The honorees in the first Rafael Eli Pioneer in Hispanic TV Awards class recently shared their thoughts about what the honor means to them personally, and reflected on the man for whom the award is named.  

Rafael Eli was the co-producer of the annual Hispanic Television Summit
and a partner at Schramm Marketing Group. He lost his battle with COVID-19 on April 16. He will be remembered on Sept. 21 during the Hispanic Television and Video Awards ceremony, which kicks off with a memorial video about Eli’s career narrated by Cristina Saralegui, the Spanish-language talk show legend. 

The Rafael Eli awards are presented in three different categories — media, creativity and talent — by Multichannel News and B+C in recognition of individuals who are pioneers in the Hispanic TV industry. The recipients this year knew Eli personally. They are: Andres Cantor, sports commentator for Telemundo Deportes (talent); Gene Bryan, publisher of HispanicAd.com and CEO of Hispanic Media (media); and the team of executives at d expósito & Partners (creativity), including Daisy Expósito-Ulla, chairman and CEO; Jorge Ulla, partner, chief ideation officer; Gloria Constanza, partner, chief contact strategist; Fernando Fernandez, partner, chief client officer; John Ross, partner, chief financial officer; Louis Maldonado, partner, managing director; and Paco Olavarrieta, chief creative officer.     

Andrés Cantor: ‘Voice of Soccer’

Andrés Cantor is Telemundo’s Emmy Award-winning voice of soccer, and a veteran television sportscaster, widely known to U.S. fans in both Spanish and English. Originally from Argentina, Cantor got his start while still in high school as a U.S.-based contributing reporter for what was then Argentina’s most popular sports magazine. In the 1980s, at his first television audition, he was required to conduct a live sportscast. The station owner was so impressed with his soccer knowledge and his enthusiastic play by play that he was hired on the spot. 

Cantor’s recognizable, long-winded “gooool” made its TV debut shortly there­after. Today, Andrés Cantor is the most recognized voice of soccer in the country and has been featured on multiple TV shows, including a recurring role as himself on The Simpsons.  

“I was introduced to Rafael Eli when he was at AT&T and involved with their sponsorship of Major League Soccer,” Cantor said. “Later, I worked directly with him when he was at Schramm, and promoting international soccer matches. I am honored to get this award named for Rafael. It seems appropriate. He was a pioneer in soccer marketing, and I am being recognized as a pioneer of soccer television.”

Gene Bryan: Ad Maven

Gene Bryan had already had a long career in Hispanic radio and TV media sales when, in 1998, he founded HispanicAd.com, a leading digital publication serving executives in the Hispanic brand advertising and media business. “Rafael and I both attended high school in Puerto Rico,” Bryan said. “We had that in common, and our relationship grew from there.” 

Bryan has had a 20-plus year commitment to the growth of Hispanic media. He and HispanicAd.com have been strong supporters of the Hispanic Television Summit since the Summit’s first year.  “Rafael es mi hermano; he’s like my brother,” Bryan said. “He would always call to get my suggestions for speakers and the next set of award recipients at the Summit. I am humbled.”  

Agency Pioneers   

The team at  d expósito & Partners  had worked with Eli starting in 1994 when he first joined AT&T in the Hispanic marketing division. They were then AT&T’s Hispanic agency as part of Y&R’s Bravo Group. “Rafael made us all better — at what we do, and how we work as a team,” Daisy Expósito-Ulla said. “He was someone who respected and nurtured creative ideas, and he was a heck of a lot of fun to work with.”  

Partner Gloria Constanza mentioned that Rafael was always focused on innovations in television programming for Hispanics, whether it was the launch of Major League Soccer or championship boxing. He “was passionate and committed to the Hispanic fan and often spoke about VOD way back” before it was widely available, she said. 

The group of seven recipients from
d expósito & Partners are unique. They have worked together for more than 20 years and have earned a reputation as an award-winning team that serves some of the leading brands in the Hispanic market, including AARP, McDonald’s and the U.S. Army.

The Hispanic Television and Video Awards ceremony, which includes the presentation of The Rafael Eli awards, is hosted by two leading on-air personalities, Pamela Silva, anchor of Univision’s Primer Impacto, and Luis Sandoval, West Coast correspondent for Univision’s ¡Despierta América! The ceremony is scheduled to start at noon ET on Day 1 of the four-day “virtual” presentation of the 18th annual Hispanic Television Summit.  

