Balido – Vice President Corporate Strategy ViVA Partnership.

ViVA Partnership has appointed Nelson H. Balido as Vice President Corporate Strategy. As ViVA celebrates its ten year anniversary milestone providing “360-degree” marketing, advertising, retail promotions and public relations services to firms reaching out to U.S. Hispanic segments, the appointment of Mr. Balido is a “strategic move for the next ten years” according to Linda Lane Gonzalez, ViVA’s founder and CEO. “Nelson is that rare find; an expert in U.S. Hispanic with extensive experience on both the client and agency side, and a long history in the industry that encompasses the arts, entertainment, public service plus retail. Nelson will play a key role as ViVA advances through our next stages of growth and expansion.” The appointment is effective immediately.

Prior to joining ViVA, Mr. Balido was founder and president of Puente Group Inc., a consulting firm based in San Antonio. He will continue in his capacity as a principal and consultant at Puente Group. Previously, Mr. Balido held the position of Director of Multi-Cultural Marketing for SBC Communications, also based in San Antonio, where he was responsible for the launch of many of the current product lines such as SBC Yahoo! DSL en Español, SBC Long Distance, Cingular Wireless, SBC Dish Network Satellite Services, as well as of www.sbc.com/espanol.

Currently, Mr. Balido is a Commissioner of the Texas Commission of the Arts, appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry for the 2004 – 2009 term, and is Vice-Chair Cultural Arts Board, Office of Cultural Affairs, City of San Antonio for the term 2006-2007. In addition, Mr. Balido is a National Board Member, Texas Tech Alumni Association; a Past Board Member, San Antonio Area Girl Scouts; Director, Texas Lyceum through 2012 and active member of InfraGuard, an information sharing organization designed to protect critical national infrastructures.