| First
Hispanic to Lead ChamberFirst
Hispanic to Lead Chamber |
By
Anne DeCecco
Observer Staff Writer |
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When Raul Danny Vargas takes the
helm of the Dulles Regional
Chamber of Commerce next month,
he will become the first
Hispanic to lead the chamber.
His service as chairman of the
chamber also would mark the
first time a Hispanic will lead
a traditional chamber of
commerce in the Commonwealth of
Virginia, according to the
chamber. |
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"Our chamber has had a leading
role in promoting opportunities
for Hispanic businesses," Eileen
Curtis, chamber president and
CEO, said in a press release.
"It is both appropriate and
exciting that the Dulles
Regional Chamber should be the
first chamber to be led by an
Hispanic businessman. Danny is
full of ideas and a natural
leader." |
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Vargas, founder and CEO of
VARCom Solutions, has been an
active member of the chamber for
the past three years and helped
form the Hispanic Business
Council. He is active in the
chamber's marketing and
communications and global
business committees, and prior
to taking on his current role as
vice-chairman of the chamber he
was vice president of the
marketing and communications
committee. He has also been a
resident of the Herndon and
Reston area for the past 15
years. |
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Incumbent chairman Justin Exner
said Vargas's company VARCom was
instrumental in providing a
market analysis and helping the
chamber transition when it
expanded into the
Chantilly-Centreville area. "So
he has a unique perspective of
what the members and the
membership is looking for,"
Exner said. |
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Chamber protocol dictates that
the vice-chairman is
automatically next in line as
chairman. Vargas assumed the
role of vice-chairman about a
month ago. |
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"It
really is humbling," Vargas said
in an interview Monday. "I'm a
poor kid from Brooklyn." Vargas
said he grew up in a
neighborhood with little
resources, where he lived with
his three older siblings and his
mother, a former indentured
servant from Puerto Rico. His
parents divorced when he was two
and his mother never learned
English. He recalled eating ice
cubes for some dinners and said
that growing up, prospects for
the future were very dim.
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"Only in America can you go from
something like that to being
able to come in and step in to
being the chairman of such a
prestigious, well respected,
long lasting organization like
this chamber of commerce. So
it's very humbling." |
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Vargas worked in intelligence
for the Air Force for seven
years and later continued as an
intelligence expert for a
government contractor. After 11
years of taking classes on
nights and weekends, he earned
his Bachelor's degree in
management in 1994. In 1995, he
decided to switch to the private
sector and began working for
Sprint. Later he spent six years
with Global One as director of
corporate and carrier sales of
the Americas region and then
worked at France Telecom's
carrier division, where he was
the vice president of sales and
marketing for the Americas. In
2004, he started VARCom
Solutions, a company that
provides businesses with
marketing, sales and
communications services. During
his time at VARCom, he also
spent a year working as an
executive at America Online,
first as vice president of
global sales for voice and then
as vice president of Latin
America. |
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Vargas said he believes strongly
in community service. He serves
on the board of several
nonprofit organizations and he
helped U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf
(R-10th) start his own Hispanic
Advisory Committee. "Over the
years, as I was able to achieve
some level of success, I knew
that I also wanted to give back
to this community that helped me
get here," Vargas said.
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Although his duties will not
start for about a month, Vargas
said he already has big plans
for his time as chairman. He
said strategic planning meetings
will continue and a board of
directors' retreat is scheduled
for July 20. |
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Vargas said he wants to focus on
three areas within the chamber.
The first involves assisting
members with business growth,
training and networking
opportunities. Vargas said he
wants to hold training and adult
education events and work with
nearby schools to help with
workforce training. He said he
also wants to put a strong
emphasis on serving the
community, which he sees as an
important responsibility of area
businesses. His third focus, he
said, will be on economic
developments. Vargas said it is
important to keep the area
competitive by working with
local governments and other
organizations. |
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Vargas said it is an "added
responsibility" to serve as the
first Hispanic chairman of a
traditional Virginia chamber and
the Dulles regional chamber, but
it will also be beneficial. |
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"I
see it as an opportunity to be
able to reach out to all
segments of the community,
Hispanic and mainstream and
Asian, etcetera, and say that
this is a great opportunity for
us to come together in a
positive way, in a productive,
constructive way," Vargas said.
"It also gives me the
opportunity to leverage whatever
visibility I'm able to garner to
be able to reach specifically
within the Hispanic community
and let them know that this
thing you hear about, about the
‘American Dream,' it's real,
it's doable, it's achievable."
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