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Honorable Wilda Diaz, the Mayor of the City of Perth Amboy, New Jersey joins Enterprise Radio to discuss how entrepreneurs can start and grow their businesses with the support & help of their community.
Listen to interview with host Eric Dye & guest Honorable Wilda Diaz discuss the following:
- What makes the City of Perth Amboy a great location for an entrepreneur to start and grow a business?
- What are some of the programs that the City of Perth Amboy has to attract and nurture start-up or early-stage businesses? What are some examples of City’s efforts to consistently support entrepreneurial companies and help them grow?
- The City of Perth Amboy has a number of Hispanic entrepreneurs, what has attracted these small businesses to the community?
- What, in your opinion, makes Perth Amboy an above average location to locate a start-up business?
- What more can you tell us about how City of Perth Amboy, your office and the Urban Enterprise Zone assists, serves and encourages start-up companies and entrepreneurs?
Wilda Diaz was re-elected as Mayor of the City of Perth Amboy for a second [four-year] term in November 2012. She was first sworn-in on July 1, 2008, becoming the first female to hold that office and currently the only elected Latina mayor in the State of New Jersey.
Since her election in 2008, Mayor Diaz has been at the forefront of issues such as expanding programs for our children, youth and families with the use of limited resources, creating an open and honest government, business expansion, job creation and preserving and restoring the City’s history. This includes her efforts placed towards two of the City’s most used historic structures, the Perth Amboy Free Public Library, with nearly $2 million in capital improvements and the redesign plans and preservation of the Perth Amboy Train Station, in 2013.
Diaz, most importantly has taken an unwavering stance to stabilize the City’s financial condition, as she combats $250 million of inherited debt. Her administration established a Capital Improvement Program and other cost reducing strategies, which as a result has reduced the overall debt by over $50 million and saving a community from near bankruptcy.
Diaz’s aggressive business outreach and promotion of business advocacy has welcomed major corporations to Perth Amboy, such as Bunzl, Viridian Partners and Buckeye Partners totaling over a $600 million of investment.
Mayor Diaz is also the first woman elected president and chair of the New Jersey Urban Mayors Association (NJUMA) as of January 2014. Her two-year term is dedicated to working with state and federal lawmakers and officials to develop appropriate and effective public policy measures that affect all New Jersey cities.
She also currently serves as the Chairwoman for the Perth Amboy Redevelopment Agency (PARA).
Prior to taking office, Mayor Diaz spent 20 years in the banking industry where she started as a teller at a local bank after graduating from Perth Amboy High School in 1983. She quickly rose through the ranks and was an assistant vice-president with Banco Popular when she won the mayoral seat in May 2008 and as a result, resigned from that position.
A dedicated community activist, Mayor Diaz chaired the Board of Trustees for the Jewish Renaissance Medical Center, a nonprofit group that provides health care to underserved communities.
She was a driving force behind the Puerto Rican Patriotic Cultural Committee (Comité Cultural Patriótico Puertorriqueño de Perth Amboy), which sponsors the annual Hall Avenue Puerto Rican festival.
Additionally, she served as a member of the Perth Amboy Merchants Association (PAMA) and has been honored by local organizations such as the Puerto Rican Association for Human Development (PRAHD) and the Jewish Renaissance Foundation (JFR) for her involvement in the community.
In June, Mayor Diaz received the 2015 LatinoJustice “Latina Trailblazers” award for public service. In 2014, she was honored as “Community Leader” by the Hispanic American Law Enforcement Association and “Humanitarian of the Year” by The Coalition of Hispanic Physicians. Diaz was earlier recognized by El Diario La Prensa as “Mujeres Destacadas 2012” (Outstanding Women of 2012) and was featured in Real Simple Magazine as, “The Accidental Politician” among only four female mayors in nation-wide. In 2012, Diaz was also inducted into the Perth Amboy High School Hall of Fame and several months later received the NJ State Association of Chiefs of Police “Professional Law Enforcement Leadership Award.”
Mayor Wilda Diaz is a life-long resident of Perth Amboy and a graduate of Perth Amboy High School. She and her husband Greg have two adult children, Gregory and Samantha.
Website: http://ci.perthamboy.nj.us
