About the Author
An accomplished military officer, civic activist, writer and entrepreneur, David is the Founder and CEO of BilingualHire, Inc. He is currently a mobilized Captain serving alongside Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, civilians and contractors at the Joint Personal Effects Depot in receiving, processing and returning the lasting memories of America's Fallen patriots and wounded Service Members. During his 2-year tour he focused on tackling the toughest organizational challenges, from streamlining operations to public affairs engagements, from joint protocol to taking care of Soldier issues, since his arrival to Dover AFB, Del.
Previously, David served at the pleasure of the Oregon governor as a Commissioner on the Governor's Commission on Hispanic Affairs. In that role, among many responsibilities, he testified before the Senate Health Care Committee on Latino health care disparities, advised elected officials on Latino-specific and immigrant/migrant issues, and held open community office hours helping community members with their issues. His most visible initiatives was the Labor & Employment Community Forum, Health Care Reform & Health Care Disparities Forum, and as regular contributor on Radio Tonalli at KBOO 90.7 FM helping answer and direct community member concerns. Most notably, David spearheaded the commission's social media strategy on Facebook, and reestablished community relations with Oregon's leading Latino-community based non-profits.
In addition to his service on the commission, David served as an advisor on the Oregon State University (OSU) President's Board of Visitors, where he focused on recruitment and retention strategies for faculty and students of color. During the 2009 Oregon Legislative session, David served as Committee Administrator on the House Committee on Veterans’ & Emergency Services providing policy, communication and liaison support to the chair, vice chairs, committee members, legislators, general public, special interest groups and agency leaders. A fierce advocate for public education and closing the achievement gap, David co-founded the OSU Chicano/Latino Alumni Group leading several fundraising initiatives, strategic partnerships, and speaking regularly before Chicano students at commencements, conferences and events on the importance of earning an education, but not forgetting their roots.
David graduated from Oregon State University in Political Science where he was a Director of Multicultural Affairs of the Associated Students of Oregon State University, a Cadet of the Beaver Battalion, a member of Sigma Nu, Director of Kalmekak Community Outreach, and an officer of MEChA, where he led the initial effort to attract the national conference to the Corvallis campus that provided a recruitment venue and opportunity to showcase the university. An IE3 scholar, David studied and published for the San Jose, Costa Rica-based Institute for Central American Studies and was a member of el Club de Montañismo de la Universidad de Costa Rica backpacking and cris-crossing extensively across the country.
David earned an Officer Commission in Infantry and continued to serve as an executive officer for a Drill Sergeant company before being selected among his peers to serve as an aide-de-camp to the assistant division commander, a one-star billet. To bring home the bacon, David started his career out of college building community with the Susannah Maria Gurule (SMG) Foundation focused on closing health care disparities in the Latino community, organizing conferences, summits, parent/youth workshops, and raising capital funds for programs, and writing for El Hispanic News.
A former high school drop-out, David was the first in his family to graduate and attend the local community college. During this period, David grew frustrated that out-of-towners took advantage of the Latino community, organizing lowrider shows and taking the profits with them. He took the initiative and co-founded the first Gente del Sol/People of the Sun event attracting over 125 lowriders, awarding 75 trophies and fundraising over $10K in one-day for student scholarships, the first year. He was a mere 19 years old.
An advocate for the disenfranchised and underserved, David grew up picking strawberry, cucumber, blueberry, potatoes, corn, apples, forklifted in fruit canning companies, gutted fish, harvested oysters, cleaned yachts, sold used cars and flipped burgers at Red Robin, and was instilled with a strong work ethic, integrity and unwavering service to others by his mother. When not building BilingualHire or serving his country in uniform, David lives with his family in Portland, Oregon.
Elsewhere
- GitHub - code in the works
- LinkedIn - pure business
- AboutMe - online business card
- Twitter - brief status updates and observations
Additionally, I contribute on this weblog:
- Tumblr - lessons learned on programming and code
Contact
Feel free to email me: david@bilingualhireco.com.
