Rene Cantu begins his second year as the Assistant Athletic Director for Development within the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics at The University of Texas-Pan American.
Cantu, who is already a fixture on the campus of UTPA, moves over to the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics after serving as a Procurement Specialist since May of 2003 on the South Texas Minority Business Opportunity Committee. In his role, he helped secure over $6.6 million in contracts for South Texas minority-owned firms while establishing relationships with minority and women-owned business as well as local industrial firms and manufacturing plant administrators in Reynosa.
In his addition to his duties with the MBOC, Cantu was also the Executive Producer for the "Minority Business Report" television show, which was developed in news magazine format to highlight the triumphs, challenges, and contributions of local minority-owned businesses with the mission to promote economic empowerment.
Prior to his tenure with the South Texas Minority Business Opportunity Committee, Cantu served as an Account Executive with Univision (Channel 48) - Entravision Communications in McAllen, TX, where he spearheaded advertising sales throughout the Rio Grande Valley for KKPS, KVLY and KFRQ Radio Groups. During his time at Entravision, Cantu was instrumental in coordinating large scale events with Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart to help increase client presence with both on-air and event marketing sponsorships.
Cantu also served as the Account Executive for KTLM Telemundo in McAllen, TX, when the station first began in June of 1999 where he developed and implemented strategic advertising campaigns targeted towards non-traditional advertisers to maximize revenue returns. He also spent time with the Rio Grande Valley's newspaper, The Monitor, as an Advertising Sales Executive where he displayed advertising and special sections to over 50 local businesses.
The UTPA Assistant Athletic Director for Development currently serves on the Board of Directors for the McAllen Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Vice-Chairman of Small Business and Economic Development as well as a member of the City of Pharr's Community Development Board. He is also a member of numerous local and national affiliations such as McAllen Chamber of Commerce, National Hispanic Professional Organization, Leadership Pharr Graduate, Valley Advertising Federation and Grande Evening Toastmasters.
Cantu graduated from The University of Texas-Pan American where he earned a degree in Marketing.
