Portland, Oregon - June 24, 2024
Latino Founders, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the growth and success of underserved businesses, proudly announces the appointment of Juan Barraza as their first Executive Director as reported by Portland Business Journal and Silicon Florist. Juan brings over two decades of experience working with startups and creating collaborations with public and private entities.
In his new role, Juan will lead Latino Founders' mission to provide support, resources, and opportunities to empower underrepresented entrepreneurs and contribute to the overall economic development of our region. His appointment comes as a result of consolidating the programmatic efforts that led to the creation of Startup Weekend Latino and Pitch Latino over the last nine years.
“The spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship is equally spread across our region; the opportunity is not, and we are looking to support entrepreneurs in scaling and accelerating their ventures across any sector,” said Juan Barraza.
“I’m honored to be stepping into this role to continue Latino Founders' work and support entrepreneurs' scalable ventures that will contribute to the economic development of our region and wealth creation in our community", he continued.
“This appointment marks a significant milestone in our mission to empower Latino businesses,” said Gabriel Flores, Board President and founding member of Latino Founders and host of The Shades of Entrepreneurship podcast, interviewing founders from around the world to provide business education.
“Latino Founders is designed to nurture entrepreneurial growth through mentorship and business development initiatives. With Juan, we have an opportunity to further advance economic development and create a lasting impact within our community", ended Gabriel.
“Oregon’s Latino community is growing. With Latino Founders, we are carving out a space where the entrepreneurial community can come together and find culturally specific support that enhances the vision of makers, doers, and founders,” said Edgar Navas, Treasurer and founding member of Latino Founders and Founder of Cliqa Digital. “Having Juan as our First Executive Director will allow us the opportunity to serve more entrepreneurs across the region with innovative programming to scale their ventures.”
Juan previously led the innovation and entrepreneurship efforts at Vertuelab, where he was responsible for envisioning, creating, delivering, and continuously improving the support programs offered to climate tech innovators and entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest.
Notably, his achievements include the creation of Startup Weekend Latino, Pitch Latino, Latino Founders Business Accelerator, and he is the former Director of the PSU Center for Entrepreneurship.
Juan Barraza is set to assume the position of Executive Director starting July 1st.
---
About Latino Founders
Latino Founders is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the growth and success of underserved businesses in the State of Oregon. Our mission is to provide support, resources, and opportunities to empower underrepresented entrepreneurs and contribute to the overall economic development of the State of Oregon.
For more information, visit www.latinofounder.com
Stay Connected
Comments