Outside of the office, Michael Olguin is known to travel more than a Jet Blue flight attendant, bleed SDSU Aztec Red & Black, and enjoy taking his ’65 Chevy Malibu for a spin with the top down in San Diego. An avid runner, he has completed seven marathons, yet he knows his way around a nice bottle of scotch and Cuban cigar.

Born into an Mexican-American family with eight siblings, Michael founded Havas Formula in 1992 as a national public relations boutique agency. A senior strategist with more than 25 years’ PR experience, he is equally versed in driving B-to-C and B-to-B programs for clients across consumer, lifestyle, high-tech, consumer technology, sports, entertainment, and travel categories. In addition to serving as Havas Formula’s leader, Michael expanded the agency’s offering with the creation and supervision of specialty divisions Havas FORMULATIN, Havas Social and Havas Street, which offer Hispanic PR, social media and brand activation services, respectively.

Overseeing a nationwide staff of more than 130 employees in five offices—New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago and Miami—Michael splits his very full days across client strategy, leadership team management, and growing the agency through new business development. He is frequently featured as a PR expert in trade and business publications ranging from PRWeek, Ad Age, AdWeek, Entrepreneur and Inc., and as a speaker at industry events including PRSA International Conference and Hispanicize. Through Michael’s leadership and direction, Havas Formula has earned numerous awards and accolades for both client campaigns and agency success.

Mexico City-native and Miami resident Maria Amor loves spending quality time with her husband and daughter, binge-watching Netflix, reading books from Latin American authors, trying out new restaurants, and any other activity that can be accompanied with wine (preferably an oaky Chardonnay).

Maria joined Havas Formula’s San Diego office in 2003, where she gained experience launching and executing PR programs for clients in business technology, consumer and travel industries. In 2008, she moved to New York City to launch FORMULATIN, the agency’s Hispanic division, which represents Fortune 500 companies looking to connect with the growing Hispanic population. Maria leverages her general market experience to develop strategic programs that are tailored to the cultural nuances of the U.S. Hispanic consumer.

As vice president of Havas FORMULATIN, Maria is responsible for program development, strategic guidance, and client communication for brands ranging from beer and spirits to food and retail. She has spearheaded programs such as Wonderful Pistachios’ Healthy Chica program, TurboTax’s #ConTurboTaxPuedes, and Nestle’s La Lechera “Que Rico Es Juntarse Por Gusto” campaign.

Under Maria’s leadership, Havas FORMULATIN has become the most awarded agency by the Hispanic Public Relations Association having earned ten “Campaign of the Year” awards in Sports, Health & Nutrition, Food and Technology categories.  In 2015, Maria was recognized as a Latino Trendsetter by Latin Trends magazine. In addition to managing her team of bilingual and bicultural practitioners, she spearheads new business efforts and regularly plays a key role in growing the division.

Associate Vice President Andy Checo has over 15 years of public relations and marketing communications experience. Specializing in the U.S. Hispanic market, his experience comes from both the agency side, having worked at RL Public Relations, Edelman, Vidal Partnership, Interpublic Group’s ICC Lowe and Arcos Communications, and from in-house through his work for publicly listed and privately held companies, including MundoFox (currently known as MundoMax), Maximus Inc. and Healthfirst.

Originally from the Dominican Republic, Checo grew up in New York. He received a bachelor’s degree in public relations and international studies from Mount Saint Mary College (NY) and attended a master’s program at Middlebury College’s Language School in Vermont and Madrid. Checo is also a graduate of the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Institute of Advanced Advertising Studies. He currently serves as chair of the Hispanic Public Relations Association’s National Bravo! Awards and is a member of the Public Relations Society of America. He is past-president and board member of HPRA and previously served as president of its New York Chapter (2013, 2014).

During his spare time, Checo enjoys being outside in nature at his log cabin in New York’s Catskills mountains, where he spends most of his weekends. He also considers sipping wine and enjoying the company of his dogs among his favorite pastimes.