South Gate Chamber of Commerce Announces Yvonne Chavez as Executive Director

The Board of Directors for the South Gate Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the addition of a new Executive Director, Yvonne Chavez. Yvonne is a nonprofit, economic and community development specialist with more than 15 years dedicated experience in strategic planning, community relations, organizational capacity-building, and has a fiscal compliance background that includes public/private contract management. She also has experience in bi-lingual and bi-cultural outreach to Spanish-speaking communities.

Yvonne’s work with a variety of private businesses, transportation agencies and nonprofit organizations made her the perfect fit for the role of Executive Director of the South Gate Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber’s President, Alex Castaneda, welcomed the new addition, “Yvonne brings a wealth of knowledge and new ideas to the role of Executive Director. We felt her organizational management experience and her ability to identify both public and private resources and create unique partnerships was essential to serve the needs of our growing Chamber membership.”

Tesoro Coporation's Tiffany Rau, Vice President of the Chamber added, “I was most impressed with Yvonne’s ideas about building the Chamber’s capacity for growth and strengthening our operational efficiencies. I look forward to working with her on ways we can strengthen our business community through education and outreach programs including ongoing initiatives with the City of South Gate on projects like Business Watch through the South Gate Police Department Crime Prevention Bureau.”

Prior to her work as an economic and development consultant, Yvonne Chavez acted as Manager of the Business Assistance and Development Department for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) where she supported the Business Assistance and Development Department’s overall goal of retaining and creating jobs within the County of Los Angeles. Here, she worked with numerous Workforce Investment Boards throughout LA County as a means for strengthening Layoff Aversion efforts. Her work helped retain and attract over 15,000 jobs, providing $12.6 billion in direct economic impact. In addition, Yvonne previously served as the Community Reinvestment (CRA) Officer for Community Bank where she managed/monitored all Community Redevelopment efforts. In addition, Yvonne has worked with numerous Community Development Corporations and Community Development Financial Institutions providing technical assistance & financial planning support to small business owners, real estate developers and community-based organizations.

Yvonne is a longtime resident of Southeast Los Angeles and holds a Bachelors in Public Policy & Management and Masters degree in Professional Writing. She is a Certified Economic Developer and member of The Nonprofit Partnership, Center for Nonprofit Management, California Association of Local Economic Development, International Economic Development Council, National Latina Business Women’s Association, as well as the FDIC Alliance for Economic Inclusion.

For more information on the South Gate Chamber of Commerce, please visit us at www.southgatecc.org or call 323-567-1203. Yvonne Chavez can be reached at ychavez@southgatecc.org