PRESIDENT
Homero Gonzalez

 
 

 

Born in Dominican Republic, Homero holds a B.S. in Electromechanical Engineering from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM – 2004) in Santiago, D. R., a MSME from The City College of New York (CCNY – 2007) and a Professional Certificate in Project Management from New York University (NYU – 2011). He has a remarkable mixture of experiences from different U.S. corporations that includes GE Aviation (Which he joined in February 2012 and currently operates as a Black Belt in NPI Operations), Cummins Inc., National Grid US, and Consolidated Edison of New York Inc. He also serves as the Attract Co-Leader for the GE Hispanic Forum, where his work is instrumental to help the forum facilitate GE's efforts to attract, develop, retain, and advance Hispanic talent within the company. Homero has been an active member of SHPE since 2005.

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VP, Corporate Relations
Melannie Kleven

 

Born in Texas and raised in Mexico City, Melannie graduated from Miami University in Oxford, OH with a B.S in Marketing. Looking to expand her knowledge in the finance field, she joined PNC Financial Services in 2014 as part of its ACCEL Development Program becoming an Associate/Financial Specialist. She currently helps individuals and families plan and achieve their financial goals, such as college financing and retirement, not only through banking services but also through investment advice. Melannie holds a Series 7 General Securities License, and Series 66 Uniform Combined State Law License. She is also active within PNC's Women Connect group - which focuses on retention and development of women within the company - where she serves in the Community Relations and Professional Development & Mentorship Committees.
 
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VP, Community Relations
Vacant

 

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VP, Finance
Tomas Mendez

 

Tomas, born in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, attended Marquette University and graduated with a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He worked a mix of sales and structural design jobs before joining Duke Energy, where he has held roles as a Project Engineer in Distribution Design, and is currently the Distribution Planning Engineer for the Downtown A.C. Secondary Network. He also oversees Capacity Planning in the Central West area of Cincinnati. Tomas also holds a number of roles as President of Student with Special Smiles, Chair of Latinos Energizing Diversity (a Duke Energy employee resource group), the United Way fundraising committee, the Artswave fundraising committee, liaison between Duke Energy and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Diversity Lead in Duke Energy’s Midwest Delivery Organization, member of the American Red Cross Diversity Committee, and volunteer for fundraising work at the Great American Ballpark.

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VP, Operations
Oscar D. Cedeño Mendoza

 
 

 

Born in Ecuador, he attended the University of Central Florida (UCF) and graduated with a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering. As a student at UCF, he was a very active member of SHPE.
Oscar is currently working in Duke Energy as a System Operator Engineering Support.

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VP, Marketing
Michael Beck

 
 

 

Michael Beck holds MBA from Vienna University of Economics in Austria and from Kent State University in Ohio. He spent 11 years working or NCR in Dayton in various international assignments, and is currently President of http://www.midwestlatino.com. He serves on various Boards, among them Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Cincinnati, LULAC Ohio, Ohio Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers(SHPE)-OHIO-SW Professional Chapter. He received Nuestra Familia Award from Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, Community Award from Links, and twice Spirit of Cincinnati Award from Cincinnati CVB. For the last 3 years he serves as project coordinator for Open Source CMS (Content Management System) http://www.xoops.org, which has received several international awards.

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VP, Membership
Victor Martinez

 
 

 

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Victor holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus. Currently working as a Senior Engineer at Procter & Gamble (P&G), Victor leads P&G's efforts for Stretch Technology Development where regarded as a global leader and collaborator, in addition, Victor is an active member of the Hispanic Community where he leads several efforts in the areas of talent attraction and development. Prior to joining P&G, Victor had multiple work experiences with companies such as P&G, General Electric and ExxonMobil. He was also an active member of the SHPE UPRM Chapter where held several E-Board positions including Regional Student Representative of Region 4.
Outside of work Victor has a strong passion for educating families about sound financial strategies that will enable them achieve financial independence.

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Chapter Advisor
Jorge Seda

 
 

 

Jorge was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. He received a BSAE from Saint Louis University and a MSME from the University of Cincinnati. He worked at GE Aviation for over 39 years and retired in 2009. He is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Ohio, taught engine design courses at GE Aviation for19 years, and holds fourteen US patents. He has been involved with Latino/Hispanic initiatives for over 18 years and co-founded GE Aviation’s Hispanic Forum. As part of GE’s initiative to increase diverse employees, he recruited for over 15 years at the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers National Conferences, was GE’s Campus Recruiting Leader for the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez campus as well as its Industrial Advisory Board member. In over 10 years, his team recruited over 350 Hispanics students to GE. Jorge is co-founder of the Greater Cincinnati Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) Gala. This event has raised over $1.4M+ and awarded over 450 scholarships to Hispanic students in the Greater Cincinnati area and adjacent states. It has been recognized by the national HSF for its Best Practices. Jorge is a recipient of the 2004 Ohio Governor’s Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan, 2007 Santa Maria Community Service Outstanding award for promoting diversity in the workplace and community, 2008 LULAC Corporate Excellence awards and 2015 Saint Louis University Parks College of Engineering, Aviation, and Technology Alumni Merit recipient. Jorge co-founded the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Cincinnati Professional Chapter and served as president from its inception in 2010 through 2013; he now serves as advisor. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of The Franciscan Ministries for the last 4 years and the Board of Directors of Santa Maria Community Services for 5 years and now serves as Vice Chair.