• Corporate Award Recipient
• Member Service Award Recipient
• Entrepreneur Award Recipient

• Corporate Executive Award Recipient
• Educational Institution Award Recipient
• Non-Profit Award Recipient

CORPORATE EXCELLENCE AWARD

American Express

Founded in 1850, American Express is a leading global payments and travel company with a deep and rich history of service that drives everything we do. Our diverse and talented people bring a wealth of experiences and perspectives that strengthen our vision of becoming the world’s most respected service brand. Promoting a culture of inclusiveness and diversity throughout the company starts at the top with our most senior executives, including our CEO, and is driven throughout the organization on a global scale. We seek to create an environment that will not only ensure employee engagement but also inspire people of all backgrounds to feel they can succeed and grow.

CORPORATE EXECUTIVE EXCELLENCE AWARD

Rudy Beserra

Rudy M. Beserra is vice president of Latin Affairs for The Coca-Cola Company.

He began his career at The Coca-Cola Company in 1989 after having served as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan on Latino and Small Business Affairs. A graduate of the University of New Mexico, Mr. Beserra has held a number of distinguished positions including special assistant to the Chairman of the National Republican Committee in charge of Hispanic and Small Business Affairs and ambassador member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

Mr. Beserra is an active board member of a number of prominent Latino-focused organizations, including NALEO (National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials), LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens), the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, and The University of Texas-Pan American Foundation board of trustees. He is past chairman of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

In 1995 Mr. Beserra was awarded the Hispanic Community Commitment Award by the Latin American Management Association. In 2006 the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce presented him with a Special Recognition Award and in 2007 he received the Hispanic Leadership Award from the Dominican Times. In 2007 he received the Executive of the Year Award from the Association of Latin Professionals in Finance.

A native of Albuquerque, Mr. Beserra lives in Atlanta with his wife and two daughters.

MEMBER SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARD

Loida Rosario

Loida Rosario serves on the faculty at DePaul University, School of Business and consults with senior business managers in the areas of strategic planning, marketing, multicultural marketing and new product development. She’s a co-founder of the Multicultural Marketing Program at DePaul University.

Ms. Rosario has over 15 years of experience in the consumer goods, insurance, retail and information technology industries. Formerly, she directed product management and marketing functions at Colgate-Palmolive and AT&T, and serviced customers both in the U.S. and Latin America.

She has a master’s degree in marketing and finance from the University of Illinois and specializes in Strategic Marketing, New Product Development, IMC – Multicultural DePaul University.

She is an entrepreneur, President of ElCoquiGalleries.com, and a civic leader who currently sits on the boards of the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation and the Leap Learning Foundation. She is a member of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA).

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION EXCELLENCE AWARD

Florida International University

Florida International University (FIU) was established in 1965 and opened its doors for classes in 1972 with 5,667 students - the largest opening day enrollment in U.S. collegiate history. Today it has more than 38,000 students, almost 1,000 full-time faculty, and more than 117,500 alumni, making it the largest university in South Florida. FIU offers more than 200 bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in 22 colleges and schools. Some 30 years after opening its doors, FIU is quickly becoming one of the nation's top, urban, public research universities. What began as an institution to provide teaching to Miami's exploding population (60% Hispanic) has evolved into a world-class university that mirrors Miami's growing role as a global city.

According to Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education (May 5, 2008), in 2007 FIU was #1 in the U.S. in awarding bachelor's degrees and master's degrees to Hispanic students.

The College of Business Administration serves over 6,000 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate students in its various programs.

The college's Career Management Services office offers workshops on career development, further ensuring job placement not only to students in FIU's programs but also to those at the college's world-wide partner schools. The office promotes an online resume book of students from both the graduate school and partner schools to offer recruiters around the world a larger pool of qualified, Latino and multicultural applicants. The office has held several “Achieving Diversity” seminars for corporate recruiters and diversity officers to discuss issues related to recruiting minorities for their organizations.

FIU's College of Business has historically been a strong supporter of NSHMBA and its mission and continues to serve on NSHMBA's Corporate Advisory Board.

ENTREPRENEUR EXCELLENCE

Tillie Hidalgo Lima

Tillie Hidalgo Lima is the president/CEO of Best Upon Request Corporate, Inc., a multi-million dollar company that partners with corporations and health care organizations and to provide concierge services to employees, patients and tenants. Under Tillie's leadership Best Upon Request has grown from 16 employees to more than 100, from five to 40 offices nationwide, and has grown more than 535% in revenue over the past six years. Her passion in life is to be a cheerleader for others and to "lift as she climbs."

NON-PROFIT EXCELLENCE

National Hispanic Business Association (NHBA)

The National Hispanic Business Association has been the preeminent network of emerging Hispanic business professionals for more than 19 years.

Our mission is simple: We are dedicated to helping Hispanic undergraduate business students develop the real-world skills and relationships needed to launch successful professional careers.

History of the NHBA.
The first NHBA Student Leadership Conference, held in 1990 at the University of Texas at Austin, aimed at promoting the development of Hispanic students who showed promise of becoming leaders in the business world. The founders saw that these leadership conferences, held annually, would create a national network of Hispanic business student organizations and alumni, and in 1993, they established the National Hispanic Business Association (NHBA).

 In becoming one of the largest nonprofits to serve Hispanic undergraduate business students in the United States, the NHBA has grown from a single student chapter to more than 40 chapters in some of the largest universities serving Hispanics in the country. Each participating organization, each alumnus, adds another valuable contact for Hispanic students and strengthens the links that unite our society.