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The award to Vásquez, the Toledo businessman who is
President/CEO of Mandell-Vásquez Inc., commercial HVAC
contractors, and the first Latino member of the University of
Toledo’s Board of Trustees was made at the NOHCC’s third annual
Latino business and consumer expo (¡Explosión III!)at the
Hilton and The University of Toledo Dana Convention Center.
“I was really surprised and honored, as well as very thankful
and grateful,” Vásquez told La Prensa. “I really thought
it should go to someone other than me, maybe even one of the
leaders of the new generation, and I accepted the award in the
name of all the other (Latino) businesses making a difference in
the community,” added Vásquez, who did not play any role in the
selection process.
Vásquez was one of the organizers of the NOHCC and served as its
longtime president.
“This year’s Explosión also saw the introduction of
another first, a professional speaker. Victor González,
the highly regarded and well-known sales training and
motivational speaker, really impressed the audience.
“We also expanded to two sites this year. We had 59 booths this
year, which is triple that of our first expo three years ago. We
needed more space than was available at the Hilton to handle the
overflow so we were also at the Dana Convention Center,” said
Vásquez.
Vásquez acknowledged the dedication and hard work of this year’s
Co-Chairs, Monica Pérez (of Hickory Farms) and Lisa
Olvera (of Corporate Intelligence Consultants).
Mini-bio on Hernan Vásquez
Vásquez was born in Santiago, Chile and raised in Lima, Perú.
He knew very little English when he came to the United States at
the age of 16.
“English was my worst subject in high school. It was the only
subject I ever failed, and I failed it twice,” he recalls with a
chuckle.
Why did Vásquez come to Toledo? “My father had a manufacturing
plant in Lima where he manufactured stoves, refrigerators, and
porcelain enamel pots. The person who managed his refrigeration
division was originally from Tecumseh, Michigan and had been
educated at the University of Toledo and he spoke very highly of
the engineering school,” recalled Vásquez.
“My father took me to the U.S.-American consulate in Perú where
I learned that the University of Toledo College of Engineering
was one of the highest ranked in the nation. My father had to
make a business trip to Cleveland so I accompanied him and we
stopped in Toledo. From the minute I walked through the
corridors, I fell in love with the school,” said Vásquez.
Richard H. Mandell,
the Mandell in Mandell-Vásquez, owned a manufacturer’s
representative firm in Toledo. When Vásquez was in his last
year of college in 1969, one of his classmates who worked for
Mandell doing estimates was drafted and sent to Vietnam. “Before
he left, he asked me if there was any way I could help Mandell.
At that time, there was a problem with my credits being out of
sequence so I did not go back to Perú for part of the summer as
I had been doing,” explained Vásquez.
“I had always wanted to go back to Lima to work for my father
after my graduation, but because there had just been a military
coup in Perú, he suggested I stay in the United States for a
year or two until the situation stabilized. So I went to see
Mandell and he told me that if I came to work for him, he would
sell me 50 percent of the company. I said I would do so if he
would agree to sell me the other 50 percent of the company
within four years. And he agreed.
“I graduated with my degree in mechanical engineering and a
minor in electrical engineering and in 1974 Mandell sold me his
share of the company so he could retire. And that’s how I found
myself to be the full owner of Mandell-Vásquez,” explained
Vásquez.
Then, as an afterthought, he added, “And it was also a good
thing I took my father’s advice about staying in the United
States. The political situation in Perú took much longer than
just a few years to stabilize.”
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