Michael Gonzalez, a fixture in the business community for many years in Laredo, has taken…
One of Laredo’s top economists is headed to the Alamo City to expand his horizons and further his impact in terms of shaping small businesses in Texas.
Michael E. Gonzalez, CEcD, is the new associate director of operations and stakeholder relations for the Texas Southwest Small Business Development Center Network, which is hosted at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He began his new position on Feb. 1.
Gonzalez, who has business degrees from both Notre Dame and TAMIU, is the former senior director of Economic and Resource Development at Laredo College before leaving for his regional post at San Antonio. He also previously worked at Texas A&M International as well as the director for the Small Business Development Center, and he was involved in many local organizations aimed at helping better the local economy.
Gonzalez now hopes to use his new position to help the regional area strive for better in terms of small business development.
“I help to lead the operations and stakeholder relations for small business development centers in central, west and south Texas, and I actually began working with this network a few years ago when I was the center director for Small Business Development in TAMIU,” Gonzalez said. “I just got fortunate that an opportunity at the Network Lead Center at UTSA position came available, and I am excited to join the team. Yes, it is at UTSA, but really it encompasses of central, southern and west Texas, so I am excited about it.”
He states that in his new role he wants to make a big impact, as over 95% of businesses in Texas are small businesses of which he plans to help further grow and develop.
“Get concerted focus on these businesses is critical to make sure our economies continue to grow and thrive,” he added.
Thanks to the network, Gonzalez said he will now be able to help out not just small businesses in Laredo but also in Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Victoria, Alpine, Eagle Pass, San Angelo, Edinburgh, cities in the Rio Grande Valley and others. He said the network that he will work on is composed of 10 small business development centers and four specialty resource centers, whose main goal is to do technology commercialization to help small businesses take their technology to the market.
His welcome into the new role has been very well received, as Al Salgado — UTSA’s assistant vice president for Small Business & Executive Director, Texas South-West SBDC Network — said he has been a big addition to their team.
“We are excited to add Michael to the Texas South-West SBDC network team,” Salgado said. “Michael’s experience in economic and business development will enhance our high-performing team that provides professional advising and training services needed for Texas’ small businesses to start and scale. Congratulations to Michael, and welcome to the Texas South-West SBDC Network.”
Gonzalez said the network has a center for government contracting. This helps businesses that want to get involved in doing business with government entities that can help them learn how to talk and work with them. Also, the center helps these businesses get needed certifications so they become more marketable.
All of these centers can help Laredo small businesses achieve their larger goals.
“I am proud of my hometown,” Gonzalez said. “I am proud of Laredo, and I am never going to stop loving Laredo, as this is my home and it is always going to have a special place in my heart. That’s a major reason why after a lot of thought I move forward and decided to take this position, because it still allows me to make an impact here in my hometown. I get to impact the region from a small business perspective, but I also get to impact my hometown.”
As part of his job, Gonzalez said he has already been to Washington D.C., Austin, San Antonio and other cities in between in efforts to establish the reach to make his job more effective.
Overall, the main goal of Gonzalez’s new role is to help small businesses throughout the region grow. He believes that the success of these businesses are the “backbone of the economy,” because these small businesses are the ones that pay taxes, lease their buildings for others, sponsor little leagues and perform local activities to be more involved in the community.
He believes that if he helps small businesses grow by cultivating a better environment for them, and if the communities around them are doing well in terms of quality of life, then he has achieved his main goals in the new role.