Sp Directors

Mr. Eric Elnar is the Trade Commissioner at the Philippine Consulate General – Los Angeles, which has jurisdiction over the Southwest US mainland, Hawaii and the US Pacific Islands. He holds a Masteral degree – MDM from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Research from the University of the Philippines – Diliman.

Before being posted in Los Angeles, Mr. Elnar held commercial attaché positions in Malaysia (covering Singapore), Thailand (covering Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam), and Dubai, UAE (covering the Middle East and Africa). He started his government career at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and later moved on to the Philippine Retirement Authority, spending some time in between at a market research company.

In all of his assignments, Eric strived to work closely with Filipinos abroad, particularly the Pinoy business community, in bringing investments back home, as well as fostering trade between our host country and the Philippines. He is joined in LA by his wife Rachelle and two sons, Mark and Nathaniel.

Career Highlights

• Ambassador for Asia Pacific, World Retail Congress, 2018 to present
  A London based organization that brings together the leaders of the global retail industry. It provides a high-level forum for senior retailers to learn and share insights from powerful connections.
• Vice-Chairman and Board of Director, Philippine Retailers Association (PRA), 2009 to present
  The foremost organization for the retail industry in the Philippines.
• Consultant, SM Retail Incorporated and Board Advisor, ACE Hardware, 2018 to present
• One of the incorporators of the Federation of Asia Pacific Retailers Association (FAPRA).
  Registered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2018, FAPRA is the regional retailer organization of eighteen (18) countries in the Asia Pacific.
• Chairman, Marketing Services, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), 2018 to 2019
  The PCCI is the lead business industry organization in the Philippines.
• Chairman, Federation of Asia Pacific Retailers Association (FAPRA), 2016 and 2017
  Chaired the heads of delegates (HOD) Meetings in Manila in 2014 and 2015, and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• Chairman, Philippine Retailers Association (PRA), 2016 to 2018
• President, Philippine Retailers Association (PRA), 2013 to 2016
  During this term, helped successfully staged the 17th Asia Pacific Retailers Conference and Exhibition (APRCE) in Manila in October 2015.
• Chairman, National Retail Conference & Expo (NRCE), 2017.
  NRCE is the largest and most important retail event in the Philippines.
• Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Vice-Chairman of the Board, Duty Free Philippines Corporation (DFPC), 2011 to 2016
  DFPC was awarded in 2014, the World Frontier Award in Cannes, France for its Outstanding Contribution to the Travel Retail Industry. The Frontier Awards is the most prestigious award giving body of the world duty and tax free industry. It is considered as the Oscars of the World Travel retail industry.
• Board of Director, Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA), 2011 to 2016
  APTRA is the trade association for the duty free and travel retail industry of the Asia Pacific region.
• Recipient of Travel Retail’s Moodie Report’s 2012 “People of the Year” for his contribution to the Asian travel retail industry.
• Among the pioneers of DFPC in 1987 who helped set-up the company’s organizational and operational structure.
• Initiated the creation of DFP CARES, an aggrupation of DFP employees and the international travel retail industry, that implemented programs and activities to help the disaster victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Hurricane Haiyan) in 2013. DFP CARES in partnership with SM CARES (and SMDC) was also able to build and turnover more than 25 houses in Tacloban, Leyte in 2016.
• Speaker, Panelist, Resource Person, and Delegate in various international retail and trade conferences:
• Resource Person, World Retail Congress (WRC) Virtual Conference “Connected”, September 2020
• Expert Judge, World Retail Awards 2020’s Outstanding Store Design Category
• Speaker, Franchise and Retail Trade Conference (FRTC), Los Angeles, California in 2019
• Delegate, World Retail Congress (WRC) in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2019
• Expert Judge, World Retail Awards 2019 Future Retail Challenge Category, Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2019
• Speaker, World Retail Congress (WRC) in Madrid, Spain in 2018
• Delegate, Forum of International Retail Associations & Executives (FIRAE) at the “Big Show” in New York in 2016, 2017, 2018 and Lake Como, Italy in 2017 and in Dublin, Ireland in 2018
• Speaker, MAPIC in Cannes, France in 2016 and in Milan, Italy in 2017
• Speaker, Travel Retail’s Trinity Forum in Abu Dhabi in 2014, Seoul in 2015, and Taipei in 2016
• Speaker, World Retail Congress (WRC) in Paris, France in 2014
• Speaker, Tax Free Asia Pacific Association Plenary (TFAP) in Singapore in 2013
• Delegate, Tax Free World Exhibition (TFWE) Cannes, France, from the period 1992 to 2015
• Band member, Mid-Life Crisis Band, 2008 to present
  Received an ANVIL AWARD at the 2018 Awards Night with the Midlife Crisis Band for its MLC-UP College of Music Scholarship Program

On a personal note, Enchong as he is commonly called by his family and friends, has a wide range of interests. His hobbies include photography, golf, benchrest shooting, and cycling. He also enjoys travelling and listening to hi-fi audio. But most of all, he enjoys the company of his family and friends.

Ellen Rodriguez-Swing currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Village Casa, a philanthropic commercial furniture company which is based in Las Vegas. She also sits as the treasurer for ReIgnite Hope Las Vegas, a non-profit organization which offers free accelerated welding and metal fabrication programs to disadvantaged students. She oversees all aspects of the finances, including the development and management of budgets, preparation of financial statements, and reporting to the CEO.

Ellen brings to the organization nearly two decades of financial management experience with a focus on developing procedures and strategic direction to create efficient membership productivity and performance. She also helps streamline financial and procedural policies and create monitoring, compliance, and accountability systems.

 

Education:

BA Political Science
BS Accounting
MS Accounting

Fidji Victoriano is the Director of Operations for Search To Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA). She joins COFACC as the Director of Leadership Development & Training.

She manages the day-to-day affairs of the SIPA team. She was born in Iligan City and raised mostly in Cagayan de Oro City in the Philippines. She has a BS Agricultural Chemistry degree from the University of the Philippines Los Baǹos (UPLB). She worked in the Environmental Testing Laboratory Industry in the Philippines for 5 years before coming to the USA in 2015 to pursue an MBA. In 2016, she received her Masters in Business Administration (MBA) focused on Entrepreneurship from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). She worked for a number of startup companies in Los Angeles before stumbling upon SIPA in 2017 and starting her journey there as business counselor. She is a Chemist with an MBA and her passion is Operations. 

In her spare time she enjoys going to the beach, playing sports, traveling, trying new food & drink spots,  watching TV, and hanging out with friends and family. Fun Fact: She was a varsity swimmer in UPLB.