Regional leadership group represents all corners of the Valley
Texas Border Business
RIO GRANDE VALLEY (AUGUST 29, 2014) – RGV Leadership named 25 community and business leaders to its first-ever leadership program class that begins this fall.
The Class of 2015 is a strong cross section of established and emerging leaders from all corners of the Valley that have shown great interest in focusing on issues from a regional perspective and working with colleagues and counterparts from across South Texas.
RGV Leadership, which is part of the Rio Grande Partnership, kickstarted the program to help prepare Valley leaders for a regional future. The Valley has shown recently that only by working together it can leverage life-changing projects such as the University of Texas Medical School, Interstate highway connections and the Space X commercial launch facility.
RGV Chairwoman Deborah Cordova said the days of Valley cities working all alone are nearly history.
“Nearly every economic study out there – as well as the business community – tells us that regions must work well together to bring industry, create jobs and improve quality of life,” said Cordova. “The Partnership sees it as its role to prepare our emerging leaders by working together, focusing on issues with a regional lens and just simply getting to know each other.”
She added that the group throughout its nine monthly meetings will study several very important topics to the region such as water, economic development, security, government and tourism.
The program, patterned after other leadership programs throughout the state, was announced earlier this year with an application deadline of Aug. 1, 2014. Applicants were chosen by a selection committee and had to meet several requirements. The first meeting will take place on South Padre Island the last weekend in September and will focus on leadership.
For a complete look at the program: www.valleychamber.com/pages/RGVLeadership
Subsequent meetings will take place on the third Friday of every month through May 2014 in cities all around the Valley and will include a trip to Austin for the legislative session. The group is scheduled to hear directly from the Valley’s delegation and other Valley leaders. A graduation event will be held in May to mark the completion of the program.
“We are very thankful for all the work Deborah, the selection committee and our staff have done on this,” said RGV Partnership CEO Julian Alvarez. “We are very excited about this group. It’s a high quality, high caliber group of leaders and we could not have asked for a better first class than this one.”
The Class of 2015 List
| Last | First | City | Employer | |
| 1 | Burton | Angela | Brownsville | U.S. Small Business Administration |
| 2 | Cardona | Anabell | Weslaco | Valley Grande Institute |
| 3 | Crain | Stephen | McAllen | Atlas, Hall & Rodriguez |
| 4 | Delgado | Mario | McAllen | City of McAllen |
| 5 | Garcia | SantaPaula | Weslaco | Teach for America |
| 6 | Garza | Arlene | La Feria | Gulf Aviation |
| 7 | Gonzalez | Yolanda | Mission | Wells Fargo Bank N.A. |
| 8 | Guenzel | Roxanne | Laguna Vista | SPI Chamber |
| 9 | Hinojosa, Jr. | Atanacio | McAllen | Magic Valley Electric Cooperative |
| 10 | Jensen | Ankjaer | Brownsville |
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| 11 | Lizcano | Mario | Pharr | Doctors Hospital at Renaissance |
| 12 | Meeks | Deborah | Harlingen | Harlingen Medical Center |
| 13 | Montanaro | Alfredo | McAllen | Frost Bank |
| 14 | Palacios | Eugene | McAllen | LNV, Inc. |
| 15 | Pena | Benjamin | Mission | Burton, McCumber & Cortez, LLP |
| 16 | Perales | Naomi | Edinburg | Texas Gas Service |
| 17 | Perez | Dr. Nolan | Harlingen | Gastroenterology Consultants of South Texas |
| 18 | Sanchez | David | Brownsville | County of Cameron |
| 19 | Silva | Daniel | Mission | Mission EDC |
| 20 | Smith | Bernice | McAllen | R Communications |
| 21 | Solis | George E. | Raymondville | Willacy County Justice of the Peace Pct. 2 |
| 22 | Summers | Randy | Weslaco | Davis Equity Realty |
| 23 | Trejo-Vasquez | Cristina | Mission | University of Texas Pan American |
| 24 | Trevino | Joey | Harlingen | Weslaco EDC |
| 25 | Villarreal | Roberto | Edinburg | Hidalgo County Judge’s Office |
