Staff
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Ramon Leon - Founder, President and CEO Ramon Leon is the founding President/CEO of Latino Economic Development Center, a membership, statewide, and ethnic based Certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), and Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) serving the Twin cities area of Minneapolis St. Paul and Greater MN. He has been an entrepreneur and business owner since young age, in both Mexico, and the United States. He has been an active social justice leader in his community, and was one of the early faith-based Latino organizers in Twin Cities through Interfaith Action and Isaiah. He is also one of the pioneers of the economic development movement in Minneapolis, and was the first president of the founding board of directors of “Cooperative Mercado Central”, an economic justice, community-based cooperative project that sparkled the revitalization of Lake St in Minneapolis. He has served on several boards of Non profit organizations and government committees to bring forward the voice of immigrant communities, such as the Neighborhood Development Center, and Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers; the Charities review council, and MN council of OIC’s, and other economic development related committees of the Hennepin county and the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. He serves as the chair of the Economic Development Committee as well as board member of the National Association for Latino Asset Builders (NALCAB), where he has been pushing for an asset based, and wealth building economic development agenda that includes Latinos in both urban, and rural areas across the USA. He also created the Institute for the Economic Development of the Americas (IDEA), a cross-border economic development strategy to reduce immigration through economic development that promotes, and links cooperative development on both sides of the border. He has presented at conferences around the US on different topics related to wealth creation among minorities, community revitalization, immigration, economic impact of immigrants, building socially responsible business communities, public spacesdevelopment as tools for community development,social entrepreneurship, and others.
Some of the awards Mr. Leon has received are:
Contact me at: Ramon@ledc-mn.org
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Mario Hernandez - Vice President and COO Mario is the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Latino Economic Development Center. He has previously served in policy development, and project coordination roles for the State of Minnesota. executive director of La Escuelita in Minneapolis.
He counts on over 10 years of service on nonprofit boards including the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, La Oportunidad, and First Call For Help Southwest. His volunteer service includes being past co-chair of the Minnesota Latino Complete Count Committee, and current member of a Latino demographic data project.
Contact me at: mario@ledc-mn.org
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John Flory - Special Projects Director John has more than twenty years of experience in micro-lending, and small business development support, and played a lead role in developing two business incubators, including the Mercado Central.
John received a Bachelor in History from Manchester College, Indiana in 1969 and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas in 1988. John managed cooperative grocery stores for seven years before coming to work full-time at LEDC. John also owns North Country Fair Trade, an international for-profit business that connects Latin American laborers with North American consumers.
John is caucasian and a United States citizen who grew up in Ecuador and is fluent in Spanish. |
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Yolanda Cotterall - Greater MN Program Director Yolanda has been working with micro-enterprise development for diverse communities in California, and Minnesota for the past 15 years. As the Greater Minnesota Rural Program Manager she provides capacity building for organizations, and technical assistance providers doing micro-enterprise development work in rural areas. She also provides a variety of trainings for LEDC partner’s clients. Yolanda brings innovation, and understanding of the industry to her work with LEDC.
Yolanda was born in California and is proud to call herself a “Chicana” of Mexican, and Native American descent.
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Mónica Romero - Loan Program and Technical Assistance Program Director Mónica came to Minneapolis from Colombia in 1996. She has a professional business degree from Colombia, and a Masters in Business Administration from Metropolitan State University in Minnesota. In 2001 Mónica started working for WomenVenture providing business assistance, and in 2004 she came to work for LEDC as a business consultant. “Here, in LEDC I learned about the strengths and needs of Latino entrepreneurs in Minnesota, and our work has awakened the community.” Mónica has assisted many potential business owners, and she is currently coordinating LEDC’s own loan program.
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Rocio Bustillos - Economic Development Lender Rocio move to Minnesota ten years ago from Sonora Mexico. She was originally hired as a receptionist at LEDC. She is the first person a potential microentrepreneur meets when they visit or call LEDC, directs visitors to the appropiate staff person and makes sure there is fluid communication between members, staff and board members.
She has vast experience in customer service and other administrative related activities that she gained through co-owning a construction business and through several years of work in the real estate and property management field, as well as the banking and insurance industries.Rocio has worked at Bankers Mortgage & First Residential Mortgage as a loan processor, as a teller at Franklin Bank and at Farmers Insurance where she helped Latino individuals and businesses understand what their options were in terms of properly insuring and protecting their assets. She holds the Membership Services and Ofice Manager position at LEDC, where she has had the opportunity to provide her valuable expertise to entrepreneurs. She finds the answers to their questions when exploring business ventures, as well as provides assistance on the initial steps of formally opening their business.
