Investment banker Garcia to lead MBDA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Commerce Department has appointed Chris Garcia, a veteran of the investment banking community, as the national deputy director of agency's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA).

In his role as the acting national director, Mr. Garcia works to ensure that the nation's 8 million minority-owned businesses have the resources they need to expand economic opportunity and create jobs, Commerce said.

Before joining the MBDA, Mr. Garcia worked for Niagara International Capital Ltd., where he helped expand the company's investment banking division. He was the founder and CEO of Advantage Line Global (ALG), a multimillion-dollar technology startup, and was a co-founder of TapEx, a mobile shipping, delivery, and logistics platform for businesses and individuals.

He also was the former managing principal of Chris Garcia & Associates, a U.S.-based consulting firm specializing in international markets, mergers/acquisitions, political strategy, and government affairs.

Mr. Garcia brings expertise as an entrepreneur and investment banker to the global business community to his new job. He also was an adviser to President Trump's National Diversity Coalition during the 2016 presidential election.

The MBDA is the only federal agency solely dedicated to the growth and global competiveness of minority business enterprise.

Among its responsibilities: providing access to market-based financing solutions; facilitating teaming arrangements and mergers and acquisitions; partnering with private-sector Fortune 500 firms to provide access to global supply chains; transitioning minority 8(a) [SBA program] graduate firms to the private sector; and developing policy recommendations that address minority business inequities.