The sixth annual celebration of America’s Hispanic Heritage — the 2021 AL DÍA Archetypes event — will see 10 outstanding Hispanic professionals be honored with the 2021 Ambassador Manuel Torres Award.

The honorees will be distinguished across 10 categories. They are: public service, non-profit, education, corporate, entrepreneurship, sports, performing arts, philanthropy, media and health.

This year, the honoree in the non-profit category will be Damian Rivera, CEO of the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA). He has served in the role since Sept. 2018.

Rivera, however, has been involved with the organization for over half a decade. Under his leadership, ALPFA has continued its growth, now at 95,000+ members, 157 student chapters and 44 professional chapters nationwide. 

He is also responsible for implementing ALPFA’s platform LEAD, which stands for Leadership, Engagement, Advancement and Development. 

The platform’s purpose is to build leaders within ALPFA’s network through business mastering, professional EQ, community engagement, wealth creation, health & wellness, and entrepreneurship. 

Prior to his current role at ALPFA, Rivera spent 21 years working at Accenture in a variety of roles, more recently as managing director in Accenture’s resources utilities practice. While at Accenture, Rivera also led the company’s Hispanic American Employee Resource Group from 2011 to 2017.

Rivera is originally from Spanish Harlem, spending a majority of his life there. 

In 2018, Rivera was named a member of Latino Leaders Magazine’s Top 101 Most Influential Latinos list.

Rivera earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical and biochemical engineering from Rutgers University, before later earning an MBA from Columbia University, where he specialized in social entrepreneurship. 

In addition to his work at ALPFA, Rivera is also an investor of tech startups with a social purpose mission of growing the most promising Hispanic and Latinx ventures.

During Hispanic Heritage Month in September, he will be honored as the 2021 AL DÍA Archetype: Ambassador Manuel Torres Award in the category of non-profit.

More honorees will be confirmed in the coming days and weeks ahead. 

The 2021 AL DÍA Archetype Hispanic Heritage Gala & Awards Ceremony is set for Friday, Sept. 24, 2021 at the Union League of Philadelphia. To reserve your seat at the premier celebration of America's Hispanic Heritage, click here.