This year’s Summit is being offered free of charge for the first time.  To learn more, go to FallTVevents.com.

Joe Schramm is president of Schramm Marketing Group and producer of the annual Hispanic Television Summit.

Rafael Eli, partner and chief operating officer at New York based Schramm Marketing Group, lost his five-week battle with coronavirus pneumonia and died Thursday (April 16). He contracted the virus in mid-March and for the past 18 days has been under the care of the dedicated medical team at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He was 68 years old.

Eli was known in business as a specialist in the areas of Hispanic marketing, sponsorship sales and international soccer promotion. His business partner and close friend of 30 years, Joe Schramm, said: “Rafael was proud of his active role in promoting sold-out international soccer events featuring world-class soccer teams at great venues like Giants Stadium, MetLife Stadium and Citi Field.

Eli is familiar to those within the Hispanic TV, digital, print and radio communities and has been the behind-the-scenes co-producer of the annual Hispanic Television Summit for the past 18 years. The summit is presented annually by Future’s television industry magazines, Broadcasting+Cable and Multichannel News. Eli often influenced the selection of the summit’s award recipients, notably Hispanic TV talent and celebrities with whom he had a personal relationship, including talk-show host Cristina Saralegui, sportscaster Andrés Cantor, news anchors José Díaz Balart and Jorge Ramos.

Ten years ago, Eli leveraged his relationships with noted on-air personalities to successfully conduct a pro bono, Spanish-language, mass-media campaign to encourage organ donation on behalf of website Matchingdonors.com. Eli benefited personally from this campaign when he became the recipient of a kidney from a live donor.

Prior to becoming a partner at Schramm, Rafael Eli was employed in content distribution sales for ABC Radio, and earlier in Hispanic marketing for AT&T. He made lifelong friends with coworkers and with many in the Hispanic media and advertising industries. While at AT&T, he played a role in helping the company initiate its sponsorships of televised boxing championship bouts featuring gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya and of Major League Soccer (MLS). “Rafael was especially excited to represent AT&T at the soccer league’s launch event in New York City by making a speech in both English and Spanish,” Schramm said. “It was an opportunity for him to emphasize that soccer is a sport inclusive of all Americans.”

Eli was a member of the New York chapter board of directors of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and was proud of a special event that he orchestrated at the New-York Historical Society that partnered an exhibit from Mexico with the Mexican consul to New York and had the support of AJC.

Rafael Eli was born in Havana, Cuba, on February 20, 1952. In the early 1960s, at age 10, he migrated with his parents and sister first to Beverly, Massachusetts, then Brooklyn, New York, and ultimately settled in San Juan, Puerto Rico. At age 18, he moved to the New York metro area to attend Rutgers University in New Jersey, and later earned an MBA from Fordham University.

He has remained a loyal New Yorker ever since. He enjoyed summer days on Fire Island; scanning through old books at the Strand Bookstore; learning foreign languages; exploring historical sites; sharing facts about Jewish culture and stories of his childhood in Havana; attending movies; writing fiction in Spanish; Broadway; spiritual journeys, personal development and photography.

Schramm said: “What Rafael enjoyed most was being with others. He stayed in communication with many people he met through business, volunteerism, family, or his personal interests. As a result, Rafael Eli is a man with many friends.”

Eli leaves a sister, Myriam Eli; a brother-in-law, Joe Zeytoonian of Margate, Florida, and many relatives in his native Cuba, Florida, New York, Israel and Spain. Rafael is also an “official” member of the Schramm family.

In closing, Schramm said: “Rafael is a loyal and beloved friend. He would treat others with kindness, conduct business with integrity, mentored our staff, and he believed in me and what we could accomplish together. I recognize that close friendships like this are rare in life.”

Burial will be in Florida and limited to a small gathering due to the restrictions of the current pandemic. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be planned for a future date in New York City.

Condolences may be sent to his sister Myriam Eli at 3210 Holiday Springs Blvd. #307, Margate, FL 33603 or email at myriam@harmonicmotion.org and to Joe Schramm at his home, 222 Ocean Avenue, Northport, NY 11768 or by email to jschramm@schrammnyc.com. Contributions may be made in his name to Matchingdonors.com at ceo@matchingdonors.com or to the New York Chapter of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) at newyork@ajc.org or 212.891.1443.