Efren Flores

Michigan Economic Development Corporation's Mexico Office Partner

Mr. Flores has a bachelor degree in International Business from California State University Northridge and a combined bachelor degree at ITESM. He has participated in different seminars in U.S and Latin America as Keynote speaker talking about Mexico and its opportunities. Efren’s professional experience includes having worked part-time as a representative of the World Trade Organization for the Ministry of Economy, as a member of APEC negotiation board, and senior trade specialist in a recognized consulting firm. In 2006 he founded the firm Global Business Partners Mexico, S.C and since then he has acted as General Director of the firm. Efren Flores had helped more than 1500 U.S from the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kentucky, New York and European companies to establish business relations with Mexican companies. Furthermore, He has also actively participated in 32 trade missions to Mexico. He is fluent in English and Spanish as Native Language. Mr. Flores has been active of specialization in the following industrial sectors: automotive, environmental, agricultural products and equipment, heavy machinery, telecommunications, security, medical, plastics and chemicals. Many of his clients and colleagues had recognized Mr. Flores as a skilled professional in negotiation, international business development, business culture, international trade and investment, market strategy, strategic planning, international sales and business management.

Javier Ramirez

Vice President of Finance for Latin America & Caribbean at Herman Miller

Javier Ramirez is the VP of Finance for Latin America & Caribbean for Herman Miller. He is currently is based in Mexico City. He received an Advanced Management Degree from IPADE (Instituto Panamericano de Alta Direccion) and a B.B.A. from University of Houston. He was worked in Herman Miller since 2007 as Director of Finance for Mexico and since 2012 as the VP of Finance for LAC. Under his direct responsibilities are the Accounting, Tax, Credit & Collection, HR and IT functions for the region. Prior to Herman Miller, he was the CFO for Gilat Satellite Networks Mexico. He has lived both in the US and Mexico during various years of his life and is a fully bilingual and multi-cultural US and Mexican Citizen.

Scott Sneckenberger

CPA, Consulting Partner at Plante Moran, PLLC

Scott is an international business consultant and a member of Plante Moran’s global services team. He has extensive experience working with various manufacturing companies in the automotive industry. Scott spends the majority of his time assisting clients in making strategic and tax planning decisions in North and South America, Southeast Asia, and Western Europe. His experience includes consulting with foreign clients regarding the purchases and/or sales of North American businesses. Scott has assisted clients in a variety of areas, including wholly owned foreign enterprises, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, strategic market analyses, transfer pricing studies, and import/export concerns. He has firm-wide responsibilities for the content and presentation of several comprehensive training sessions and leads the firm’s Mexican consulting practice. He provides ongoing, proactive support as a faculty member for the Doing Business in Mexico Seminar and as Treasurer of the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce.

Miguel Valdes

Legal Consultant at Miller Canfield and Partner at Arizpe, Valdes & Marcos

Miguel Valdes holds a law degree from the Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey, A.C., and LLM degree from the University of Illinois and the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, in addition to diplomas from Georgetown University in 1990, Harvard Law School in 2002. He has been a professor of International Private Law at the Universidad de Monterrey and Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey.

Mr. Valdes has experience in corporate law, foreign investment, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, environmental law, special in bond regimes (Maquiladora IMMEX Program), intellectual property and immigration. He was an international partner at Thompson & Knight from 2003 to 2011; a partner at Rojas, González, de la Garza, Maldonado & Valdés from 1995 – 2003; Margáin, Santos, Rojas, González, Vargas, S.C. from 1991 to 1995; and an in-house counsel at Dicex, S.A. de C.V. from 1989 to 1990.

Doug Buma

President of IFR, Inc.

Doug Buma is President of IFR, Inc., an employee-owned company that has been in the Holland, Michigan area for 96 years. IFR, Inc. serves the automotive industry with textile-based Returnable Packaging Systems through Integrated Fabric Resource (www.ifrinc.com), manufactures bulk-liquid material handling Flexitanks through Big Red Resources LLC, and sells the SpeedCell® high-density storage solution to the Material Handling Industry through Holland Storage Systems LLC (www.speedcell.net).  Doug has served and is serving on several corporate, church, and ministry boards.

Shan Carpenter

Manager at NN, Inc., Autocam Precision Components Group

Shan Carpenter is an L3 Manager for NN Inc., Autocam Precision Components Group. The Autocam Precision Components Group is a global leader in the manufacturing of high precision metal components. The group consists of 16 facilities across four continents and specializes in components with single-digit micron tolerances. Shan specializes in Lean Manufacturing and Problem Solving Analysis.   She has worked for APCG for 14  years and has been influential in helping to set up operations in multiple locations.   In her most recent assignment, she has been responsible for the transition of several manufacturing lines to the NN,  Inc.’s Juarez, Mexico plant.

Daniel J. King

Vice President of Latin America & Caribbean at Herman Miller, Inc.

Dan has been with Herman Miller for over 29 years. He has continuously served as President of Herman Miller Mexico since 2001. The focus of Dan’s career has been to develop sales and service focused distribution organizations capable of exceeding customer expectations on a local basis in many parts of the world. He has specialized in turnarounds, start-ups, and fast growth organizations.

In 2010 he was appointed to lead Herman Miller's team of highly experienced staff and dealerships throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to this role, Dan was Vice President for Herman Miller Owned Distribution—North America. In this role, he was responsible for the growth and development of nine Herman Miller owned organizations comprised of over 600 employees providing sales and service in 23 locations throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. These company owned entities generated hundreds of millions of dollars per year in revenue. He is Herman Miller’s executive member of Frontier Strategy Group, a leading information and advisory services firm for emerging market executives serving more than 200 of the world’s leading multinational corporations. Dan is fluent in both English and Spanish.

Martin Vasquez

Sales Engineer at Edge-Sweets Company

Mr. Vasquez is a professional engineering and sales manager with a strong background in tool design, production facilities, process engineering, and marketing. Martin has the responsibility of representing the Edge-Sweets Company’s foam cutting equipment throughout North and Central America with an emphasis on further developing the potent Mexican market.

Over the past 15 years, Mr. Vasquez has assisted manufacturing firms and their customers with innovation engineering solutions. He has experience in a wide range of industries including furniture manufacturing, tool and die, injection molding, including 13 years’ experience on automotive acoustic systems/parts and capital equipment.

Prior to moving his family to West Michigan, Martin lived in the Dominican Republic where he still has family and maintains strong relationships.

Mr. Vasquez earned his BA in Marketing at Keiser University in Ft Lauderdale, FL. Martin also has been trained in QS-9000 and ISO-9001-2008 processes. He lives in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area with his wife of 19 years and his 3 children.

Panel Moderator: Brad B. Arbuckle

Principal Managing Director at Miller Canfield

Brad B. Arbuckle focuses his practice on structuring and executing business transactions and on corporate and securities matters, bringing value to a wide array of commercial transactions. He is also co-leader of the firm’s automotive practice.

His practice specialties include mergers and acquisitions, corporate and commercial law, corporate governance and securities, private equity, venture capital, equity and debt financing, international transactions, joint ventures and general corporate matters.

His clients include publicly traded companies, investment funds and equity funds, financial institutions, privately held companies and corporate governing boards.

As a member of the firm's Automotive Practice, Brad has been involved in the full range of legal issues affecting clients involved in the automotive industry. He has experience in automotive industry transactions, including mergers, dispositions, acquisitions, Section 363 acquisitions in bankruptcy, joint ventures and alliances, contract drafting negotiations and disputes, licensing, recapitalizations and refinancings, and distressed supplier/customer dealings.