About the Author – Victor M. Rivera O Mr. Rivera has vast experience in developing, funding, monitoring, and evaluating entrepreneurship development programs; as well as international trade, technology development and commercialization programs, throughout the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean. O He has served with the U.S. Small Business Administration as a New York District Director, an SBA Regional Administrator for the six-state Rocky Mountain Region, and as a Senior Advocate at the Office of the Chief Counsel for Advocacy in Washington, DC. At the U.S. Department of Commerce, he was the National Director of the Minority Business Development Agency. O In the international arena, Mr. Rivera was in charge of the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau at the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) where he was responsible for administering the $1.5 billion U.S. economic assistance program for Latin America and the Caribbean. This position required U.S. Senate confirmation.