For two 2 years, Monica Villalobos has served as the President & CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber after serving as the Vice-President and Foundation Executive Director for seven years. In this role, she is responsible for the strategic growth initiatives of the 70-year-old chamber and foundation which operates two federally funded business units - the Phoenix MBDA Business Center and NABEDC serving American-Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native communities in Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. Her background and experience as a corporate marketing executive and as an entrepreneur result in a unique combination of skill and talent.
Ms. Villalobos began her career with Casanova-Pendrill, one of the largest Hispanic advertising agencies in the country. She was then courted by a client and joined the Telmex/Sprint International Joint Venture as Marketing Manager reporting directly to the Chief Marketing Officer. Ms. Villalobos then became Brand Manager of the Hispanic Line of Business for Capital One Financial. Previously at Phoenix Marketing International based in Rhinebeck, NY, Ms. Villalobos developed all communication materials related to the company’s products and services for the Hispanic division. Ms. Villalobos is the former Director of Accounts at Latin Force LLC, purchased by Goldman Sachs, a business strategy firm specializing in the Hispanic marketplace. In that capacity, she supervised strategy development for clients such as Wells Fargo, National Football League (NFL), Kraft Foods, and ING. Her expertise is in the development of Integrated Multicultural Communication Platforms and ROI Business Case Assessments.
She is also the former co-owner of Cuellar, LLC dba ShopRite Supermarket of Passaic/Clifton, an annual $50 million retail enterprise. She made this transition from the position of Executive Vice-President at ECO, Inc with the sale of that company and its subsidiaries President Supermarkets, Presidential Caterers and LatinoNetShopper.com. Ms. Villalobos is the founding principal at ResearchByDesign, a marketing research firm specializing in primary qualitative and quantitative research.
Ms. Villalobos is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a double major in Linguistics and Psychology. She completed a Master of Arts in Communications degree at Seton Hall University with honors. And is working on her doctorate at the University of Southern California (USC).