Cynthia Amador

President & CEO
CHARO Community Development Corp
Phone:323.269.0751
Website: www.charocorp.com

Cynthia Amador is President & CEO of CHARO Community Development Corporation, a Los Angeles based economic development corporation.

A champion for small business, Ms. Amador has over 18 years of economic development experience and is nationally recognized for her program design expertise.

At CHARO, Ms. Amador has authored, initiated and negotiated over $18.1 million in new contracts. She has extensive experience in designing and recruiting new management team members to implement new economic development initiatives, e.g. CHARO-SBA Women's Center, Inland Empire Minority Development Center, CHARO Incubator, CHARO Business & Financial Center, Energy Conservation Programs, and Commercial Development. In doing so, she has led the team in developing CHARO as an economic development expert and destination for small businesses and job creation opportunities.

Her expertise also includes preparing feasibility studies and implementing plans and strategies for community based economic development endeavors, designed to create access to capital and economic growth. Ms. Amador has been instrumental in negotiating new business resources through her work with Greenlining and Community Reinvestment Coalition, as well as local, state and federal funding entities for the benefit of the small business community.

Through her leadership CHARO was recently awarded Award of Merit by CALED for Economic Development Promotion and was certified by CARAT (California Resources and Training) as a Technical Assistance Intermediary. Ms. Amador employs outcomes based management techniques to ensure adherence to contract goals and organizational development.

A graduate of the University of Southern California, Ms. Amador serves on the Board for CALED, and is a member of the Southern California Edison Consumer Advisory Council. Recent awards include: Advocate of the Year by Los Angeles - NAWBO - National Assoc. of Women Business Owners, the Community Development Award by Washington Mutual Bank and Hispanic Magazine, the Tiger Award by the Community Reinvestment Coalition and Latina Entrepreneur recognition by the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Areas of Expertise:

Executive Management
Strategic Planning
Economic Development
Community Reinvestment
Legislative Policy
Management and Development
Contract and Management Negotiations
Program design, planning, budgeting and implementation
Performance Measurement