Giles Barnes newest brand ambassador BBVA Compass

Barnes, 26, will work with BBVA Compass, the Dynamo and the Houston Dash on several joint community initiatives, including home renovations and youth soccer clinics in the city’s East End, as part of the Building a Better Houston campaign. The joint initiative kicked off in 2011 to help revitalize the neighborhood around BBVA Compass Stadium.

«Giles brings an exceptional level of enthusiasm and passion to the game that resonates with fans and the Houston community», said Mark Montgomery, BBVA Compass CEO in Houston. «Those are exactly the qualities we were looking for in our newest brand ambassador».

Among other activities, Barnes will help promote the annual BBVA Compass Dynamo Charities Cup to raise money to benefit the bank’s «Business of Sports» program, which provides workforce readiness, financial education programs and scholarships to students through a partnership with Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas.

In 2014, Barnes capped his best season in Houston with four club awards: Most Valuable Player, Players’ Player of the Year, Budweiser Golden Boot and Ironman of the Year. He scored six goals in the final nine games of the season to finish the year with 11 goals, a personal best in his three seasons with Houston.

Barnes amassed the most minutes played by any field player last year, with 3,028 regular-season minutes. He led the club in scoring to capture his second straight Golden Boot award, joining retired Dynamo forward Brian Ching as the only players in club history with multiple scoring titles. The London native also set a Dynamo career-high with five assists.

Barnes succeeds the bank’s previous roster of Dynamo brand ambassadors, including former Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall and Ching, managing director of the Houston Dash. Last year, BBVA Compass announced it is the official Jersey Partner of the Dash, the nation’s newest professional women’s soccer team.

BBVA Compass is a subsidiary of BBVA Compass Bancshares Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of BBVA (NYSE: BBVA) (MAD: BBVA). BBVA is a customer-centric global financial services group founded in 1857. The Group has a solid position in Spain, is the largest financial institution in Mexico and has leading franchises in South Americaand the Sunbelt region of the United States.

Also BBVA-Compas announced that Amanda Augustine has joined the BBVA Compass economic research team, a group recognized for its accurate forecasting and economic insight. Before joining the bank, Augustine worked as a project manager at consulting firm American World Services Corp. in Washington, D.C., focusing on the health care sector.

Led by BBVA Compass Chief Economist Nathaniel Karp, the bank’s six-member research team analyzes the U.S. economy and Federal Reserve monetary policy. For its analyses, the economists create models and forecasts for growth, inflation, monetary policy and industries. The economic research team also follows a variety of issues that affect the Sunbelt states where BBVA Compass operates.