Contributors

Alberto Acereda is a contributor and columnist in several news outlets in the United States, Europe and Latin America, particularly in Libertad Digital, the most widely read Internet newspaper in Spanish language. In his scholarly and academic work in several U.S. universities, Alberto Acereda has published fifteen books, monographs and editions on Hispanic literatures and cultures. He is also the author of more than a hundred scholarly articles and reviews in prestigious literary and academic refereed journals. Alberto Acereda is a founder of The Americano.

Alfonso Aguilar is the Executive Director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, a Washington, D.C. based advocacy group, which promotes conservative values and ideals within the Latino community and works to integrate Latinos into fuller and more active participation and leadership in the conservative movement. Mr. Aguilar is the first and former Chief of the U.S. Office of Citizenship under the Administration of George W. Bush. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the North American Center for Trans-Border Studies at Arizona State University and is the U.S. representative of the Citizenship and Values Foundation based in Madrid, Spain. He writes a bi-monthly Op-Ed column for the daily newspaper La Opinion of Los Angeles, California and frequently appears as a political and policy analyst on Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, CNN en Espanol, Univision and Telemundo.

Angelette Aviles provides insight to what motivates the general market and Hispanics through her communications firm, AMG. She is also Vice President of Public Relations with MSGI Corporation. As a speaker at various events some of her topics of discussion have included, Infusion: Connecting with Hispanic Voters, Marketing Beyond Boundaries, and the Power and Influence of Hispanics. Twitter: @angelette

Peter Brookes is a Senior Fellow for National Security Affairs at the Heritage Foundation. He also serves as a Commissioner with the congressional US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is a columnist for the New York Post, contributing editor for the Townhall Magazine, author of A Devil’s Triangle: Terrorism, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Rogue States, and appears regularly on TV and radio as a national security commentator.

Gov. Jeb Bush is the 43rd governor of the state of Florida, serving from 1999 through 2007. He was the third Republican elected to the state’s highest office and the only Republican in the state’s history to be reelected.  Currently, Bush is the principal of Jeb Bush and Associates, LLC.  He also maintains his passion for education reform as Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Florida’s Future and Foundation for Excellence in Education. He and his wife Columba live in Miami and have three grown children. Bush is the son of President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush. 

Rachel Campos-Duffy is AOL’s resident parenting expert and writes a weekly column for Parentdish.com. In addition, she is a contributing writer for Anderson Cooper’s CNN 360 blog, TheAmericano.com, The Catholic News Agency, Headline Bistro, and the Catholic Herald. Recent television and radio appearances include a weekly guest spot on nationally syndicated Relevant Radio’s “Morning Air” and free-lance correspondent for Joan Lunden’s show, Hometown Heroes.

Néstor T. Carbonell is a counselor on international government, PR and business affairs; former corporate executive, and author. Mr. Carbonell was born in Havana, Cuba into a family that left its imprint on the nation’s wars of independence, its diplomacy, government, business, and arts and letters. He studied law and obtained a doctorate at the University of Villanueva in Havana. In 1958 he earned a Master of Law degree at Harvard. When he returned to Cuba to practice his profession, he denounced the Communist takeover of the island and was forced into exile. He was deeply involved in the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. After serving as attorney for Schering Corporation in New Jersey, Mr. Carbonell joined PepsiCo in 1967 as Counsel, Latin America. Mr. Carbonell culminated his 40-year career at PepsiCo as the corporation’s Vice President and quasi Ambassador at Large, with international responsibility for its government, institutional, and external affairs. He was personally instrumental in paving the way for PepsiCo’s entry into India and expansion in China, Russia, Eastern Europe and other emerging markets. Mr. Carbonell is the author of “And the Russians Stayed: The Sovietization of Cuba; a Personal Portrait” (William Morrow, 1989) and five other Spanish books on Cuba.

Miriam Celaya González has a B.A. in Art History from the University of Havana. Since August 2005 she broke her employment relationship with the state and became entirely devoted to independent journalism. In January 2008 she had the chance to debut as a blogger right at the beginning of the alternative Cuban blogosphere. Since then she runs the blog Sin EVAsión, a personal space that aims to contribute as much as possible to the formation of civic consciousness and the promotion of the culture of debate among Cubans. Her blog topics include Cuba’s current state, culture, politics, history and society; everything from a pluralistic perspective and free of censorship. Citizen journalism, in the reality of Cuba, where there is a strict government control over media and communications, is a valuable tool for freedom of expression. From 2005 to 2007 Miriam published collaborations in the digital newspaper Encuentro en la Read. She is currently working with the Diario de Cuba and the independent digital magazine Voices, edited in Cuba.

Charles P. Garcia is a founding blogger for The Americano. Charlie is an award-winning entrepreneur, decorated military officer, and bestselling author. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and Columbia Law School, and is a former White House Fellow who has advised four U.S. Presidents. The first company Charlie created was once the eighth fastest growing privately-held company in the nation, and he was named by numerous organizations both Entrepreneur of the Year and Outstanding Business Leader. An authority on leadership principles, Charlie has written two wonderful best-selling books on the topic: A Message from Garcia and Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows.

