Executive Suite: Ernest Gonzalez

Many entrepreneurs dream of building a business successful enough to sell to a larger company. Nicaraguan native Ernest Gonzalez has lived that dream. He built Captree Chemical into one of Long Island's largest Hispanic-owned companies before selling the 25-year-old company to an Indianapolis chemical distributor in 2002.

Now he's back for his second entrepreneurial act. This time he wants to build a global enterprise from the office of his new company, Captree Puretech Solutions, a chemical company in Valley Stream.

He has partnered with Walker International Transportation, a firm that specializes in transportation and warehousing operations and with whom Gonzalez shares office space.

Gonzalez's company supplies chemicals used to manufacture cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food, and his maintenance division sells industrial cleaning products.

Gonzalez embodies the immigrant spirit on Long Island. A recent study found that immigrants generated 17 percent of the total earnings of Long Islanders in 2009, roughly their share of the population, and own 22 percent of small businesses. Newsday spoke to him about entrepreneurship.

Corporate Snapshot