Board of Advisors

David Chavez
CEO, Latin Pointe Inc. and Executive Producer of the ALMA Awards

David’s extensive experience in public relations, marketing, strategic event production, combined with his personal commitment to Hispanic advocacy has made him a national Hispanic leader in a seventeen year career. A visionary behind LatinPointe, Inc., David has created a company that is dedicated to advancing the Hispanic community, bringing positive Latino images to life, and sharing with the broader community all the attributes and strengths of America’s largest minority group. Strategic thinking merged with a keen ability to “serve as a bridge,” matching corporate participation and support to important, unique community programs are the essence of his ability to get results for all.

Prior to LatinPointe, David served as a member of the senior staff of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights group. For more than thirteen years, as the director of marketing and later as the director of strategic alliances, his pioneering work on the National Conference, the ABC Network Television Special ALMA Awards and other chief Hispanic events have created benchmarks for Latino outreach initiatives around the country. David is also the Executive Producer of the ALMA Awards.

Born in Topeka, Kansas, David graduated from Washburn University with a degree in communications and began his career as a tourism sales representative for the Topeka Convention and Visitors Bureau before leaving to Washington, D.C. to work for NCLR. David returned to Kansas in 1995, and now resides in Olathe, Kansas.

Luis J. Diaz
Chief Diversity Officer of Gibbons P.C.

Luis Diaz has over 20 years of legal experience in a wide range of areas, and brings valuable experience to his role as the Chief Diversity Officer of Gibbons. In this position, he manages all aspects of the law firm's Diversity Initiative, including the implementation and execution of a highly innovative diversity strategy that will leverage all of the firm's existing resources while enhancing the ability of its clients to meet their objectives in this area. In addition, Mr. Diaz serves as the President & CEO of the United States Hispanic Advocacy Association, where he plays an active role in working with major corporations and institutions of higher learning to advocate for and develop innovative strategies for diversity and inclusion.

An active member of many professional, civic and educational organizations, Mr. Diaz earned his law degree from the Rutgers University School of Law and Bachelor of Science degree from Cook College, Rutgers University. He is a graduate of the Rutgers ROTC program and served as a commissioned officer in the US Army Reserve. Recently, Mr. Diaz was recognized at the United Nations as one of the top Latino Trendsetters for 2007 by DTM magazine "for outstanding achievements, contributions, leadership and service to the Hispanic community and larger society." He is also a 2006 graduate of Leadership New Jersey.

Kojo Bentil, Esq.
VP, The Kedar Entertainment Group

Kojo Bentil, Kedar Entertainment’s Executive Vice President is one of today’s most dynamic music industry executives. He runs the Company’s daily operations and is the “right hand man” to founder/CEO, Kedar Massenburg. Previously, Bentil was Universal/Motown’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Marketing & Business Development, where he oversaw daily operations and served as a liaison between recording artists and corporate advertisers in engineering many successful cross-promotions. Some notable partnerships include Erykah Badu/Levi Jeans; India.Arie & Stevie Wonder/ Target Stores; Brian McKnight/Sears; Temptations/Haagen-Dasz; and India.Arie/The Gap. These partnerships featured the recording artists in media and marketing campaigns valued at more than $100 million and resulted in massive exposure and increased album sales for those artists.

Prior to joining Universal/Motown, Bentil established Kedar Entertainment with Kedar Massenburg in 1995 and served as its Vice President and General Manager. At Kedar Entertainment, where Massenburg coined the term “Neo-Soul” and launched it as a movement, Bentil worked closely with Massenburg to grow the fledgling record label into the home of some of music’s most innovative artists and a company with sales exceeding $50 million. Bentil also was instrumental in developing and marketing such successful recording artists as Erykah Badu, D’Angelo and Chico DeBarge. Under Massenburg’s stewardship, these Neo-Soul pioneers opened the door of commercial success for such notable figures as Lauryn Hill, Maxwell, Macy Gray, and Jill Scott.

Bentil, who is an attorney, practiced law with a leading New York law firm prior to joining Massenburg. There, he advised clients in commercial matters, including false and deceptive advertising, anti-competitive business practices, federal regulation of consumer products and the antitrust implications of mergers and acquisitions. Bentil also counseled his clients on various contract matters, including licensing, intellectual property and entertainment.

Mr. Bentil has a BA from the University of Virginia and received his law degree from the of University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he was Editor in Chief of the N.C. Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation.

Rich Masterson
Chairman and CEO of Masterson Development

Since 1999, Masterson has successfully developed over $150 million of real estate in Florida, Pennsylvania, Canada, Costa Rica and New Jersey. Projects range from land development in Costa Rica and single-family homes at the Jersey shore to luxury condominium projects and a five-star hotel in the four-season resort of Mt Tremblant Canada.

Masterson is Chairman of Groupe Avantage, a Canadian based lifestyle real estate development firm and the principal owner of Chateau Beauvallon (www.chateaubeauvallon.com), a 70 room condo hotel in Mt Tremblant, Quebec Canada. He is also a partner in 333 Sherbrooke (www.333sherbrooke.com) the premier luxury condominium project in downtown Montreal. In the fall of 2006 he launched the largest multiple listing service in Costa Rica (http://www.costa-rica-mls.com/crmls/search.jsp ) and announced the creation of Group Costa Rica and Group Costa Rica Law, a real estate and real estate law firm catering to North American investors.

From 1999 to 2004 Masterson served as Chairman of GivingCapital. By partnering with Wall Street clients such as Morgan Stanley, Solomon Smith Barney and others, GivingCapital raised over $400 Million for charity before being acquired by Kintera, a publicly held company focused on philanthropic services.

Rich's private equity interests include being a limited partner in Cross Atlantic Capital Partners (www.xacp.com), a venture capital firm with offices in Pennsylvania, London and Ireland. He is also investing in proprietary Internet marketing technologies and writing a book entitled "Selling the Google Way" (late 2006).

In 1994 Masterson founded US Interactive, an internet professional services firm with clients including Microsoft, IBM, American Express, Disney, Toyota and the US Senate. US Interactive completed its initial public offering in 1999 and Masterson was recognized as one of the pioneers in online marketing.

Masterson is active in philanthropy and has previously served on the board of numerous charitable organizations including The National Philanthropic Trust, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Wellness Community of Philadelphia. Rich endowed the first full business school scholarship at James Madison University in honor of his father Thomas Masterson.

Masterson currently serves on the Board of Advisors of Radnor Trust Company (www.radnortrust.com) and was prevviously a trustee to Emerald Mutual Family of Funds.

He is a graduate of James Madison University and the Executive Program of Harvard Business School and was named the first "Entrepreneur in Residence" of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jack Pires
President of Highland Port Development

Jack Pires is the President of Highland Port Development (HPD) based in Newark New Jersey. As an entrepreneur Jack's professional career extends beyond real estate development. His portfolio of experience includes ownership and management of vast Real Estate Properties and Restaurant Development. Prior to founding HPD, Jack was the President of 1000 member Credit Union. Jack began his career in the Finance and Mortgage Banking industry.

Born in Portugal, Jack's family moved to New Jersey when he was 12 years old. Since that time Jack has been a prominent figure in the New Jersey Portuguese community and has contributed to the economic development of the state, and community at large.