Thursday, April 28, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran’s Guide to Saving Natural Resources

Daniel Chavez Moran’s Guide to Saving Natural Resources
Throughout his 36-year career prior to his 2005 retirement, Daniel Chavez Moran invested heavily in conservation and preservation efforts as a developer of five-star hotels, resorts and golf courses across Latin America. Chavez Moran now offers these resource- and money-saving tips to other entrepreneurs looking for energy and waste reduction ideas:
  • Capture and use recycled water for irrigation
  • Avoiding irrigating during peak sun hours to minimize evaporation
  • Install water-conserving toilets, faucets and showers to reduce water consumption
  • Control in-room air conditioning and lighting consumption during off hours
  • Review utility consumption monthly and devise an action plan to reduce it
  • Close unused rooms and sections of buildings to reduce air conditioning and electricity consumption
  • Use special laundry agents that allow linens to be washed at a lower temperature
  • Look for suppliers that use less cardboard and plastic in their products
  • Compost organic wastes for landscape and garden maintenance
  • Separate and recycle aluminum, paper, plastic, metal and glass to sell to suppliers
  • Implement eco-friendly LED lighting, and use solar heating systems to heat water and pool facilities.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran: On Environmental Stewardship

Daniel Chavez Moran: On Environmental Stewardship
Daniel Chavez Moran is now retired, but he remains committed to environmental stewardship and is proud of the continuing efforts of the Grupo Vidanta management team to protect threatened and endangered species.

Several Grupo Mayan Resort brands are part of En Advance, which unites efforts for the preservation of the Mexican ecology and the protection of the marine turtle, in order to rescue this species from the threat of extinction. The Acapulco and Riviera Maya locations actively work to ensure that turtles are born and the species continues to survive.

At the Mayan Palace Resort, sea turtles lay their eggs on the beaches, sometimes more than 80 a night. From October until December, freeing baby turtles becomes an activity for guests. This exciting and educational activity sustains the natural habitat and teaches guests about Grupo Mayan’s conservation efforts.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran Welcomes Visitors from the Americas

Daniel Chavez Moran Welcomes Visitors from the Americas
While enjoying retirement with his family, Daniel Chavez Moran is proud to share the natural beauty of the Sea of Cortez in Mexico with vacationers from across the Americas. Known as “the world’s aquarium” and designated a World Heritage Site, the Sea of Cortez is renowned for its beaches, perfect weather, water sports, fishing and wildlife, including migrating whales and birds.

Situated along the northern coastline, Puerto Peñasco, known by residents of the Southwest as Rocky Point or even Arizona’s Beach because of its proximity to Phoenix and Tucson, is undergoing dramatic growth. The Mexican government and the private sector have made major investments in the region, building hotels, resorts, recreational facilities, several golf courses, homes and infrastructure.

Travel to Puerto Peñasco is now easier with the new Mar de Cortes (Sea of Cortez) International Airport, the first completely privately built airport in Mexico. The destination location is now less than an hour by air from Phoenix, and less than two hours from Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Albuquerque.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran: Creating a Sustainable Future

Daniel Chavez Moran: Creating a Sustainable Future
Prior to retiring in 2005 to focus on his philanthropic work with Fundación Grupo Vidanta, Daniel Chavez Moran introduced green business practices at Grupo Vidanta’s real estate and resort development properties. Chavez Moran understood a sustainable economic future for Latin America includes maintaining and preserving the natural beauty of the environment.

Grupo Vidanta Mayan properties continue to employ these strict energy and waste conservation procedures today. Chavez Moran is proud this continuing commitment to the environment by the executive team now leading Grupo Vidanta has been recognized. The Grand Mayan resort received the 2010 WQC International Star Award of the 24th Annual World Quality Commitment in Paris. The Grand Mayan was recognized in the “Gold Category,” the highest of international standards for respect for the environment, and for the community in which the resort operates, along with its sustainability, customer service and competitive pricing.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran: Educating the Next Generation

