Lili Gil Valletta, an award-winning entrepreneur, television contributor and head of multicultural marketing for the World Economic Forum, will keynote Middlesex County Regional Chamber’s 2016 Hispanic Business Expo, set for July 20, 4 p.m. at the Pines Manor in Edison.
The blockbuster annual event has grown to attract nearly 1,000 business owners, employees, policymakers and exhibitors representing the nonprofit, health care, retail, finance and hospitality sectors.
“Middlesex County is New Jersey’s economic core and the Hispanic business community here is a big reason for that,” said Lina Llona, president of the Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Ms. Llona pointed to the county’s 45-percent increase in the Hispanic population since the 2000 Census, with Latinos comprising 18 percent of the county’s population. She also noted that Hispanics will contribute more than $1.3 trillion to the United States economy in 2016.
Keynote speaker Liliana “Lili” Gil Valletta is an award-winning entrepreneur, World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, TV media contributor and President of XL Alliance. XL is the marketing and strategy firm that companies hire to unlock the power of today’s multicultural markets, especially the Hispanic market. With a team of more than diverse professionals representing over a dozen countries, XL knows how to turn cultural trends into opportunities and profits.
Ms. Valletta has a strong track record as a former corporate executive at organizations such as Celebration Health/ Walt Disney World and Johnson at Johnson, where she served as Global Marketing Services Director. During her 10-year tenure at J&J, she became the youngest female executive, pioneered multicultural marketing initiatives for the corporation and co-founded the Hispanic Employee Resource Group HOLA.
Companies Ms. Valletta has advised and impacted include The Coca-Cola Company, Diageo, Kroger Co, Post Foods, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, PepsiCo, Prestige Brands, Novartis, Merck, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, and Univision. She is an independent contributor to Fox News, CNN en Español, among other networks analyzing the role of minorities, women and overall diversity in business and politics. For more information and to register: