BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Saying his background and business experience are his main credentials, the new boss of Workforce Solutions Cameron is now leading an organization which he said must reach out to the private sector more than ever today.
“This is humble experience for me,” Rafael Vela, the new executive for WSC, said. “I think those two components gave me the right match for this job.”
He took over the reins of the job development organization this past Oct. 3, replacing longtime director Pat Hobbs.
A former board member with WSC, Vela served in that capacity from 2021 to 2023.
WSC is one of 28 local workforce boards located throughout the Lone Star State.
Vela said one of his goals is to cement a closer relationship with the private sector as well as formulating a conscious attitude toward the environment.
He said Cameron County and Rio Grande Valley, for that matter, are having an economic expansion not seen in decades. An example of that is the $18 billion liquified natural gas export terminal project NextDecade is developing on land owned by the Brownsville Navigation District. Thousands of jobs are projected to be created at the peak of the terminal construction.
“We have never had a project of this magnitude,” Vela said. “This is a monumental partnership with the private sector.”
Not too far to the south of LNG, Space X is involved in another project that is putting this region of South Texas on the country and world maps.
However, Vela said furthering economic development and protecting the environment must go hand in hand.
A former employee with a large pharmaceutical company, Vela is no newcomer to the area. His father, Filemon Vela, Sr., was a senior federal judge with the Southern District of Texas, while his mother, Blanca Vela, served as the first woman mayor of Brownsville.
His brother, Filemon Vela Jr., served as U.S. representative for Texas 34th Congressional District.
Vela is also a cousin of Manny Vela, former CEO for Valley Baptist Health System and now vice-president of the Texas A&M Education Center in McAllen.
Many of his other relatives have been involved in the area political and economic scenes.
Vela is familiar with the Rio Grande Valley, an area of the country which still has one of the lowest levels of per capita income and – traditionally - more than twice the state unemployment rate, which changes from year to year.
“We have to change that notion,” Vela said, standing next to a painting of the late labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez. “How? By working more with the private sector as it plays a pivotal role in economic development.”
