VIDA’s Felida Villarreal Propels the Rio Grande Valley Toward Success
Felida Villarreal understands firsthand the cultural and familial expectations of the Rio Grande Valley residents.
The powerhouse nonprofit leader grew up in the region, earned her degrees at the local university, and continues to empower residents to achieve their own success right in the valley through VIDA and its training programs.
Villarreal stepped into the president and CEO role before the age of thirty and has made significant strides for an already strong regional nonprofit in the past three years. She’s grown VIDA’s budget, staff, and program participants. She secured federal funding in partnership with other local organizations to address the nursing labor shortage.
And she’s not slowing down. Villarreal found her own success and purpose in the Rio Grande Valley, and through VIDA, she’s creating paths for others to do the same.
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About Our Guest
Felida Villarreal is the president and CEO of VIDA (Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement), a nonprofit that focuses on helping low-income, unemployed and underemployed people in the Rio Grande Valley gain the skills and education they need to build brighter futures.
Villarreal has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from what was known at the time as the University of Texas-Pan American (which later merged into the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, UTRGV). She also holds a master’s of accountancy from UTRGV. Additionally, she is a licensed CPA in the state of Texas with over a decade of accounting and financial management experience in the private and public sectors.
Villarreal worked in the public accounting sector for a few years, as well as in finance for the private sector, before switching to doing finance and accounting for the nonprofit world. She joined VIDA in 2020 as the director of finance, working her way up to deputy executive director and president and CEO.
In 2024, she was named one of NextGen Collective’s “30 Under 30” honorees by Hispanic Executive. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and 7-year-old daughter.
