The Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has named Ga-briel Vaca Interim President of the organization. Vaca, who is the Executive Vice President of the GHCC, will take over July 1 for Santi-
ago Marquez, who is leaving to become the Executive Director of the Latin American
Association.

Vaca is a former Chairman of the Board of the GHCC. He joined the chamber after a 24-year career at UPS, where he was responsible for consulting and supporting UPS largest enterprise customers in their logistics and global supply chain. He was instrumental in developing international trade between the U.S. and countries around the world, especially with Asia and Latin America.’“We are very happy for Santiago and know that he will continue to be an outstanding leader for our Hispanic community,” said Ivan Shammas, Chairman of the GHCC Board and General Manager for Telemundo Atlanta.

“We’re fortunate to have Gabriel Vaca al-ready onboard in a leadership role at the chamber and know that under his direction, along with the strong team in place, the GHCC will continue to be a valuable resource for Georgia businesses. Gabe has been supporting and involved with the GHCC for over 15 years. It’s because of his guidance in the past that we have been able to hit
many important milestones with our chamber.”

In recent weeks, the chamber has been focused on providing virtual programming to its 1,300 members to help them survive and begin to recover from the economic impact of Covid-19. It recently was selected as one of seven Hispanic chambers in the U.S. to help businesses via the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s Avanzar business accelerator program.“I’m honored to be selected by the executive committee and I want to reassure the GHCC’s members and sponsors that we will have a smooth transition,” said Vaca. “The chamber is as strong as it has ever been and we are creating many opportunities for businesses.”

Vaca served as a member of the Senior Executive Corporate Advisory Board of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC). He is a Co-founder and graduate of the GHCC Cultivating Hispanic Leadership Institute and founding member of Crecer, the UPS Latino Business Resource Group, which he helped lead in 2017 to win first place as the most impactful Latino BRG in Corporate
America at the USHCC Corporate Challenge. He holds the honor of GHCC’s Chairman Emeritus which was appointed to him in 2015.“

Vaca has been honored by the Georgia Secretary of State as an Outstanding Georgia Citizen” for his work on helping Hispanic businesses in Georgia and also received the CEO Award in Corporate Ambassadorship from the GHCC.