Without a doubt, international trade is Laredo’s No. 1 commodity. And with it comes leadership in the business making this border town the top overall port in the United States with $24 billion of trade.
One businessman, with a common Laredo name, Jose D. (JD) Gonzalez, has emerged as a leader and is adding to an impressive resume.
International businessman Rodolfo Delgado signaled out with a note to this corner. “My good friend, JD Gonzalez, Laredo born and raised,” is now on the world stage.
Herewith are resume details as researched by this corner. Gonzalez is currently president of the National Customs Brokers Association (NCBFAA). The second Laredoan with that distinction. Delgado mentioned the first was Federico (Kiko) Zuniga. Just recently Gonzalez achieved the milestone of becoming the first Laredo broker to be elected as Vice President for the North American Region for the International Association of Professional Customs Agents (ASAPRA).
About JD Gonzalez: He was born in Laredo in 1962. His family moved to Grand Prairie in 1967 and then returned to Laredo in 1979, graduating from United High School in 1981. He served in the United States Navy from 1982 to 1992 and was named Sailor of the Year. During his enlistment, he was involved in Mediterranean Peacekeeping operations off the coast of Beirut, operations in the North Atlantic, as well as several Western Pacific operations during the Iran-Iraq crises. During enlistment, he continued his education and graduated in 1992 from National University in San Diego Ca., with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting.
After his father died in September of 1992, he returned to Laredo from California and took up his father’s role as general manager at Goel Forwarding as an invitation from his uncles. In April 1994, he became a licensed broker and launched Jose D Gonzalez CHB. In addition to running his successful business, Gonzalez has been involved in the international trade industry with goals of improving the customs broker industry and promoting the port of Laredo on a consistent basis for 29 years.
He has been much involved in the import and export operations, consulting, compliance, and civic groups. They include committee chair of the Laredo Airport Advisory Board, City of Laredo Port of Entry Committee member, City of Laredo Redistricting Commission member, Advisory Board member of The Laredo Development Foundation, past Vice Chair of the City of Laredo Blue Ribbon Committee and recognized for several accomplishments for trade related development. He was executive chairman of the LLUSCBA, president of the Laredo Customs Brokers Association in 2010-2011 representing one of the nation’s largest groups of customs brokers, working closely with CBP.
Gonzalez was appointed to the Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC 14th ) term from 2019 to 2021 and then a second term (COAC 15th ) from 2021 to the end of this year. COAC advises the Secretaries of the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the commercial operations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and related Treasury and DHS functions. Over the past eight years, he served as NCBFAA Area 8 (Southern Border) representative, and Vice President before being elected NCBFAA President from 2022-Present an Association with over 1,300 member firms.
On the global stage, Gonzalez represented the interests of NCBFAA. He often attends customs broker organization meetings on behalf of NCBFAA in Latin America, including CAAAREM of Mexico and last month was elected as Vice President for the North American Region during the International Association of Professional Customs Agents (ASAPRA) meeting in Santiago, Chile, on Nov. 7. Gonzalez succeeded CAAAREM past president Luis Ernesto Rodriguez Gil in this role.
ASAPRA was founded in Viña del Mar, Chile, in 1969, with the purpose of integrating in a single entity the chambers, federations, associations and unions of agents, brokers and-or customs brokers of the Americas, Spain, and Portugal. There are currently 22 countries represented in ASAPRA. During this year’s ASAPRA Nov. 6-7 conference, NCBFAA participated in the board meeting, as well as provided a report on customs-related issues.
A tip of our hats and our sombreros to J.D. Gonzalez.
