When Mark Madrid recalls the last time he attended the Greater Quad-City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce gala, it was at a spot in Moline where people stood in line at a buffet. It was nice, and it was a beginning.

But over the years things changed, and on Saturday, at the 10th annual gala where the theme was “A Decade of Resilience,” Madrid found the event in the Waterfront Convention Center in Bettendorf, “On the main stage,” he said, not controlling the excitement in his voice.

 Speaking to the media before the event began, Madrid said resilience was to be the focus of his speech to the audience that packed the sold-out event.

“I’m going to be talking about our middle name as Latinos and Latinas, which is resilience,” said Madrid, who is CEO of the Latino Business Action Network, or LBAN, located in the San Francisco, California, area.

The goal of the organization is to double the number of $10 million, $100 million and $1 billion Latino-owned businesses by 2025. Read more here.