Corporate lingo: What's up with this "el" thing?

At my new job I'm having contact with corporate culture for the first time and I've noticed that when people are referring to someone in another company they say, for example, "El Chris" instead of just Chris. And on certain websites I've seen the senior management referred to as "El Management." How did this get started? Is it widespread? If you're a person who does this, what does it mean? Thanks.