Hispanic Profiles Magazine – A Vice President With Great Goals: Eddie Castaneda

Eddie Castaneda is a very enthusiastic leader of the Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He is currently the Vice President and has worked his way up from chamber member to board member to secretary, treasurer, and now VP. He is a hard worker and does all he can to make the chamber as successful as possible. Keep in mind that being an officer is a volunteer position so we tip our hats to all the officers. He is a valley native and was born in Fowler and later moved to Fresno where he attended local grammar schools and then attended St. Therese and graduated from San Joaquin Memorial High School. He says he got married at nineteen marrying his high school sweetheart. He initially got involved in his families business that specializes in imports. He enjoyed that, but got an offer to work with the city of Fresno and accepted the opportunity. A few years into this work he got a call from Comcast, they were looking for a bilingual person to work with their clients. He thought that might be an interesting challenge and now he has been there for over a decade. Eddie is always moving forward and completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration focusing on entrepreneurship. He likes to say that, “business is in my blood.” That is one reason that he loves working with local business people and helping through his chamber contacts. He likes to show them new ideas and ways of growing their business. With all the responsibilities he has Eddie always puts his family first working together with his wife to raise two daughters, that are in college, and an energetic son in the sixth grade. He is excited about helping the chamber grow and make it like a “family” for all concerned. He adds, “people can learn a lot just from the connections they make during our networking mixers.” One of his goals is to reach out and make partnership relationships with local groups like REZCOM and SCORE. With people learning to work together it will improve their businesses and help them grow as individuals that can also turn around and help others. Eddie also likes to work with young groups like the business student groups at the local colleges and enjoys mentoring and letting them know that if “they put in the time and effort it will open up new vistas for them and they will be able to succeed through those efforts.”