HISPANICIZE MEDIA GROUP CAPTURES BIGGER STAKE IN HISPANIC MARKETING SPACE WITH NEW CEO AND KEY ACQUISITIONS
- Welcomes Joe Uva, Former Head of Univision and Telemundo
- Acquires Celebrity Influencer Networks Exit 7 and LatinaMoms.com
- Manny Ruiz to remain as Founder of HMG
Hispanicize Media Group (HMG), the company behind the Hispanic marketing industry’s most recognized annual event, trusted influencer networks and digital publishing platforms, announces the appointment of Joe Uva as Chairman & CEO. Uva, the former President and CEO of Univision and Chairman of NBCU Hispanic Enterprises & Content, will help scale HMG to offer more authentic, relevant and cultured content for brands looking to target multicultural millennials and Generation Z.
Manny Ruiz, a pioneer of the US Hispanic social media industry, will remain with HMG as Founder, member of the board of directors and a majority shareholder.
“I am thrilled to join HMG at such an exciting time for the Hispanic digital marketing industry. I am grateful to Manny for having the vision to build an impressive foundation for leading brands and advertisers to navigate the rapidly evolving, trillion dollar U.S. Hispanic market. Our goal is to continue to foster trusted and loyal networks for today’s generation of Hispanic consumers,” Uva said. “Our acquisition of Exit 7 and LatinaMoms.com strengthens and expands HMG’s roster of influencers and content creators, and will help us to aggressively diversify our revenue streams through influencer events, branded content, e-commerce, analytics and insights. These initiatives combined with our Hispanicize events will help marketers increase their engagement with the sought after but difficult to reach millennial and Gen Z LatinX consumer.”
"Bringing Joe into HMG is a major opportunity for us as his reputation and credibility signals an era of major expansion, investment, and evolution for the company that I founded eight years ago and will continue to play a leading role in," Ruiz said. "I am 100% behind Joe and will work closely with him to build an even better, more innovative HMG that inspires and unites our Latino community."
“The fact that Joe has successfully run some of the largest Hispanic-focused media companies in the world, could pick any asset in this vertical to work with and selected HMG as his next opportunity, is a testament to the potential that the HMG assets hold,” Nic Perkin, HMG board member and CEO of Perkin Industries, said. “While HMG’s growth over the last two years has been impressive, I am convinced, with the addition of Joe to the team, the years to come will be even more so. On behalf of the HMG Board of Directors and as Managing member, along with Suquet Capital Partners, of the investment vehicle into HMG, we welcome Joe, and look forward to supporting his execution in building a great media company.”Uva’s first order of business will be integrating the original HMG assets - the Hispanicize events, DiMe Media and Hispanic Kitchen – into the fully acquired platforms of Exit 7 and LatinaMoms.com.
“Exit 7 is proud and excited to be part of the HMG family. Our combined influencer networks and publishing capabilities will allow us to work with an expanded universe of brands and leverage our celebrity talent division to accelerate profitable revenue growth,” Paul Suskey, Co-Founder of Exit 7, said.
