HARLINGEN, RGV - Texas Secretary of State Carlos Cascos will give the keynote address at the Governor’s Small Business Forum, which takes place at the Casa de Amistad in Harlingen on Thursday.
The event, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., is being hosted jointly by Harlingen Chamber of Commerce, San Benito Economic Development Corporation, and San Benito Chamber of Commerce.
Also slated to attend are Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell, San Benito Mayor Celeste Sanchez, and state Rep. Eddie Lucio, III.
Salomon Torres, executive director of San Benito EDC, says the Governor’s Office holds such forum around the state of Texas, in conjunction with the Texas Workforce Commission and the local Workforce Solutions organizations. The last time such a forum was held in the Rio Grande Valley, Torres said, was in 2013 when it was held on South Padre Island.
“The Office of the Governor in conjunction with the Texas Workforce Commission and the local Workforce Solutions offices have been actively holding similar forums around the state,” Torres said. “The San Benito EDC was pleased that our proposal to host the 2015 forum in the Rio Grande Valley was selected by the Governor’s Office.”
To pull off a great event and to promote the San Benito/Harlingen metropolitan area in Cameron County, Torres his group partnered with the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce. “We then added the new San Benito Chamber of Commerce and the Valley’s Small Business Administration District Office to the team and have been pleased with the collaboration.”
Torres said these entities “all share the same passion” to support entrepreneurship in the Valley. “We all want to do our part to keep the Texas economy humming by creating more economic activity and jobs in our dynamic corner of the state.”
Chris Gonzales, president and CEO of Harlingen Chamber of Commerce, said: “We started a partnership this past year during the legislative session and by continuing this partnership we are able to bring great events like the 2015 Governor’s Small Business Summit to our area.”
The program will start at 9 a.m. with Pat Hobbs, executive director of Workforce Solutions Cameron Cameron Works, giving a presentation on the mission of his group. There will then be a panel discussion moderated by Hobbs on Hiring Best Practices. The panel will included Henry Castillo, regional director of Southwest Key Workforce Development, Sara Van Wyk, of the Manpower Employment Agency, and Nicholas Lalpuis, regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Labor.
San Benito Chamber of Commerce will then give a presentation at 9:45 a.m. on tourism and entertainment opportunities in San Benito.
The next panel discussion will be about Access to Capital in the Rio Grande Valley. It will be moderated by Angela Burton, district director for the Small Business Administration. The panel for this topic will include Maria E. Perez, of the SBA Lower Rio Grande Valley District, Robert Rodriguez of BBVA Compass, Jessica Salinas, of Lone Star National Bank, Petra Reyna of The Reyna Network, and Jesse Sanchez, Jr., of PeopleFund.
The third and final panel discussion will focus on the Challenge of Cyber Security & Fraud Prevention. This will start at 11 a.m. and will be moderated by Rick Ledesma of DataLogic Software. The panelists will include Louis Barton of Frost Bank and Victor Leal of CyberNation.
At 11:45 a.m., the Harlingen Chamber of Commerce will give a presentation on tourism and entertainment in Harlingen.
A Self-Serve Lunch from a Food Truck Court will run from 12 noon to 12:30 p.m., with entertainment by San Benito High School Flamenco Ensemble. Torres, of San Benito EDC, will introduce Secretary of State Cascos as keynote speaker at 1:30 p.m.
The Governor’s Small Business Awards will be presented at 12:50 p.m. and Larry Ruggiano, of the Office of the Governor, will give the closing remarks at 1:10 p.m.
For information contact the San Benito Chamber of Commerce at (956) 361-9111.
Editor's Note: The main image accompanying this story shows Texas Secretary of State and former Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos.