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Anel Espinoza - Greater MN Community Organizer
Anel Espinoza has been helping the Latino community in Central Minnesota for the past 10 years. As Greater Minnesota Community Organizer she helps develop contacts and provide guidance to future microentreprenuers in Greater Minnesota. As an organizer she is in charge of providing and coordinating trainings and other services to potential and existing entrepreneurs.She has vast experience working with the Latino Community serving as a liaison for families and agencies in Kandiyohi County.
Contact me at: Anel@ledc-mn.org |
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Yessenia Felix - Membership Services Coordinator Yessenia Felix was born in West Long Beach California of Mexican parents. She studied part of her grade school years in Jalisco, México in the girls only school “Escuela Urbana 602 ‘Maria Meza Leal’ ” and finished high school in Highland Park Sr. High in Minnesota. Yessenia has experience in administrative services, having first gained worked in her family’s commercial cleaning business, F&F Janitorial Services. She has always worked around the Hispanic community and is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Yessenia was hired at LEDC as a Membership Services Coordinator and Office Manager in August of 2011.
Contact me at Yessenia@ledc-mn.org
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Matt Kazinka - Green Initiative Coordinator Matt graduated from Macalester College in 2011 with a degree in Environmental Studies and Urban Studies. He is passionate about helping create green businesses and green jobs that create pathways out of poverty in Minneapolis. He began working in the non-profit sector as the co-founder of Grand Aspirations, a national non-profit that builds youth leadership in the green economy. He has received the national Udall Scholarship for his environmental leadership, as well as the Macalester College Presidential Leadership Award and Servant-Leader Award.
As the Green Initiative Coordinator, Matt is creating programming for Latino businesses to adopt more efficient and sustainable practices and forging opportunities for Latinos to pursue green business or employment ventures. Matt began working at LEDC as an intern in 2010, helping identify needs in the Latino business community for the first round of TTOIC programming.
Contact me at Matt@ledc-mn.org
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Julieta Parra - Business Trainings Coordinator Julieta has extensive history working with Latina entrepreneurs. As an instructor and technical assistance provider for Women Initiative for Self-Employment, Julieta supported low-income women to start their own business in San Francisco, CA. She has also held positions as a loan officer and a marketing consultant. As a graduate of the University of Guanajuato’s International Business program, and a current student at UC Berkeley, she has applied her knowledge about business and marketing to help disadvantaged people to follow entrepreneurial opportunities. Julieta was also a professional facilitator of creative problem solving with ThinkX Intellectual Capital, and has used these skills for teaching students.As the Business Trainings Leader at LEDC, Julieta has developed a curriculum and led trainings in LEDC’s Latino Academy TTOIC.
Contact me at Julieta@ledc-mn.org
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Jaime Villalaz - Greater MN Business Development Specialist Jaime moved to Minnesota in 1995 from San Diego, CA. He grew up in the border town of Tijuana and attended the University of Baja California where he earned an accounting degree. Jaime was Program Coordinator for United Migrant Opportunities Services in the areas of Welfare to Work, High School Equivalency and other social programs from 2002 to 2009. He has been working as tax preparer for the last 5 years serving the Latino population in the St. Cloud, Willmar and surrounding areas. Jaime has collaborated with LEDC providing technical assistance and organizing start-up classes in rural communities before joining LEDC staff.
Contact me at Jaime@ledc-mn.org |
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Julisa Viveros - Job Counseling and Business Trainings Coordinator Julisa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos in Mexico and a Master’s Degree of Business Administration from Hamline University. When living in Mexico, Julisa worked at Liconsa, S.A. de C.V. a state-owned company devoted to the industrialization and distribution of high-quality milk, whose main purpose is supporting the nutritional resources of disadvantaged families. For seven years Julisa worked at Centro Legal, a nonprofit organization serving low-income Latinos in Minnesota, in the areas of human resources and finance. For the past three years Julisa has worked as business consultant for small firms providing finances, marketing and human resources services. At LEDC Julisa is the job counseling and business trainings coordinator.
Contact me at Julisa@ledc-mn.org
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