Moises V. Vela Jr.

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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