Jaime di Paulo

Jaime di Paulo was selected as President & CEO of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (IHCC), the leading Hispanic business networking, advocacy and development organization in the Midwest in January 2019.

In his short tenure, Jaime has doubled its membership and secured a $2.5 million dollar grant from the State to find a home for the IHCC to create the first of its kind “Center for Hispanic Entrepreneurs.”

As CEO of IHCC, he has established four priorities:

• Being a meeting point for the big Latino companies in the State of Illinois.

• Multiplying the ways to train Hispanics with small businesses.

• Ensuring that Hispanic companies can have all the information to access credit and Government contracts.

• Bringing together minorities in the State of Illinois to access better business opportunities.

In association with “1871” – named as one of the best business incubator in the world–, it has sought to strengthen the LTNtech program, enabling young Hispanics to develop as innovators in technology and present their ideas to prominent capital funds.

He promoted, from the Chamber, the first Roundtable of Women CEOs, bringing together influential Hispanics to connect, collaborate, and create a lot of new opportunities.

Jaime has sought to multiply the networks with Latin American Chambers of Commerce, helping to bring new investments to Illinois.

Recently, on January 21, 2020, he made an old dream come true: establish a critical alliance with the Black Chamber of Commerce of Illinois (BCCI) to bring together the Congressmen of our state in a conference and participate more actively as minorities in the 2020 political agenda.

Previously, Jaime served as the Executive Director of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce (LVCC) for five years, transforming the chamber into a true business development center and advocacy organization.

During his tenure there,Jaime worked closely with local businesses, community leaders, corporations, government agencies, and elected officials to address the issues that affect the Latino business community. Jaime is a recognized expert in economic development and has helped open and grow hundreds of businesses in his community and grew the LVCC membership from 30 to 900 members.

Jaime was invited to participate in the Advisory Council for Diversity and Inclusion for Sterling Bay as it relates to the Lincoln Yards Project.

He was also appointed as a member of the Business Enterprise Council for Minorities, Females and Persons with Disabilities (BEP) commission in September 2018.

In addition to Jaime’s success in Chicago he also served as Business Development Director for the Greater Oklahoma City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and worked in his beloved Mexico as the Director of the Mexican & American Thinking Together Foundation, a bi-national Non-for Profit organization where he was in charge of finding quality employment for returning and deported immigrants.

Jaime received a Bachelor’s in Public Administration & Political Science from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, Mexico. He is married and the proud father of four brilliant young men and daughter.