Ivan Garcia-Hidalgo possesses almost two decades of private sector experience as an international and domestic business development strategist. He specializes in identifying key markets and in developing and negotiating all aspects of business relationships. During his distinguished career he has held positions of increasing responsibility with US based Multi-National companies including recently where he served as Director for AT&T’s Strategic Partners & Alliances Group. Ivan had responsibility for this group in Canada, Caribbean & Latin American and as part of a global team he was also engaged in business that covered Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Ivan has been an advocate of many issues at the Federal level in the United States particularly on trade, taxes and telecommunications. He also was honored to serve on Mitt Romney’s National Hispanic Steering Committee during Mitt’s run in 2008. Ivan runs his own business development practice (The Influence Group) as well as being part of Vision Americas which is a DC based International Affairs firm.

Teresa Hernandez is a lifetime resident of California. Teresa worked as a registered nurse at Whittier Hospital Medical Center. Teresa and her husband opened Cielito Lindo Restaurant in South El Monte in 1986. A few years later they formed Hernandez Productions to launch Mariachi Sol de Mexico and Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles to produce Mariachi Festivals and shows across the United States. Teresa has been involved in many local charities and serves as Executive Director of the Mariachi Heritage Society. Teresa is a member of the Governing Board of Greater El Monte Hospital. She oversees her restaurant of 70 employees and is Vice President of Hernandez Productions. Teresa is a board member of the Hispanic 100, she is on the State board of California Women’s Leadership Association (CWLA), and she is a board member of the Orange County Lincoln Club. Teresa has developed and launched a Hispanic voter registration program, ChooseUrFuture.com or EscogeTuFuturo.net.

José Herrera is Deputy Director of International Relations at FAES Foundation. His work is in the formation of young leaders and the modernization of political parties in Latin America. He is also responsible for the budget of the international branches and the development and management of the FAES network in the Western hemisphere. Before FAES he was a member of Congress for two terms (1996-2004) for the Partido Popular in Spain, and was part of the parliamentary commissions of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, Defense and Control of Radio Televisión Española. José studied architecture at the Universidad CEU and the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid. He specialized in town planning at ETSAM and in International Cooperation at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

Miryam Lindberg is a political analyst, foreign language expert, and writer. She specializes in terrorism, security issues, and transatlantic relations. She currently serves as a policy and foreign language consultant to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, an American policy institute focusing on terrorism and Islamism. She is also a terrorism analyst and longtime contributor to the prestigious Strategic Studies Group, one of the preeminent security and defense think tanks in Spain. Ms. Lindberg is a regular contributor to TheAmericano.com, and her columns are among the most widely read features of our publication.

Sherrie A. Madia Ph.D. is an educator, author and speaker. Her recent books on the business of communicating include The Social Media Survival Guide (English/Spanish), The Online Job Search Survival Guide, and The Social Media Survival Guide for Nonprofits and Charitable Organizations. She is Director of Communications, External Affairs and a Lecturer at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  She serves on a number of boards, including the Books for Kids Foundation, building libraries and literacy programs for children in at-risk communities. She holds a Ph.D. in Communications from Temple University, a Master’s degree in News-Editorial/Latin American Journalism from the University of Miami, and a Bachelor’s degree in Writing Seminars from The Johns Hopkins University.

Laureano Márquez was born on July 4th, just like Tom Cruise, but in 1963. Specialized in unfinished careers, he doesn’t finish law school, Philosophy or Theology. He barely gets through Political Science at the Universidad Central de Venezuela. As a contributor to the humor section of El Nacional, he wins the award to the best humoristic article, which is very suspicious. He just edited his second book, El código Bochinche, with unprecedented success in the editorial world (six editions in one year), surpassing Venezuelan frontiers and generating a true world phenomenon, to the point where some guy called Dan Brown decided to follow his example and wrote The DaVinci Code, which was very successful too.

César Martinez has more than 25 years of experience in general advertising, political advertising, and broadcast news media in the U.S., Mexico and Latin America in the role of creative director/producer and director. He served as creative director/producer for the Bush-Cheney 2000 Election Campaign (with GLKS); member of the Strategy/Media team for Bush-Cheney 2004 Election Campaign; in 2008 MAS Consulting was the Hispanic advertising agency of record for the McCain-Plain campaign, where Cesar was in charge of the producing all the Hispanic media materials for Senator McCain. César experience also includes campaigns in Mexico, Latin America and Spain. In Mexico he has worked in numerous state and local elections as well as the Presidential Election of 2006. He has media trained and debate trained various presidential candidates in Guatemala, Honduras and Panama as well as governors, senators and mayoral candidates. His work in Spain includes recently completed efforts for Partido Popular de Aragon and the CiU in Cataluña. César, although he does not belong to any political party, happens to really love the party of politics.

