LACC Georgia Networking Breakfast May 30, 2013

Join us at the The Latin American Chamber of Commerce of Georgia Monthly Networking Breakfast at the BB&T Headquarters in Atlantic Station.

The Essential Economy and

US Immigration Policy

 Keynote Speaker: 

  Mr. Sam Zamarripa

Former State Senator – Atlanta

Co-Chairman of the Essential Economy Council

The Essential Economy includes some of the most important industry sectors in our economy, where hard work is done to produce goods and services that are essential to our economic growth and quality of life. 

The Essential Economy is an occupational cluster that includes restaurant kitchen staff, janitors, landscape crews, farm workers, nursing aides, stock clerks and other non-managerial positions. The cluster spans six major economic sectors from agriculture and construction to hospitality and personal care. Workers in The Essential Economy have traditionally been described as low wage and unskilled. 

The Council

The Essential Economy Council is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization that originates research and communications that will be used to educate elected officials and business leaders on the value of Georgia’s Essential Economy. The Council is managed by a board of industry specialists and professionals, and it partners with leading businesses, economic development organizations and academic institutions to design and execute its research and communications. 

Findings

In 2012 the Council initiated and funded original research on the size and importance of the Essential Economy in the State of Georgia. The findings of this study were released in February of 2013 to business leaders and members of Georgia’s General Assembly. 

Join us on May 30 for a special presentation on the importance of the Essential Economy in Georgia and its relation to US Immigration Policy. 

About our guest speaker: 

Mr. Sam Zamarripa is Founder and President of Zamarripa Capital Incorporated, a private equity corporation focused on lower middle market companies, primarily in the Southeastern United States.  The company provides capital strategies and transaction consulting for executive teams involved in the sale or acquisition of assets in media, financial services and consumer products.

From 2002 – 2006, Sam was a Partner and Managing Director at Heritage Capital Advisors focusing on investments in media and financial services.  In 2007, Mr. Zamarripa was appointed as a Senior Advisor to Darby Private Equity, the private equity arm of Franklin Templeton Investments.  He began his career in financial services in 1990 with Diaz-Verson Capital Incorporated of Columbus, Georgia.

He is a Director of Assurance America Corporation and Chairman of the Compensation Committee.  In 2010, Mr. Zamarripa was elected to the Board of Managers for IP2Biz, LLC of Atlanta, Georgia.  In 1998, Mr. Zamarripa co-founded United Americas Bank, NA of Atlanta where served as Board Member until 2009.

Mr. Zamarripa served two terms in the State Senate of Georgia representing the City of Atlanta, where he served as the Secretary of the State Economic Development Committee and member of the committees on Insurance, Science & Technology and Transportation.  He retired from the State Senate undefeated in 2006.

Mr. Zamarripa is a Trustee of the Annie E. Casey Foundation of Baltimore, Maryland and a Trustee of Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.  He is the founder of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials and Chairman.   Mr. Zamarripa is on the US Board of Advisors for Centro Fox, which is the Presidential Library of Former Mexican President Vicente Fox.  He is also a member of the Board of Counselors for the Carter Center of Atlanta.  He is a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta.  He holds a BA from New College of Sarasota, Florida, and a Masters of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship at Syracuse University, Syracuse New York.