Francisco J. Valle is President of Valle Consulting. He provides consulting services in the areas of strategy, development of a sustainable competitive advantage, Hispanic workforce management, and Hispanic market penetration.  Mr. Valle possesses the strategic expertise to analyze organizations to determine how to enhance their competitive and financial performance, and the tactical background to develop and implement practical plans to grow or turn around operations.

Mr. Valle is a visionary and innovative consultant who has provided Hispanic market advice to executives of companies of all sizes including Co-Production International, Girl Scouts Council of Orange County, Merrill Lynch, UMeXX, USTA, Wal-Mart, World Financial Group, and YMCA of Orange County.  Prior to beginning his consulting career, Mr. Valle started up, turned around, and improved the margins of businesses of Fortune 100 corporations in the foodservice, QSR, and petroleum industries.

Mr. Valle is fully bilingual (English - Spanish) and can read, write, present, and negotiate in both languages.  He co-authored How To Win The Hispanic Gold Rush™ a book on Hispanic marketing and critical cultural values selected for inclusion in Forbes Magazine’s Book Club.  As an expert in the Hispanic market, Mr. Valle has published articles in English and Spanish, his quotes have appeared in newspapers and magazines, and he has been featured in major radio and TV talk shows.

Mr. Valle received Merrill Lynch’s prestigious Global Leadership in Diversity Award for his successful initiatives in this area including the foundation for a new Hispanic Growth Fund.

Mr. Valle has funded the Francisco J. Valle Scholarship Award granted to Hispanic Business students at California State University, Fullerton since 1988.

Mr. Valle is a Ph.D. in Management student at and holds an Executive Certificate in Strategy from Claremont Graduate University's The Peter F. Drucker & Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management.  He also earned an M.B.A. from California State University, Fullerton, and a B.S. in Chemistry, Pharmacy, and Biology with a Food Processing Major from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. In addition, Mr. Valle completed Corporate Governance Training at both Harvard Business School, and UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management.

Mr. Valle lives with his wife and two children in San Diego, California. He can be contacted at: 949-500-8852, 858-312-1885 (FAX) or franciscovalle@cox.net.

Judy M. Mandel retired in 2001 after more than 30 years in university public affairs and advancement, including serving as Associate Vice President for Public Affairs at California State University, Fullerton.

Ms. Mandel completed a Masters in Communications degree in December 2001 at Cal State Fullerton. Her coursework included classes in intercultural communication. She earned a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of Minnesota.

For the last 25 years, Ms. Mandel and her husband have worked with Hispanic high school and college students to help them develop their educational and personal potentials.