David Olivencia is an international business strategy, technology, and public policy executive with 20 years of diverse leadership experiences achieved via leadership roles within Global 300 organizations and prominent national non-profits. From a board leadership perspective, David currently serves on the Board of the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza School of Business, is the Co-founder and President of HITEC (Hispanic IT Executive Council), and is on the Board of the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute. David has been recognized with several awards and honors including: Hispanic Business Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Leaders in America, University of Notre Dame’s Distinguished Alumni Award, Crain’s Detroit 40 under 40, and HACR’s (www.hacr.org) Young Corporate Achiever Award. David earned his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (#1 US News and World Report), and his M.B.A. from the University Notre Dame (Cum Laude). David also completed the NACD and Harvard Business School Corporate Governance programs. David is proud husband and father of 3 children.

Israel Ortega serves as The Heritage Foundation’s chief spokesman to Spanish-language media, including print, radio, television and online. And as editor of Heritage’s new Libertad (libertad.org), Ortega is responsible for producing content for and promoting what he envisions as the premier Spanish website for conservative commentary, analysis and research.

Dr. Alfonso Pino is a physician and serial entrepreneur. Upon completion of medical school and residency, Dr. Pino founded an anesthesiology group, which currently serves 11 area hospitals and surgery centers and cares for over 7,000 patients annually. Dr. Pino is Founder and President of a management and investment company. He has also founded a medical practice management consulting company and a convenience care clinic company. Dr. Pino has been active in the national healthcare policy debate, serving on Congressman Pete Sessions’ Texas Healthcare Task Force and as the chairman of the healthcare task force of The Latino Coalition, a national Latino business advocacy organization, where he also serves on the Board of Directors.

Val Prieto is an American of Cuban decent whose family was exiled to Miami in 1968. He is an associate at Landera Associates, an architectural firm based in Miami and one of the founders of Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty (BUCL.org), where he has developed and coordinated media campaigns to highlight the plight of political prisoners, the systematic violation of human rights and subjugation of basic civil liberties in Cuba. He is also the Founder of Babalú Blog (babalublog.com), the highest trafficked English language blog on Cuban and Cuban-American issues. Known as “the grandfather of all Cuban bloggers” and “Fidel Castro’s internet nemesis,” Val oversees a collection of dedicated and talented writers who work not only to promote democracy in Cuba, Latin America, and other countries where liberties are suppressed, but also to further the democratic tenets and principles of his home of exile, the United States of America.

Lance Rios has finessed many talents through working in English and Spanish-language media and has recently developed a Facebook fan page called ‘Being Latino,’ which has experienced tremendous and exponential growth with support from Latinos who care about discussing history, culture and social issues.

Chris Salcedo is a veteran broadcaster and a political analyst. He worked his way through college at San Diego State University with work on various music radio stations. He fell into radio news and traffic. Eventually he started his career in television as a weather man on XETV Fox 6. During this time he also subbed in on talk radio for the Radio Mayor of San Diego, the now nationally syndicated, Roger Hedgecock show. Chris got an opportunity to expand his news experience and took a job as an anchor in the 5th largest TV market in the nation DALLAS/FORT WORTH. He continued to fill-in on talk radio and currently does talk radio in Dallas and across the country. Chris is the former National Communications Director for the Conservative Hispanic Society.

Lionel Sosa is the founder of Sosa, Bromley, Aguilar & Associates, now Bromley Communications, the largest Hispanic advertising agency in the U.S. He has been Hispanic Media Consultant in seven Republican presidential campaigns since 1980 and is a recognized expert in Hispanic consumer and voter behavior. Lionel was named one of the 25 most influential Hispanics in America‚ by Time in 2005 and is a member of the Texas Business Hall of Fame. He is the author of Think and Grow Rich, a Latino Choice and The Americano Dream: How Latinos Can Achieve Success in Business and in Life. He has served on the Board of Regents of the Texas A&M University System, the Board of Trustees for the University of the Incarnate Word, the Boards of Sesame Workshop, creators of Sesame Street, ACT and the Public Broadcasting System and chaired the United Way of San Antonio and the San Antonio Symphony.

Daniel Ureña is a leading consultant specialized in communications and public affairs. He is Partner and Director of MAS Consulting España, a consulting firm that works with senior business leaders, political leaders, candidates and public offices. He is a professor at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ICADE) and is responsible for the Political Communications formation programs at the George Washington University in Spain since 2002.

Álvaro Uribe Velez was elected President of Colombia for the period of 2002-2006, with the conviction that Colombia needs to be governed with moral authority and a strong sense of leadership. In 2006, he was reelected with an overwhelming majority. During his eight years in office, he was responsible for the transformation of Colombia from a country with limited territorial control, escalating violence and considered by many to be a “failed state” into one of the most thriving, dynamic countries in the hemisphere. During early 2008 Álvaro Uribe’s approval rating hit an impressive 81%, one of the highest popularity levels of his entire presidency. In June 2008, after Operation Jaque, Uribe’s approval rate rose to an unprecedented 91%. Indeed, one of the most remarkable achievements of Álvaro Uribe is security. From 2002 to the first half of 2010 homicides per year went dropped 70%, kidnappings dramatically reduced by 84%. Álvaro Uribe ended his duties as President of Colombia with 75% popularity. In August 2010 he was appointed Vice-chairman of the UN panel investigating the Gaza flotilla raid.