Jeff Valdez is an American producer, writer, studio executive and entrepreneur who created the category of Latino Programming in English. The films and TV shows written, directed and produced by Valdez have been syndicated in more than 35 countries. In 2003, Valdez founded a new nationwide English language cable channel targeting Latinos called Sí TV, which reached 90 million homes nationwide. In 2007 Valdez joined the board of directors of Maya Entertainment, whose focus was on Latino-themed films mostly in English.
In 2003, and based on the potential of this English-speaking market of the Latino population, Valdez paired with Bruce Barshop, a venture capitalist and founded Sí TV, the first Latino national channel for English-speaking Latinos in the United States. Sí TV made history when it became the leading producer of Latino themed English-language cable programming network, reaching 22 million homes in the first 3 years. After launching the channel, Valdez became the CEO of the channel for the first 2 years, and produced the original programming of Sí TV. During those first two years, sixty-five major advertisers from Fortune 500 companies became clients of Sí TV.After Valdez created and developed Sí TV, NBC created the national TV channel MUN2, and MTV created MTV Tres, both of them targeting English-speaking American Latinos nationwide. Valdez remained Chairman of the Board of Sí TV until 2009.
Que Pasa Corp
In 2007 Valdez was named Chairman of Quepasa Corp./Quepasa.com a bi-lingual social network aimed at US and Latin American markets. Quepasa.com is a global social community for the Latino audience. It creates a social web of new friends, games, contests, flirting, pictures, communities, video, and much more. Valdez contributed to QuePasa's recovery in that period with an overall re-branding and creative vision. He also helped with a digital product called "Papacito", which increased the reach of the social network.
Maya Entertainment
From 2007 to 2011 Maya was the first and only Latino Global Film Distribution Company. The company produced, owned and distributed films and content, primarily in English for theatrical release, as well as syndication. Maya's films were carried in Video On Demand. PaperView, and venues like Wal-Mart, Target, Blockbuster, Netflix, Redbox, Amazon, and many others.
Max 360 Entertainment
From 2011 to 2014, Valdez headed up Max 360 Entertainment, which was a group of investors pursuing a variety of Television projects.
Production deal with LAMF
In 2015 Valdez teamed up with financier Jeffrey Soros to produce a slate of Latino comedy films that are aimed at the New Mainstream Latino audience. Valdez is also currently working on an OTT project that is in English and Spanish that intends to mass customize the OTT experience to the New Mainstream audience.
Awards and recognitions
Valdez has received a number of accolades from the industry such as:
