Ocañas Group’s executive team is experienced, seasoned and talented. We do not delegate important tasks to junior or inexperienced staff. Buyers and customers respond to us because we understand their strategic imperatives and requirements. We leverage specific expertise on your behalf: deep understanding of the business transaction process, balanced with the key issues and trends in the marketplace.

As a direct result of our experience, we have clear advantages that can be harnessed for your benefit. A phone conversation or meeting can be arranged for the purpose of providing additional details on the value we offer to our clients, and of course references are available upon request.

Gilberto S. Ocañas

Senior Advisor / Founder – CEO

Gilberto is a native Texan that has spent over thirty years building a trusted political and business network with corporate executives, community leaders, operatives, entrepreneurs and elected officials. He builds coalitions by gathering local intelligence, performing political outreach and crafting communications strategies. He is CEO of Ocañas Group founded in 1992 and is also Senior Advisor for Dentons, https://www.dentons.com/en/gilberto-ocanas, the largest global law firm, where he provides government and business advisory services.

A veteran of four presidential campaigns, Gilberto has managed  two statewide campaigns in Texas and was one of the first Hispanics to do so. He is proud to have served under the late Willie Velasquez as director of Communications for the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project. Gilberto’s civic participation is complemented by experience growing a start-up printing company into a successful security printing and fulfillment company, providing  95% of all the online printed products for the Texas Lottery. His political and business experience provides him with key insights into business growth and governmental contracting.

The success of his business enterprise, coupled with his commitment to the Latino community, garnered him local recognition as the “Hispanic Businessman of the Year” as well as “Volunteer of the Year” by the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Hispanic Magazine Gilberto as a “Rising Entrepreneur.”

Current Boards

Latino Public Broadcasts, http://lpbp.org/board-of-directors/ 

Mi Familia Vota, www.mifamiliavota.org
Mi Familia Vota Education Fund (MFVEF) is a national non-profit civic engagement organization, Texas Advisory Board.
Environmental Defense Fund https://www.edf.org/people/texas-advisory-board

Former Boards
Gilberto has served on the National Advisory Boards of the Resolution Trust
Corporation, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Secretary of Energy and the Smithsonian Task Force on Latino Affairs.
New Deal Leaders, https://newdealleaders.org/ Washington DC.

Dr. Ana “Cha” Guzman

https://www.drchaguzman.com/

Senior Advisor

A native of Cuba, Dr. Ana Guzman has been in educational administration for more than 30 years and is a leading voice for Hispanic Americans in education. Dr. Guzman served as a Senior Advisor to Education Secretary Richard Riley during the last year of the Clinton administration, and while at the Education Department, Dr. Guzman identified advances in promoting access in education for the Hispanic community, and worked with senior officers and program directors to ensure that all results impacting the Hispanic community were recognized. She was influential in creating a new vision for the role of technical education in maintaining the competitive viability of this country’s workforce, and in identifying the opportunities to make adult education more responsive to the Hispanic community.

Dr. Guzman also served as the chair of President Clinton’s White House Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic American from 1993 to 2000. As chair, she was responsible for the development of the following publications: Our Nation on the Fault Line: Hispanic American Education (1996); Testing Hispanic Students in the United States: Technical and Policy Issues (1999); and What Works for Latino Youth (2000).

Dr. Guzman’s breadth of experience in education spans from service as a public school teacher to serving as Vice Chancellor of the Texas A&M System. In addition she has been President of the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education and is currently a Board of Trustee on The College Board. Giving back to the community has always been the focus of Dr. Guzman’s career in education.

Presently, Dr. Guzman is the first woman president of Palo Alto College (PAC) in San Antonio, Texas, and under her leadership, Palo Alto College has become the economic engine of the South Side of San Antonio, producing a growth in enrollment increase of 30 percent during the past four years. In addition, 12 new occupational technical programs have been added to the college’s degree and certificate programs, giving PAC the edge as the primary workforce trainer for Toyota, its suppliers and the South Side.