Linda Ronstadt named ‘Social Entrepreneur of the Year’ by Silicon Valley Group Hispanic-Net.

The Mexican Heritage Corporation (MHC) announced that Linda Ronstadt, the multi-Grammy award winning artist and the Artistic Director of San Jose’s Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival was named the 2009 Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Silicon Valley venture capital association Hispanic-Net. Ms. Ronstadt will be honored at a dinner at the Stanford Faculty club the evening of April 11. Hispanic-Net will also honor Latino entrepreneur James Gutierrez, whose company Progreso Financiero delivers financial services to Hispanic families that lack established credit scores and banking relationships. Aida Alvarez, former head of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the first Latina to be named to a Cabinet level position, will present the award to Ms. Ronstadt. The event will also serve as a platform for the announcement of the launch of a new social venture arts enterprise by MHC and Ms. Ronstadt.

“Linda Ronstadt has given her voice and her music to the world for years. She is very interested in contributing to the community in any way she can,” said Marcela Davison Aviles, President and CEO of Mexican Heritage Corporation and the producer of the 18th annual San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival. “This honor recognizes her impact not only as an artist but as a business leader, and a social venture entrepreneur who is as equally committed to the pursuit of social justice as she is to the creation of beauty and preserving our cultural heritage.”