Sky's The Limit at The Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Lunch Series

The California Department of General Services (DGS) is teaming up with the Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (RHCC) to empower Small, Disabled Veteran Businesses!

Networking with Exhibit Partners

Buffet Lunch Opening

Entertainment by:

Luis Edgar Alonso

Buffet Lunch

20-second “Elevator Pitch.”

Excellence In Leadership Membership Awards

Steven Snow
U.S. Small Business Administration
Regional Administrator, Region 9
The Long Beach Marriott
Mitsubishi Cement Corporation
Long Beach Economic Development
Watson Land Company
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Metropolitan Transportation Agency
Saint Mary's Medical Center Foundation
California Department of General Services
California Resources Corporation
California Department of Insurance
Ganz Media
SKANSKA
Flatiron Construction
The Port of Long Beach

Procurement Chat

California Department of General Services, Mariela Whyte , Outreach Liaison

The Port of Long Beach - Tam Ho, Procurement Manager
SKANSKA, Wendy Bracamontes

Metropolitan Transportation Agency, Ramon Ortiz

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Jeannette Correa

LINXS LAX Integrated Express Solutions, Riley Lehren-Chavez

Q & A with speakers

Group Photo

Networking

Guest Speakers

Mariela Whyte

Mariela is a Bilingual Business Outreach Liaison at the Office of Small Business and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Services for the California Department of General Services. In this role, she educates business owners about the benefits and opportunities of pursuing a Small Business (SB) certification, Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) certification, and contract opportunities with the state of California.

Mariela is an experienced leader in community and business outreach. She has a proven record of accomplishment with over a decade of experience in politics, community engagement, obtaining and managing close partnerships with local government and stakeholders, and working with the Latino community and Spanish speaking media.

Mariela has a background in Politics and Community Engagement and holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Human Behavior from California State University Sacramento.

Tam Ho

Manager of Procurement for the Central Procurement Services Division at the Port of Long Beach, CA (POLB). In her role, she also manages POLB’s Small Business Enterprise (SBE)/Very Small Business Enterprise (VSBE) Program, helping to promote participation of SBEs and VSBEs on Port contracts and procurements via both prime and sub-contracting opportunities.

Tam has over 13 years of experience in the public sector and 5 years of experience in the private sector; she has a wealth of experience in procurement, budget and financial analysis. Tam has undergraduate degrees in both Economics and Molecular & Cell Biology from the University of California at Berkeley. She also has an MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles.