Rolando Salinas Senior Manager Market & Segment Strategy   The fact that Reliant Energy is a major contender in the power company game is no surprise. Beginning in 1999 just before the Texas electricity market opened to competition through state-wide deregulation, it has roots tracing back to the company that brought electricity to Houston for the first time in 1882. Providing power to over a million homes across Texas, Reliant is part of parent company NRG Energy and is the largest competitive residential electricity retailer statewide. With digital, online and retail locations in numerous Walmarts, Reliant is structured to become an electric provider with ease. Reliant is known for powering the lives of its customers, but many don’t know how much more Reliant does for the communities it serves. “Even though we’re a big Texas company, we’re really local at heart,” Rolando Salinas, senior manager of Market & Segment Strategy,…

Read More

Everardo Sustaita, CEO   Learning about the logistics industry came naturally to  Everardo P. Sustaita, CEO of Sustaita Logistics Center LP. “I went to work my last year of college as a verifier of shipments for my father, a longtime Mexican Customs Broker,” Sustaita said. “During that time it became clear my father needed better control over the shipments going from the U.S. to Mexico. He needed someone who would cover his back, and that was me.” He and his father both realized what a vital job it was.  “Discrepancies on shipments found at Mexican Customs could have landed him in jail in Mexico.” Putting aside his dream to become a professor of economics, Sustaita first rented a shared warehouse in Hidalgo but without the tight security Sustaita wanted. Within two years, he bought the land on his current site and built his first 5,000 square foot warehouse. Today he has…

Read More

Joe Hernandez, Manager of the  McAllen branch of Ric Brown Family Funeral Homes, loves to help people. He’s found his path and it’s paved with the goodness in his heart. Ric Brown lost his son back in the 1970s and was forced into the world of funerals. Feeling a different method of handling funerals was needed, he opened his company. Hernandez is the third generation of the family in the business and proud to be carrying on the tradition. A youth pastor at The Door Church, he and his wife revel in working with the kids, introducing them to the community, and all that entails, supporting their local firemen and police, for example. Having been an Ambassador for nine months has given him a new perspective of McAllen. “I would never have met the people I have met,” Hernandez said. “I love to hear how everybody has a story of…

Read More

At its core, MXLAN is an interactive arts and music festival celebrating the past, present, and future of Mexico’s diverse cultural influence in our world.    Are you ready to dive into the depths of Mexican music, food, arts, and fun without leaving McAllen? Well, save the date! Shah Eye Center and the McAllen Chamber of Commerce have teamed up to bring MXLAN to McAllen from Wednesday, July 24 through Sunday, July 28 with all events held at and around the McAllen Convention Center complex. Sure to become a destination vacation event with visitors from across the country and Mexico, it will be an experience igniting people’s spirit of adventure, revelry and camaraderie. “You don’t want to miss this event,” an enthusiastic Steve Ahlenius, president & CEO, McAllen Chamber, said. “This is something you want to come out and experience.” While brainstorming for something new and different for the Valley,…

Read More

JORGE A. FLORES PRINCIPAL AND OFFICE MANAGER   Terracon Consultants, Inc., is a multi-discipline civil engineering company ranked 24th on Engineering News-Recordís list of Top 500 Design Firms. It specializes in environment, facilities, geotechnical, and materials engineering.  “We’re a niche,” states Jorge A. Flores, principal and office manager at Terracon. “We’ll give civil engineers of a project an evaluation of the soil on their sites. This gives them the information they’ll need to design their plan. We then test their materials for the build – concrete, for example – to insure the quality of the materials.” Terracon can determine leaks in gas station underground tanks and clean the soil. It has a local asbestos team that performs indoor air quality tests, and so much more. Check out their www.terracon.com website. Projects include Bert Ogden Arena, the 32-story Sapphire Condominiums at South Padre Island, UTRGV Medical School, and the new Hidalgo…

Read More

Juan Rosales Owner, RGV Surplus   Such a deal! Juan Rosales, owner of RGV Surplus, has a warehouse full of everything you might need for a business – used, refurbished – and all for a great price.  “I got in this business by accident,” he said. “I played a lot of golf but got a herniated disk and so was home and bored. My wife gently suggested I find something to do. I went to an estate sale, had fun, started selling on eBay and then, at one point had 17 storage units. Now I’m down to this location at 4202 W. Freddy Gonzalez Drive in Edinburg.” If finding a hidden treasure is something you like to do, this is the place for you. Being an Ambassador since last November fits this friendly man’s personality to a tee. “I love it because I get to meet a lot of people…

Read More