A native of Cuba, Raul became an American citizen upon completing college. His educational background includes a degree in finance with a minor in Economics from the University of Texas at Arlington. He has also completed certification at the Institute of Financial education, graduated from the School of Executive Development at the University of Washington in Seattle, and received an Appraisal designation from the Appraisal School at the University of Oklahoma, at Norman. Upon completing his studies, Raul served as Vice President and Branch Coordinator of Farm & Home Savings Bank in Dallas for nine years in the areas of real estate and operations. He joined Commercial Credit Company where he became Regional Director of secondary marketing for the southwest division and interacted extensively with financial institutions across the U.S. He became President of Parkway Mortgage Corporation in Dallas and transformed the company into a highly profitable commercial mortgage lending institution. He founded Sunrise Capital Corporation where he served as Chief Executive Officer and founded Interamerican Commercial Services, Inc. in 1991. In 1997 he was invited to join Capital Alliance Corporation, an investment banking firm based in Dallas at a time when NAFTA was completed and the firm was interested in penetrating Latin America. As a Senior Vice President and Principal, Raul was instrumental in developing the Mexican market while expanding the firm’s reach to other countries in South America bringing his multi-national experiences to many industries in the region, although Raul continued to operate Interamerican Commercial Services a company that has been instrumental in structuring financing and investment capital for over 60 companies in the United States and Latin America, he has spent over fifteen years in the field of investment banking.