Felida Villarreal

Felida Villarreal is currently the President & CEO of Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement, VIDA, and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), licensed in the state of Texas. She holds a Master Degree of Accountancy from the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley and a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration with a major in accounting from the University of Texas – Pan American. With nearly 9 years of accounting and financial management experience both in the private and public sectors, Felida is proactively involved in keeping up to date with ever-changing accounting policies and regulations. Felida is very passionate about higher education attainment and expanding accessibility to equitable education opportunities. She believes education builds the best workforce and through human capital investment, our communities can enhance employment opportunities and impact sustainable economic growth. Felida's character revolves around giving back to the community and creating a socioeconomic impact among our underserved demographics. For these reasons, she actively volunteers her time to promote community involvement, currently serving as a board director for local organization, City of Mercedes Chamber of Commerce. She also currently serves on the Hidalgo County’s Prosperity Taskforce, a recent initiative launched by Hidalgo County Judge, Richard Cortez, to address the ongoing challenges of poverty and promote economic mobility through education.