Major League Soccer club Chivas USA announced today that it has hired Zeke Chaidez as its new Vice President of Business. In the newly created position, Chaidez, 41, will oversee sales and other revenue generating programs for the Mexican-owned soccer team, which joined MLS as an expansion franchise in 2005. A Southland native and son of immigrant parents, Chaidez brings to Chivas USA his profound understanding of the Los Angeles Hispanic marketplace, borne of 15 years' experience in sales and marketing in Southern California.
"Zeke is a significant and welcome addition to our club. His record in management and driving revenue speaks for itself," said Chivas USA Senior Vice President and General Manager Whit Haskel. "He is a guy who makes everyone around him that much better. He will undoubtedly help us aggressively grow as an institution and as a business."
"I grew up in Southern California and have watched the Hispanic market, and particularly soccer, grow into the force that it is today. I am pleased to join Chivas USA and Major League Soccer and I look forward to contributing to the next phase of growth of both the world's greatest sport and the Chivas brand in the United States," said Chaidez.
Chaidez joins Chivas USA after a three-year stint with Radiovisa (2003-2006), where as Executive Vice President and General Manager he was instrumental in the purchase and format launch of one of the nation's premier Spanish-language talk radio networks, which combined a variety of talk programming with the very best in international sports content, including Major League Soccer, InterLiga, the Copa Libertadores, the Copa Sudamericana, and, during the 2005 MLS season, Chivas USA.
Chaidez began his career with Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (now Univision Radio), which he joined as a local sales executive in 1992, moving his way up to General Sales Manager for the group of four stations. During his ten-year career with HBC, Chaidez successfully oversaw the launch of two stations, 'La Nueva' KSCA-FM and 'Recuerdo' KRCD/KRCV-FM, and under his leadership, KSCA became the number-one revenue producer among Spanish-language stations, AM or FM, anywhere in the United States.
Chaidez was born on July 8, 1965 in Los Angeles, California, to parents from the state of Durango, Mexico. He currently resides in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, with his wife Lisiane and their son Diego.
