Maria Vogt - English
President & CEO, Ayuda Management Corporation

Maria founded Ayuda Management Corporation in 2002 and was joined by co-owner Sonya Yungeberg in November of 2006. Ayuda services include design/build construction, wet utilities installation, construction defect repair, environmental engineering and remediation. Ayuda was recognized and ranked in Inc 500 in September 2010 as the 22nd fastest growing privately owned firm in the United States. It also received the ranking of the 2nd fastest Hispanic/Latino Owned firm, the 2nd fastest Woman-Owned firm and the fastest growing privately owned firm in Colorado. In 2009, Maria was recognized as the Hispanic Business Woman of the Year by the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Willie Franklin - English
Manager, Supplier Diversity and Small Business Program, CH2M Hill

Willie Franklin provides the leadership, management and oversight of CH2M Hill's socio-economic programs. His responsibilities include the promotion, implementation, tracking and reporting of the firm's spending with diverse companies associated with federal, civil, commercial and industrial sectors. Franklin coordinates with CH2M Hill’s offices nationwide to ensure clients’ diverse spend initiatives and objectives are exceeded. He began his contracting career in 1981 in the U.S. Air Force as a purchasing agent. After eight years of military service, he continued polishing his contracting skills and became a civil servant with the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1991, Willie’s career moved him to Colorado, where he’s held various contract and procurement positions.

He is the SBA Project Officer for the Colorado Small Business Development Center Network. Jim has worked in the SBDC network as the Director of the Small Business Development Center in West Central Colorado from July 2003 to July 2007, and the Procurement and Technical Business Advisor with the Westchester SBDC in New York until July 2009.  Jim has also owned and sold two of his own businesses. Jim has held positions in major fortune five hundred corporations as both an in house consultant and a strategic advisor. He was responsible for major process improvements in the areas of organizational order fulfillment and organizational environmental management systems.He is extremely involved in his community and charitable endeavors.  He serves and has served on many economic development and educational boards and committees.

Jose Amaya - Spanish
Director of Business Development and Small Business Programs, JE Dunn Construction Company

Jose Amaya joined JE Dunn Construction Company in 1994 as a Project Manager with eight years of construction industry experience. He was promoted to Senior Project Manager in 2000, then to Director of Business Development and Small Business Programs in 2009. His experience with JE Dunn includes project management for the Capital Improvements Program for the Kansas City, Missouri School District where he oversaw the programming, designing, budgeting, bidding, procuring, and constructing of several school projects.

Alejandra Spray has been with AMI Mechanical since 2002 as Preconstruction and Business Development Coordinator and involved in the construction industry since 1996. Alejandra attended and graduated from Western Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESO) in Guadalajara Mexico with a degree in Civil Engineering. Since 2002 Alejandra has been actively involved at the Hispanic Contractors of Colorado Association as co-host on HCC's weekly radio show "Construyendo su Futuro" and is currently on the Board of Directors.  

Joe Romeo - English
CEO and Founder, TechMinds

As the CEO of TechMinds Joe Romeo has been helping small businesses all across Colorado make the transition to mobile and cloud-computing solutions. He is a Microsoft Certified Professional who has been involved in the mobile technology scene since the arrival of the original Palm Pilot. Joe is able to bridge the gap between the normal IT strategy you're used to and the "always connected" strategies of 2011 and beyond. As a graduate in Business Management from the Metropolitan State College of Denver Joe makes giving back to the community a priority. 

Juan Pablo Herrera - Spanish
Director of Project Management, Baha Interactive

Juan Pablo founded his first technology company at age 19, while completing his studies of Business Management in Bogota, Colombia. After Graduation he started an international career that took him across a number of industries, from non-profit and venture incubation to entertainment and mobile services. Juan Pablo worked for the non-profit sector in Colombia and Brazil, he was part of the marketing team of Globoforce in Ireland, worked as Product and Quality Manager for iWG in Malta, and directed international business accounts for the mobile division of Namco Bandai in London. In 2007 he moved to the USA and co-founded BAHA Interactive, a provider of web and mobile interactive solutions, which currently operates in the USA, Colombia, Germany and Japan.

Luis Canela - Master of Ceremonies at the Awards Lunch

From school-age kid to hard-working adult, Michael Hancock has always been a leader. Despite adversity and tragedy, he has always found a way to triumph. And with a passion for public service, Michael has always fought on behalf of the people and businesses of Denver. Michael grew up here. He and his wife are raising their family here. He served two terms as Denver City Council president and was the youngest CEO of an Urban League chapter anywhere in the country. He knows what it means to meet a payroll, manage a budget and inspire a workforce. He believes in bringing different groups together to find common-sense solutions to complicated challenges, and he believes that by working together we can build on our past and create a world-class city of tomorrow, because We are all Denver.

