Gustavo Bidart

Gustavo Bidart, vice president and community relations director for Citibank (West) South Coast Inland Empire Region, is the SBA’s Minority Small Business Champion of the Year. Bidart manages a team of community relations officers in the region that covers San Diego, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. He has been in the financial industry since 1989, the last 11 years in the community reinvestment field.

"Gustavo is deeply involved in community relations and is a very strong proponent for minority owned small businesses," says Sudershan Shaunak, director of the Small Business Development Center of North County.

Bidart’s first seven years in the industry were spent in the retail banking and mortgage lending divisions of Wells Fargo Bank and Great Western Bank. Before joining Citibank, he worked in community relations divisions of Washington Mutual and California Bank & Trust.

Several honors have been bestowed on Bidart. He was a San Diego Metropolitan 40 Under 40 award winner in 2005 and received a Community Leader Award in 2007 from the San Diego County NAACP. The county Board of Supervisors proclaimed Feb. 24, 2007, as "Gustavo Bidart Day" in his honor.

Bidart spent five years as chairman of Casa Familiar and was chair of the San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Regional Small Business Development Center for San Diego and Imperial Counties.