Cleofas Rodriguez Jr. will take over as president and CEO of the United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 1. A Corpus Christi native, Rodriguez comes to the job with 25 years’ experience in successfully running membership-driven, nonprofit organizations on state and national levels.
“My goal is to move forward with a very aggressive 90-day plan,” Rodriguez said at a July news conference announcing his appointment. “I will be meeting with our current members, learning from potential members about what the Chamber can do for them, tapping into the institutional knowledge of over 180-plus years of Chamber success and streamlining the operations of our office.”
Rodriguez replaces interim president Kresten Cook, who came on board in April after the resignation of the United Chamber’s first president and CEO, Annette Medlin. After 15 months on the job, Medlin left to take a similar position in Fishersville, Virginia.
A graduate of Carroll High School, Del Mar College and Texas State University, Rodriguez said he was brought up by hardworking parents who still live in their Westside home of more than 50 years.
“They raised children understanding the value of family, the value of community and the value of hard work and always doing what is right,” he said. “These are the values that I will always bring forward.”
As executive director of the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association in Washington, D.C., Rodriguez worked directly with members of Congress and the White House. He also co-led the National Hispanic Education Coalition. Previously, as executive director of a statewide association in Texas, he worked directly with the Texas Legislature and raised individual membership from 1,800 to more than 10,000.
Rodriguez received the highest honor awarded by the government of Mexico, the Ohtli Award, on behalf of the work of the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association. He was recently invited to Turkey to consult with European leaders examining future economic and community growth.
“Cleofas Rodriguez Jr. is a national leader who will bring local, state, national and international experience to bear for the future of the United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce and the Corpus Christi business community,” Chamber chairman Alan Wilson said. “We are proud to bring him on board to lead our team as the United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce board focuses on innovative leadership for the future."