The Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce held its annual membership meeting last night in Center City. Varsovia Fernandez, chamber president, inducted the new board members for 2015, and spoke about how Latino business is growing faster than ever in the Philadelphia area.

The chamber’s widening role in local business was emphasized by each speaker: Lou Rodriguez, the new president of the board; Richard Negrin, city managing director and deputy mayor; and Pedro Cortés, secretary of state to Governor Tom Wolf.

"The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has played a huge role in not just in the Latino community, but the entire region's economy,” Cortés said.

Fernandez recapped the chambers accomplishments in 2014 as well as its ongoing actions to help foster Latino business growth in the Delaware Valley. She stressed the chamber’s wide range of duties among Philadelphia’s Latino business leaders, from helping with financial translations to securing $10 million loans.

“High quality Latino leadership makes a huge difference,” Richard Negrin said of the chamber and its members.

GPHCC now has over 600 members, 24 of which have graduated from Goldman Sachs’ prestigious 10,000 small businesses program. State senator Christine M. Tartaglione, City Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez, mayoral candidate Lynne Abraham, and representatives from GPHCC’s corporate partners were also in attendance.

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