Palo Alto, CA., June 20, 2007 – The Mexican American Community Services Agency,
Inc. (MACSA) has selected 100 influential Latinos in Silicon Valley to make up their inaugural
list. Among those named, six prominent Hispanic-Net members have been selected for the MACSA 100
MIL list. It is no coincidence that these business leaders are members of Hispanic-Net given the
organization’s charter: to create and empower a strong national and local network of Hispanic
entrepreneurs and business executives in high growth and emerging markets. Based in the Silicon
Valley, Hispanic-Net focuses on the acceleration of Hispanics' opportunities to start, build,
manage and invest in market leading companies.
Hispanic entrepreneurs are launching startups across the spectrum of venture funding
categories: financial services, Web 2.0, online advertising, medical devices, and enterprise
software, among many others. This honor is a milestone because it demonstrates that Hispanic
entrepreneurs in technology have arrived as part of the Latino establishment in Silicon Valley and
are poised to take a more visible leadership role in advancing Hispanics in the innovation economy.
The list of Hispanic-Net innovators chosen for the “100 MIL” is below; followed by their
biographies at the end of the release:
~ Margarita Quihuis, President and Chairman of Hispanic-Net
~ Dr. David Lopez, President of the National Hispanic University
~ Teresa Alvarado, Executive Director of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley
~ Jorge Titinger, VP and GM of Global Customer Operations at KLA Tencor Corporation
~ Mario Nemirovsky Ph.D, Vice President and Chief Scientist, ConSentry Networks
~ Roberto Medrano, Executive Vice President, SOA Software
Alex Ontiveros, Chief Administrative Officer of MACSA affirms that, "We at MACSA are proud to be presenting the inaugural Red Carpet Gala on June 30, 2007 where we will recognize the 100 Most Influential Latinos (MIL) of Silicon Valley. We are especially proud to name six Hispanic-Net members as part of our 100 MIL for their contributions in the areas business and entrepreneurship. This formidable networking organization has made great strides in recent years and proves that strong business networking by Latinos for Latinos can positively influence the Silicon Valley business, philanthropic, and arts sectors. We look forward to future collaboration with Hispanic-Net."
Silicon Valley is witnessing a trend: In the past three years alone, millions in venture capital have been awarded to Latino entrepreneurs. Here is a short list:
James Gutierrez, CEO & Founder, Progress Financial,
$4.4 Million, Greylock Partners Q1 07
Alicia Morga, CEO & Founder, Consorte Media,
$3.2 Million, Mayfield, Woodside Fund, Band of Angels, Q3 06
Pete Rodriguez, xPedion Design,
$24 Million - multiple rounds; Telesoft Partners, Menlo Ventures, ViVentures,
Telos Venture Partners (Q2 02-Q1 04)
David Alvarez, Founder & CEO, Nexxo Corporation,
$15 Million, Sutter Hill Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Stanford, 2006
Luis Derechin, Founder, JackBe,
$6.5 Million Intel Capital Q1 2006 Tom Chavez, CEO, Rapt, $11.2 Million, Accel
Partners, Summit Accelerator Fund, Octane Capital Mgmt
Frank Huerta, Founder & CEO, Recourse Software,
$12 Million, Doll Capital Mmt
Below are the biographies of those Hispanic-Net members listed on the MACSA list:
Margarita Quihuis, President and Chairman of Hispanic-Net
A social entrepreneur and mentor capitalist, Margarita Quihuis' career focuses on
fostering innovation, access to capital and entrepreneurship. Under her direction at Astia
(formerly known as the Women's Technology Cluster), she raised $67 million in venture funding for
the portfolio. Ms. Quihuis is also a seed stage venture capitalist, Reuters Fellow at Stanford, and
Chairman and President of Hispanic-Net.
Her current efforts include access to development capital through the use of remittances for the unbanked, both in the United States and in developing countries through her program, Indigo Financiera. She also develops and advises companies to tap into the market needs of transnational workers and their families. In 2004, she was recognized by Women's eNews as one of their 21 Leaders for the 21st Century for her efforts in increasing access to capital for women entrepreneurs and was named as one of WITI's Women to Watch in 2003. Ms. Quihuis holds B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Stanford University.
Dr. David Lopez, President of the National Hispanic University
Dr. Lopez, appointed to the state Board of Education by Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger, is an exceptional leader in education with a long history of serving students
struggling to overcome poverty and learn the English language. Since 2003, Dr. Lopez has served as
President of the National Hispanic University in San Jose, which was established over twenty years
ago to provide accessible and affordable quality education for Hispanics and other economically
marginalized, underserved and underutilized students. From 1981 to 2003, he served as a professor
and administrator for California State University, Fresno at the School of Education and Human
Development. From 1978 to 1981, he taught at the College of Education at New Mexico State
University. Dr. Lopez was named Hispanic-Net’s Educator of the Year in 2005.