Daniel Chavez Moran: Educating the Next Generation
Daniel Chavez Moran and the Grupo Vidanta Foundation scholarly works that support economic growth and the strengthening democracy in Latin America. An excerpt from “Falling Behind: Explaining the Development Gap between the United States and Latin America,” published by the Foundation in 2008, offers future generations lessons from the past:

“Prior to the arrival of Europeans in 1492, many parts of Latin America were richer than North America. Colonization, it is widely agreed, had a devastating impact on the welfare of the indigenous pre-Columbian populations in Mexico and the Andean region, as the Spanish set up an empire to extract gold, silver, and other commodities, much in the same way that the British and French colonization devastated the smaller number of indigenous peoples in North America. But initial conditions were not all that different in the two halves of the New World, in terms of either per capita income or economic structure. Both regions were predominantly agricultural economies and commodity exporters to the more-developed parts of the world. This situation persisted more or less through the end of the eighteenth century and the emergence of an independent United States of America.”

The book explores the historical context, the politics of the underdevelopment, and the institutional factors creating the gap between Latin America of today and its northern neighbor.

For more on this or other publications, please click here.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Grupo Vidanta Foundation Prize Recognizes Work with Underserved Populations

Grupo Vidanta Foundation Prize Recognizes Work with Underserved Populations
Daniel Chavez Moran celebrates the accomplishments of two winners of the 2010 Grupo Vidanta Foundation Prize to improve the lives of underserved populations in their communities.

Un Techo para Mi Pais (A Roof for My Country), the $75,000 USD second place award winner, was founded in 1999 as a social real estate management entity in Chile. Founded to address the deplorable housing situation for the underserved population, the organization has benefitted 43,000 families among 14 countries in the area, developing strategic alliances with young college students and public institutions, in addition to corporate entities that advocate corporate social responsibility.

Since 2004, Comunidades de la Tierra (Communities of the Earth), the third place winner of $50,000 USD, has been devoted to entrepreneurial development and the nurturing of rural businesses, and the formation and promotion of community groups, especially women, in low income communities to provide entrepreneurs with market access. Comunidades de la Tierra has supported 1,500 people in Guatemala.

Applications for the 2011 Grupo Vidanta Foundation Prize are open until May 31, 2011.

To learn more and apply click here

Friday, April 8, 2011

2010 Grupo Vidanta Foundation First Prize Winner Creates Opportunities

The first Grupo Vidanta Foundation Prize $100,000 USD was awarded in 2010 to Fundación Mundo Mujer (Women's World Foundation), a provider since 1985 of credit for low-income women and men, micro-entrepreneurs for the informal sector of the economy and independent workers in Columbia.

Daniel Chavez Moran and the Grupo Vidanta Foundation honored the Fundación Mundo Mujer for the opportunities it creates for its 293,000 clients, 60 percent of whom are women. The group’s accomplishments included: profit increase by 45 percent; product quality raised by 80 percent; quality of life, nutrition and clothing improvement by 50 percent; and a 35 percent increase in housing quality.

Chavez Moran notes he is looking forward to again recognizing the accomplishments of other organizations this year like the 2010 first-place winner Fundación Mundo Mujer, the second-place winner Un Techo para Mi Pais, Chile (A Roof for My Country), and the third-place winner Comunidades de la Tierra, Guatemala (Communities of the Earth), with the 2011 Foundation Prize. Applications are open until May 31, 2011 with the awards to be announced in November 2011.

To learn more and apply, visit http://www.fundaciongrupovidanta.com/new/premio/premio2011/index_en.html

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Grupo Vidanta Foundation Prize: Daniel Chavez Moran Announces 2011 Deadline


Daniel Chavez Moran and the Grupo Vidanta Foundation registration for the 2011 Grupo Vidanta Foundation Prize for “Contributions to the Reduction of Inequality and Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean” is now open until May 31, 2011.

The Foundation awards the Prize to promote equality and democracy, reduce poverty and prejudice, and encourage corporate philanthropy and social accountability in Latin America.

All nationals of the countries of the Americas, and of Andorra, Spain and Portugal, are eligible to participate. Individual or community-based civic organizations or non-governmental institutions working toward the reduction of poverty, inequality and discrimination in Latin America and the Caribbean may enter.

Click here to learn more or to apply