Vela moved to the White House in 1996 to serve as chief financial officer and senior adviser on Hispanic affairs to Vice President Gore. In that position, he managed a multi-million dollar budget and traveled around the country meeting with Hispanic leaders.

In 2000, Vela entered the private sector as the head of Diverse Directions, a Hispanic marketing firm based in Washington, D.C. He moved to Birmingham, Ala. in 2001 to launch Strategia, a consulting firm that helped businesses develop strategies to market themselves to Hispanics. At the same time, he directed El Centro Legal Latino, a legal counseling firm for poor Latinos.

In 2004, Vela was the executive director at the 15,000-member National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. In 2005, he tapped that experience as a consultant at United Dominion Realty Trust, a middle class real estate development firm.

Vela left that position for Denver in 2007 when he founded the Comunidades Group, a consulting group that helps multifamily building owners and managers attract Hispanic residents. He was named a Denver civil service commissioner by Mayor John Hickenlooper (D).

In November 2008, Vela was chosen as director of administration in former Sen. Biden's office. In a statement, Biden hailed the choice, saying, "I'm grateful to have Moe Vela, a man with experience in White House management and broad outreach skills on my team."

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