Charles J. Garcia

Charles J. "Charlie" Garcia is the owner and President of C. Garcia Associates consulting firm and former Chief Executive Officer of Garcia Construction Group (formerly GM Construction). Garcia has won numerous business awards including the 1994 Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young and Small Businessman of the Year in 2000 by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Garcia Construction Group was recognized by the Indianapolis Business Journal as Indiana's third largest minority-owned business in 2002 and 2003 and was also listed in the top 25 companies in Indianapolis.

Charlie was born in San Francisco, California, but has proudly called Indianapolis his home since the late 1980s. He attended the College of San Mateo and graduated from the Way College of Biblical Research. He attended Butler University and has also graduated from Dartmouth University and University of California, Los Angeles Executive Programs.

Charlie has servied the business and nonprofit communities on numerous boards, including Butler University, Marian University, University of Indianapolis, Ivy Tech College President’s Advisory board, FBI Citizens Academy, St. Vincent Health, Crossroads of America Boy Scouts, Avondale Meadows Academy, Indiana Latino Expo, Indiana Latino Institute, TeenWorks, Challenge Foundation Academy Charter Schools, Bank One (Indiana), Fifth Third (Indiana), Federal Reserve Bank, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Eiteljorg Museum, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, and Indiana Progress Industry Committee.

Garcia's considers his greatest contributions his efforts to mentor aspiring entrepreneurs. The mentoring program he developed has been adopted by the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce to assist minority- and women-owned businesses in increasing their growth rates. As a founder of the Indiana Hispanic Scholarship Foundation, Charlie has helped increase educational opportunities for first-generation Hispanic college students.