Teresa Alvarado, Executive Director of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley
Teresa Alvarado is the Executive Director of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon
Valley, which cultivates philanthropy to inspire Hispanic children and families to achieve personal
greatness. In 2005, the organization selected Ms. Alvarado to lead the organization as in its next
phase of growth as Executive Director. She previously worked in both Public Affairs and Charitable
Contributions for Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
Ms. Alvarado, a San Jose native, has been an active member of the Silicon Valley community. She currently serves on the boards of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District Foundation and sits on the Hispanic-Net advisory board. Among her proudest moments was receiving the NAACP of Silicon Valley’s “Freedom Fighter” award in 2005 and being selected by the United Nations Environment Programme as a “New Generation Leader” in 1991. Ms. Alvarado possesses a Master of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Tufts University, a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Technology & Management from San Jose State University, and a Minor degree in Technical Writing from San Jose State University.
Jorge Titinger, VP and GM of Global Customer Operations at KLA Tencor Corporation
Mr. Titinger, a native from Lima, Peru, is currently the Vice President and General Manager
of Global Customer Operations at KLA Tencor Corporation. KLA is the worldwide leader in Process
Control and Yield management products and services to the Semiconductor industry. Jorge’s
responsibilities include Global Sales Operations and Field Operations as well as Customer
Satisfaction. Jorge joined KLA in December of 2002 as the Vice President and General Manager of the
Texas Instruments Strategic Business Unit and the Central US Business Unit. He is on several
advisory boards, and is very active with Bay Area soccer. For community involvement, he
participates in events such as Read Across America, NSHMBA conferences, and the SEMI North America
Advisory Board.
Mr. Titinger holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering, a Master Degree in Electrical
Engineering, and a Master Degree in Engineering Management and Business, all from Stanford
University.
Mario Nemirovsky Ph.D, Vice President and Chief Scientist, ConSentry Networks
Mr. Nemirovsky is Chief Scientist for ConSentry Networks, designing the next generation of
stateful processors. He has done research in many areas of computer architecture, including
simultaneous multithreading, high-performance architectures, real-time and network processors.
Prior to ConSentry, Mr. Nemirovsky founded XstreamLogic, and architected its high-performance SMT
network processor. Before that, he was a chief architect at National Semiconductor and at Weitek.
In 1985 he was a chief architect at Delco Electronics, General Motors (GM) where he architected a
GM engine control.
Mr. Nemirovsky was one of the first to understand the power of multithreading, which he termed dynamic multistreaming and first published on this subject in Micro-24 in 1991. He subsequently published results on SMT in HICSS (in 1993 and 1994) and in PACT (in 1995). Mr. Nemirovsky earned his PhD in ECE from UC Santa Barbara in 1990 and was an Adjunct Professor there from 1991 to 1998. Mario holds 24 issued and 12 pending patents. Mr. Nemirovsky was named Hispanic-Net’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006.
Roberto Medrano, Executive Vice President, SOA Software
Co-Founder of Hispanic-Net, Roberto Medrano is the Executive Vice President of SOA Software.
Medrano was Hewlett Packard's General Manager for several software groups, was the President of
Finjan and was the CEO of Polivec. Additionally he has held executive positions at Sun Microsystems
and Avnet. Medrano is either advisor or board member of several companies. Medrano was an active
member on President Bush's National Security Advisory Committee, National Cyber Security Summit,
the White House National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, and participated in President Clinton's
White House Security Summit. Medrano received BSEE from USC, MSEE from MIT and MBA from UCLA.
About Hispanic-Net
Founded in 2001, Hispanic-Net is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose members are
entrepreneurs, business executives and professionals in high technology, software, Internet, and
high growth companies. The organization’s mission is to encourage entrepreneurship by providing a
professional networking infrastructure Hispanic entrepreneurs, executives, innovators and investors
come together to create market leading companies. Information about Hispanic-Net may be found on
their website http://www.hispanic-net.org.
About MACSA and the 100 MIL list
MACSA is a social service agency that serves the greater San Jose community in the areas of
senior care, housing, education, and youth and family services. While MACSA has wanted to develop
the 100 MIL list for a few years, it has finally come to fruition. The objective of the list is to
underscore the magnanimous work that Latino leaders and entrepreneurs have accomplished in the
community to affect positive change. As for the selection process, these role models were chosen by
a selection committee of Latino organizations and professional associations from the population
at-large. MACSA will be presenting the esteemed list on June 30, 2007 at the Mexican Heritage Plaza
in San Jose at MACSA’s first Red Carpet Gala.
