Charles P. García
President, Hispanic Capital Markets Group
a division of vfinance Investments, Inc.
Boca Raton, Florida

Charles P. García is President of vFinance Investments, Inc.'s Hispanic Capital Markets Group. In 2006, vFinance purchased substantially all the assets from Sterling Financial Group of Companies, which Charles founded in 1997. At one point, his investment-banking firm had more than 60 offices in seven countries focused on the global Hispanic consumer. In August of 2002, it was named by Inc. magazine as the #8 fastest growing privately held company in the country. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year by three national organizations.

In November 2006, he was named to the Board of Directors of Winn Dixie Stores, a Fortune 500 company that is one of the nations largest food retailers operating over 525 stores in the southeast. In 2005, President Bush appointed him to the U.S. Air Force Academy Board of Visitors which overseas all operations at the military academy. In 2006, the 15-member board, which includes four U.S. Senators and four members of the U.S. House of Representatives, elected him the Chairman of the Board. Aetna, a Fortune 100 company, named him Chairman of an Advisory Council reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer -- the first time in Aetna’s history an external board of this type has been formed. Since 2003, he has served on the Diversity Senior Advisory Panel for the Intelligence Community. In February 2002, President Bush appointed him to the Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. In 2001, then Florida Governor Jeb Bush appointed him as the only Hispanic to two terms on the seven member State Board of Education, responsible for an annual budget of $15 billion. Through his experience as a former White House Fellow, advisor to leading businessmen including former Goldman Sachs Chairman John C. Whitehead, experience working for three Presidential administrations, and participation on corporate Boards he has built an extensive network that he leverages for the benefit of his clients.

Hispanic Business magazine recognized Mr. Garcia as one of the "100 most influential Hispanics in the United States" and in December 2006 he received the Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez Public Service and Integrity Award for his leadership promoting diversity and championing rights for all persons, especially Latinos. He is profiled in two recent books: Think and Grow Rich and A Latino Choice and Hispanics in the USA:  Making History where he was chosen as one of the 14 Hispanic role models for the nation. 

In October 2003, Mr. Garcia authored his first leadership book, A Message from Garcia that was ranked #6 on the Wall Street Journal Best Seller list, and was favorably reviewed by the New York Times. Mr. Garcia graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy achieving the rank of Deputy Wing Commander.  A distinguished graduate of the skydiving program and the Army Reconnaissance Commando School, his peers elected him to serve as the Chairman of the Cadet Wing Honor Committee and he was awarded the "Class of 1983 Honor and Ethics Trophy."  In 1987, he received a Master's in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma and in 1994 a law degree from Columbia Law School, where he published an article in the Columbia Law Review that was cited extensively by the Florida Supreme Court in a landmark Fourth Amendment case.

Charles lives in Boca Raton with his wife Cristina and their four children.