WESLACO, Texas - RioPlex, the nonprofit set up to market the Rio Grande Valley and Northern Tamaulipas around the world, has announced its initial group of ambassadors.
The job of the ambassador is to promote RioPlex as the brand name for the region.
Businessman Joaquin Spamer says the plan is to find 150 ambassadors. The initial list has 24 names.
They are:
Brownsville/Matamoros:
Alfonso Sanchez — AS Construcciones del Norte
Carlos Reyes García — Reygar Bros Properties & Grupo Carey
Guillermo Lash — Lash Manufacturing Development Group
Guillermo Rico-Leal — Port of Brownsville - Texas
Ghery Valladares — Fenix Logistics Solutions
Maricarmen Cadena— CRE International Solutions
René Xavier González — SIDEE Constructions
Shariff Gonnella — OmniTrax/BRG
Harlingen:
Ricardo Rubiano — Rubi Group
Houston:
Juan Luis Perez — Cal-G
McAllen/Reynosa:
Carlos A. Canales Melhem — TCA Logistics
Dalinda Gonzalez-Alcantar — Trustee South Texas College & Boys & Girls Club McAllen
Elio Botello — Produce Terminal Owners Association
Felida Villarreal, CPA— Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA)
Manuel Cantu — Monarca Developers LLC
Margarita De Leon — Gorditas Doña Lula
Mauricio Duran — Duratex
Misael Jair Pecina Martinez — Centinela Property
Nick Rhodes — Rhodes Enterprises, Inc.
Norma Hinojosa — REMAX
Rolando J. Rios — McAllen City Commissioner
Sally Fraustro Guerra— SOCIALIFE
Jorge A. Torres— Interlink Trade Services
Juan Jose Villarreal Rosales — Hospital Santander
The 24 ambassadors were unveiled at an event held at the South Texas College’s Mid Valley Campus in Weslaco.
One of the speakers at the event was Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez. He was instrumental in how RioPlex came about. Concerned about the high level of the poverty in the Rio Grande Valley, Cortez set up the Prosperity Task Force. Task Force members believed one way to reduce poverty was to bring better paying jobs to the region. So they set up a subcommittee, called the CEO Group.
The CEO Group came up with the RioPlex initiative.
After the RioPlex event in Weslaco had ended the RGG Business Journal secured an exclusive interview with Judge Cortez. Asked what the day was all about, Cortez said:
“Well, today was a very exciting day as we named the original ambassadors to RioPlex. The idea is to have somebody go to all parts of the globe to sell RioPlex. And RioPlex is nothing more than the Rio Grande Valley and our neighbors in northern Mexico. You know, when we put all those assets together, we have a lot of things to be proud of. We have a tremendous amount of assets that we can display and hopefully get somebody to want to come here.”
Cortez was asked why is it important to have all these ambassadors.
“Well, because it's like selling anything. Do you want to have one salesman or do you want to have 100 salesman selling it? What we want is to build relationships all over the world. And once we have those relationships, then we have a path to bring people from certain areas of the globe to come see us. When you look at ourselves and you look at the RioPlex region, we have many, many, assets to offer people. And we think we're pretty darned effective.”
It was put to Cortez that the first batch of ambassadors come from across the region.
“That's right. And we're going to get more. We’re going to learn how to sell ourselves and market ourselves better, the more experience that we have,” he said.
Cortez then told a story about his time as a board member of a local bank.
“I sit on the board of a bank, and we were we financing a shopping center in a city here in the Rio Grande Valley. The developer said, you know, when I was just telling people about the city that my shopping center is in, nobody would call. Then I decided that I would tell them about the region. And the phone just wouldn't stop ringing. That's how important it is to really work as a region, and not just a part of it.
"We think that we can be more attractive, more competitive, in telling the rest of the globe about us (if we market ourselves as a region)."
RioPlex has been in existence for a year or so now. Cortez was asked how the group and the name has been received. Has it been accepted?
“I think so,” he replied. “It’s a really easy name to say. What's so special about Nike? But everybody knows Nike. So I think we're off to a very good start. I'm very pleased with the support that we're receiving. We have great people in this area. We have people that really are not selfish, that really want to help, and I think that if we continue with that effort and that attitude, success will follow.”
Here is a video recording of the interview with Judge Cortez:
