Chicago- The Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (IHCC) Board of Directors announced today that Jaime di Paulo will serve as the organization’s new President and Chief Executive Officer.
For the past five years, Di Paulo has served as Executive Director of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce (LVCC).
Di Paulo was selected by the IHCC Board, following a rigorous and competitive process led by Noetic Search LLC, an executive recruitment firm.
“Over his tenure at LVCC, the budget, membership and volunteer base all grew significantly. He also was able to build support and participation from elected officials and corporate leaders contributing to heightened visibility for LVCC and increased opportunities for business growth for members and non-members alike” .
According to IHCC, these accomplishments were recognized in 2018, with LVCC being awarded Chamber of the Year by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
“As the next CEO of IHCC, I have a moral obligation to be personally involved, not only to support business growth and develop our organization, but also to help our Hispanic communities prosper by using our influence proactively with the business community to make a sustainable difference,” said Jaime di Paulo.
Di Paulo commented that he felt thrilled, excited, grateful and humbled all in the same moment.
“In collaboration with the IHCC Board of Directors and staff, my job as leader is to start the fire that fuels the virtuous cycle of success here in Illinois and turn our work into a beacon of hope, creating and shaping the future. One of my key deliverables as I take office next January 22nd, is to ‘imagine’ the IHCC future. With that in mind, we should then concentrate on validating our strategic choices to make it a reality”, he said.
“ I personally could not be more proud of the hard work my fellow board members displayed during this process,” said Board Chair, Juan Gaytan. “We selected Jaime for many reasons but, the key areas, were his understanding of the role of a statewide chamber of commerce and his demonstrated success bringing government and private sector projects to the Latino business community”.
The IHCC board and staff is committed to strengthening our membership and client’s businesses and help create a better world through entrepreneurship. With our new leadership we are excited about the future of IHCC.”
Kelly Francis, Chief Operating Officer
IHCC also announced that Kelley Francis will assume the role of IHCC’s Chief Operating Officer (COO). Over the last four months, Kelley has served as the Interim President and CEO, and prior to that as IHCC’s Vice President of Corporate Relations for 6 years.
“Kelley brings a wealth of institutional knowledge and business experience to the position. Kelley has extensive experience in small business consulting, new program design and implementation and sales. She is passionate about growing businesses, serving diverse small businesses and managing teams. We are very excited to welcome Kelley to this new role”, the organization said.
