Ethel Reyes-Mercado is the appointed Honorary Consul in Dallas, Texas since January 2014. She is the Founding State President of the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce of Texas founded in 2008. In 2014-2016 she served as National President of the Federation of Philippine-American Chambers of Commerce and the FPACC Foundation.
Mrs. Mercado is the President and CFO of Datalogix Texas Inc., a family-owned provider of wireless engineering services to AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon. Datalogix is the only Filipino-owned full contractor in the U.S. wireless telecom industry, giving high-paying jobs to hundreds of minority engineers, mostly Filipinos, in many states. During the grand opening of its Operations HQ in Union City, Datalogix was cited in the Bay Area media as “a minority-owned company that creates jobs in Silicon Valley while others are retrenching.”
She co-chaired three successful Trade, Investment, and Tourism Missions to the Philippines that generated more than $50 million annually for the Philippine economy and introduced Fil-Am investors to Small-Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) and business opportunities in 12 provinces in South and Central Luzon including Subic and Clark. According to the hosts, the successful 2014 Trade Mission was “the biggest and best U.S. Filipino Trade Mission to the Philippines ever.”
As past President of Philippine Charities Inc. in Dallas, she raised more than $50,000.00(net) in one evening through annual galas for victims of natural disasters. Served as National Coordinator of “Operation Save Lives” that raised awareness as well as funds and relief goods for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest and deadliest typhoon ever recorded in the history of the planet, that affected the lives of 10 million Filipinos in 8 provinces. Headed PACC Texas Medical Mission for Typhoon Ondoy victims, treating a record 1,642 medical and dental patients in one day. When Hurricane Harvey submerged major Texas cities in 2017, she mobilized rapid-response teams of volunteers to gather and distribute relief goods, canned goods and medical supplies directly to Filipino victims of the hurricane. Most recently, through the PACC Texas Foundation, she raised $17,000.00 for “Bangon Batangas” to rehabilitate the victims of the eruption of Taal Volcano.
Before the Houston Consulate was re-opened in 2018, Mrs. Mercado had organized, helped fund, and managed numerous consular outreach programs in Dallas and Houston since 2009 and more recently in McAllen with the support of PACC Texas officers and volunteers. The outreach program has saved the Filipinos in Texas and neighboring states millions of dollars by not having to travel to the consulate in L.A. for their consular needs. According to consulates’ records, Texas consistently drew the most number of applicants among their outreach destinations.
She takes care of Filipinos in North Texas who are victims of injustice, discrimination and crimes. With numerous military bases, Texas has a large share of abused Filipina military wives and mail order brides, many of them escaping from their husbands, or abandoned, and a few of them murdered. She has also rescued and repatriated homeless Filipinos who have been victimized by human traffickers and unscrupulous recruiters and lawyers.
Among her many community awards, Mrs. Mercado was voted to “100 Most Influential Filipino Women in the United States” by the prestigious Filipino-American Women’s Network (FAWN); Nominated to Filipino-American Business Leaders Hall of Fame (2013); named “Most Outstanding Asian-American Woman Entrepreneur in 2013” by the Greater Dallas Asian-American Chamber of Commerce; “Gintong Alay Award” (2015) by the Filipino community in North Texas.
Ethel has held executive/management positions with J.C. Penney, Rockwell-Alcatel and Finley Fine Jewelries before devoting full time to her business in 2003. She is married to civic and business leader Gus Mercado from the same hometown in Batangas, with 4 children and 5 grandchildren.
