SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - The state’s leading small business association today announced Whittier small business owner, Max A. Ordonez, as chairman of its state Leadership Council.

In his role as Chairman of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) California Leadership Council, Ordonez will help direct the Sacramento lobbying efforts of the association and assist in implementing the political strategy for elections, including endorsements, fundraising, and other grassroots efforts.

Ordonez is president and CEO of Whittier-based IMM Management, a fractional CFO firm, specializing in financial solutions and customized growth strategies for small- and medium-sized private and public-sector companies. A graduate of California State University, Los Angeles with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business management, he also attended the University of Southern California. Ordonez also received a certificate of entrepreneurship from Babson College.

He has been a business advisor for the 10,000 Small Businesses Program and an advisor for the Los Angeles Small Business Development Center. His civic involvement includes service to the Rio Hondo College Foundation, the Southern California Certified Development Corporation, and the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. Ordonez and his two sons make their home in Whittier.

“We are excited about the New Year with Max Ordonez at the helm of our Leadership Council,” said John Kabateck, NFIB’s California state director. “The depth of his business, educational, and community-service experience, coupled with his relationships with policymakers on all sides of the political aisle, give him an authority that will resonate with the legislators we need to convince on small business issues.”

For his part, Ordonez said he’s looking forward to carrying on the 80-year-old, educational mission of NFIB. “Small businesses are the backbone of every community and the engine of every economy. Too often, however, policymakers lump them in with the operational needs of big businesses unaware of the harm they may be doing to Main Street, mom-and-pop firms. I am relishing the challenge of getting politicians and the public to see distinctions not similarities.”

Max Ordonez can be reached at [email protected].

Keep up with the latest on California small-business news at www.nfib.com/california or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_CA or on Facebook @NFIB.CA.