 Linda Alvarado - Keynote Speaker 

Linda Alvarado owner of Alvarado Construction has 35 years experience in large multi-million dollar commercial development, government and institutional general contracting, construction management, design/build, and program management contracts. In keeping with breaking non-traditional roles, Linda Alvarado made history as the first Hispanic (male or female) owner of a major league baseball franchise.  As a co-owner of The Colorado Rockies her role is also significant as it marked the first time that any woman was involved in a bid for ownership of a Major League team.Linda Alvarado is the recipient of numerous awards and has been named by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of the "100 Most Influential Hispanics in America". In 2003 Alvarado was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and had previously been honored as the recipient of the Horatio Alger Award.

Jesse Golland - English
Loan Officer, ACCION

Jesse Golland received his masters degree from the University of Denver with a focus on global development finance. He became interested in microfinance during his graduate studies and interned with the Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute and ACCION before being hired as ACCION's Colorado Loan Officer in January. Golland is fluent in Spanish.

 Joseph Salas - English
Business Banker, Wells Fargo

Joseph Salas began as a part-time teller while taking full-time courses at Metropolitan State College, graduating in 2005 with a degree in business management. He at Regis University, earning an MBA in finance and accounting in 2007. Salas also graduated from Wells Fargo’s College of Commercial Credit and Latino Leader’s Program. Salas specializes in creating a comprehensive solution to help meet the needs of the client’s overall financial situation including cash management, credit, insurance, investment and retirement planning.

Archuleta leads OED’s team that administers small business lending programs including the Neighborhood Business Revitalization program and the Revolving Loan Fund program. The programs provide gap financing, enhancing the ability of business owners to secure the necessary capital to finance start-up ventures and business expansion projects. Ms. Archuleta has more than 16 years experience in banking and commercial lending. Most recently, she served as Vice president of business banking/Community Reinvestment Act officer at Solera National Bank. Ms. Archuleta is active within the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Denver, the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

Lizeth Perez - Spanish
Assistant SBA Loan Closer,Preferred Lending Partners

Liz was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She lived in Leon, GTO, Mexico for 8 years before coming to Colorado in 1995. Once in Colorado she began working for an Independent Broker’s office as an Office Manager then moved on to work for Washington Mutual in their Closing & Processing department. Liz came to work for LPS (a contractor of Preferred Lending Partners) in 2004 as a Closing Agent initially on the commercial side but quickly moved to assist Preferred Lending Partner’s closing department. She now is PLP’s go to closer for all 504 loans. She is a very valuable asset and a critical part of the Preferred Lending Partner Team. Liz is also the very proud mother of 3 year old Edgar. In her down time she enjoys spending time with her son and attending concerts.

Alan Ramirez - Spanish
Commercial Loan Officer, Colorado Enterprise Fund

As a commercial loan officer, Mr. Ramirez consults with potential applicants about their business plan, performs credit analysis and loan underwriting and is involved with ongoing business advisory services to borrowers.  Alan has over four years experience with Colorado Enterprise Fund and holds a International Business degree from Regis University.

Marybell Trujillo - Spanish
Vice President and Business Banking Manager, Wells Fargo

Marybell Trujillo graduated from Leeds College of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1993 with a degree in business management and a major in finance and international business. She also studied abroad at City University in London with a focus on international finance. She continued her education at the University of Colorado at Denver and earned a masters degree in finance in 1996. Trujillo received recognition from the Denver Business Journal as one of Denver’s Forty under 40.

Linda Torres-Winters
President, Linditas' Inc.

Brandon Berumen
President and CEO, LEI Companies

Brandon has co-owned and operated LEI Companies since its inception in September 2002 and is responsible for managing the company’s Operations, Field, and Finance departments. Much of LEI’s success can be attributed to Brandon’s proficiency in implementing controls and procedures that help the team achieve a final goal of quality project delivery. Brandon’s degree in Construction Management from the University of Denver provides him with the necessary skills to profitably operate and manage LEI Companies. In addition, Brandon is a very active member in our industry serving on boards and committees for several organizations including: Independent Electrical Contractors, Associated Builders and Contractors, Hispanic Contractors of Colorado, National Fire Protection Association, and the Constructors and Designers Alliance Colorado.

Erwin Chang
Owner and Founder, Organixx