media companies. He has also produced multimedia events, creating unique atmospheres with Latin flavors.

For the past 20 years, Tony has been involved in technology based companies including Venezuela's computer industry leader A-Weil PC, multimedia producer VideoProm International, his consulting firm Huellas.com, and web design venture Tri1.com.

He’s a graduate of the Southwest Broward Leadership X class and Political Training Institute. He’s also an ATM Bronze Toastmaster.

Tony@hmca.org

Lourdes de la Torriente, President LMT Communications

A seasoned marketing communications professional, Lourdes has held senior management roles at four of the top international public relations firms worldwide and currently serves as president/CEO of LMT Communications, a boutique public relations consultancy she founded in Miami. She has more than a decade of high-level strategic counseling, media relations, corporate communications, consumer-driven marketing, special events and crisis communications experience, across US, US/Hispanic and Latin American markets.  

Her broad marketing communications experience spans across a wide variety of industries, including tourism and lifestyle, food and beverage, retail, packaged goods, health care, telecommunications, sports, media, entertainment and technology.   

Most recently, Lourdes headed Edelman's Miami office, where she spearheaded the Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau North American program, as well as managed the annual Bacardi Cup sailing regatta and special events for the Nasdaq-100 Open tennis tournament.  She also handled Hispanic-focused programs for various blue-chip consumer brands including Acuvue, Dove, AXE deodorant, AstraZeneca, Cordis among others, as well as local projects for The Mills Corporation, Wild Oats and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Lourdes began her career at Ketchum Public Relations and has since worked at Fleishman-Hillard, Weber Shandwick Worldwide, Avisena Inc. and Edelman.

A bicultural, bilingual professional (Spanish/English), Lourdes received her bachelor's degree in journalism, with a concentration in public relations and advertising, from the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Cris Ascunce - Creative Minds,Graphic Design & Tech Support

Cris Ascunce brings over a decade of creative design and publishing experience to the table.  She is currently responsible for the layout and design of Mass Media Enterprises' news magazines Brickell Post, Coconut Grove Times and South Miami Times, where she recently spear-headed the redesign of those publications from the standard newspaper format to full color glossy publications.

Immediately prior to joining Mass Media Enterprises she was assistant Art Director and Production Manager at Zimmerman & Partners, an Omnicom ad agency in Ft. Lauderdale. There she developed campaigns for companies such as Nissan, AutoNation and the Florida Panthers. Ascunce also owns her own creative design company called CreativeMinds, where she works with clients including Miami Postal Service Credit Union, Democratic Caucus of Miami-Dade and SAVE-Dade. CreativeMinds works pro bono for various non-profit organizations producing newsletters and is a competitive organizer of political campaigns. A bilingual professional (Spanish/English), Ascunce received her bachelor's degree in Advertising and Design with a minor in English Literature from Florida International University. She is currently vice president of Outreach.