MEXICO BUSINESS CENTER AND MEXICAN BUSINESS COUNCIL (CEM) JOIN FORCES TO PROMOTE CROSS BORDER BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

San Diego—The Consejo Empresarial Mexicano (CEM or Mexican Business Council), has joined with the Mexico Business Center, a division of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce to promote cross border business opportunities for San Diego County companies.   While each organization maintains its own identity, jointly produced events will help bring additional “Mexico expertise of CEM members to the work of the Mexico Business Center,” noted James Clark, Director General, Mexico Business Center.

San Diego County is the home to more than 800,000 people of Mexican decent, representing almost 38% of the San Diego’s total population.  In addition, many Mexican nationals keep second homes throughout the county from Rancho Santa Fe to Rancho Del Rey.  An increasing number of Tijuana business owners also have homes in San Diego County and commute to their jobs daily.    With Mexico on our border San Diego is an ideal location for entrepreneurs and globally minded business executives.

The Mexico Business Center was founded in 2003 to assist San Diego County businesses locate markets for their products and services in Mexico, to provide a regional link with Tijuana, and to be an advocate for cross border issues that are critical to the economic viability of the San Diego/Baja California Region “The Mexico Business Center is an integral part of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s regional and global outreach,” noted Ruben Barrales, Chamber President and CEO, who is himself the son of Mexican immigrants.  “Working with the CEM brings an added dimension to the services of the Mexico Business Center as it engages additional Mexicans and Mexican-Americans directly in our work,” he continues.  

John McNeece, International Law Partner, Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps LLP, is Chairman of the Mexico Business Center.   Mauricio Monroy, Managing Partner, Deloitte Baja California and Sonora, is the Vice Chairman.  Viviana Ibañez is the  Mexico Business Center’s Manager of Bi-National Affairs and Events, and Manager of the MBC/CEM joint projects.

The Consejo Empresarial Mexicano was formed in 2002 by a group of Mexican-American business executives to generate innovated projects and promote investments by combining their business strategies and building unity and strength to benefit their own business practices.  It has forty-five founding members representing a wide spectrum of the San Diego business community.

Ambassador Luis Cabrera, Consul General of México in San Diego, is the Honorary President of the CEM.  The council’s executive committee includes Victor Vilaplana, Foley & Lardner, Luis Maizel, LM Capital Group, Aaron Feldman, Sunroad Enterprises, and Adolfo Gonzalez –Rubio, Investment Placement Group.

The Consejo Empresarial Mexicano has among its members; lawyers, radio managers, real estate professionals, automotive salespeople, tortilla company owners and bankers who plan to work through diverse ad hoc committees and use organization as a forum in which individuals from a variety of the County’s most important economic clusters will have the opportunity to interchange ideas, brainstorm new projects and learn form their experiences taking advantage of the ongoing and increasingly strong binational relationship that exists between Mexico and the United States.   It is comprised of individuals residing, permanently or not, in San Diego who either are or have been engaged in significant business activities in Mexico and who have been invited to join because of their strong ties to Mexico and their interest in establishing a forum for the active exchange of views and ideas regarding the business environment in Mexico.