Hispanic Executive #60

with CATHERINE HERNANDEZBLADES

MARIA BARTOLOME WINANS

MARÍA FERNANDA ESPINOSA

ALICIA MENENDEZ

and more

VOTO LATINO ’ S ROSARIO

DAWSON &

MARÍA TERESA KUMAR

CHALLENGE US TO MAKE OUR VOICES COUNT

WE BELIEVE THAT CARING FOR WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD AND PROVIDING THEM WITH OPPORTUNITIES TO LEAD, GIVE BACK AND LIVE WELL, WILL LEAD TO A BETTER FUTURE FOR US ALL.

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WE’VE GOT L’ATTITUDE

In our exclusive coverage of the 2019 cultural conference and celebration, we offer a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of L’ATTITUDE through the story of Cofounder Gary Acosta and through a day-in-the-life photo essay featuring Director of Brand and Digital Marketing Andrea Trujillo. We’ve also curated some of our favorite content from the event, including statistics, media, moments, and more.

Contents

COMMANDING A GLOBAL STAGE

Havidán Rodríguez discusses the diverse community he has found at the University at Albany and the disaster research work that has shaped him as a leader

PLANTING SEEDS FOR INNOVATION

At Stray Dog Capital, Lisa Feria develops strategies to find plant-based start-ups capable of driving changes the world desperately needs

A TECH AND MARKETING MARRIAGE

As CMO of Claro Enterprise Solutions, Camila Casale fosters partnerships between tech and marketing to help companies become preferred outlets

EYES ON THE ROAD

Assistant General Counsel Cristian Torres uses the legal expertise he gathered traveling to not only expand the Volkswagen auto brand but also protect it

BUILDING LEGAL FROM SCRATCH

Attorney and mom Tricia Timm of Looker hasn’t allowed the male-dominated culture of Silicon Valley affect her growth or ability to adapt

THE MAKING OF A BRAND STORYTELLER

Miguel Sanchez Lascurain began a career in multimedia before anyone knew what it was—and today he sits as the vice president of creative at TiVo

PLAYER-COACH ATTITUDE

At Essity, Dumitrache Martinez takes the mental moves he learned on the basketball court to position the company for global wins

A Letter from the Publisher

DURING LAST YEAR’S ALUMNI SOCIETY Leadership Summit, I witnessed a panel of Latina entrepreneurs discussing their experiences and challenges. It was a dynamic discussion where Marina Diaz Ibarra, partner and managing director at Wolox Inc., challenged the audience: “We need to bring more men to the conversation. It has to stop being just a group of women talking about rights. Bring more men to advocate.”

I couldn’t agree more. So here I am, in a small part, joining the conversation by writing the letter that welcomes you to our annual Leading Latinas issue.

Pedro A. Guerrero CEO of Guerrero Media Publisher of Hispanic Executive

I admit that I struggled with what to talk about in this letter—but, after reading some of the content in this issue, I knew I wanted to start someplace personal. So I thought about the Latinas in my life.

In my family, male reverence is dominant. My great grandfather, my grandfather, my father—they were all the heroes in my family’s narrative. I was enchanted as a young boy by their life’s accomplishments. These men were driven by ingenuity, creativity, and passion. I would reflexively credit them as my muse in the pursuit of my own goals.

However, as I grew older and my paternal heroes faded into the background, I realized: what really drove me, what pushed

and inspired me, what ultimately set me up for success in life was the leadership of the women who raised me.

Although my dad has been one of the biggest role models in my life, it really was my mom who, every night before la bendicíon, had me recite a mantra: that I could accomplish anything I envisioned. That subtle ritual was the catalyst for the belief that I could, in fact, do anything I put my mind to. I didn’t have to prove to anyone why I belonged. I only had to validate that within myself.

Starting this letter with my personal experience is intentional because I feel that the small yet frequent push to think bigger than oneself is a microcosm of what Latinos as a whole need to embrace and what the Latinas in this issue have mastered: a deep-seated belief that we belong and that we can accomplish anything we want to accomplish in life.

This is why I am so fascinated and inspired by María Teresa Kumar, our cover star, and Alicia Menendez, our guest editor for this issue. Both women are incredible leaders and trailblazers in their own right, and they touch on issues that I personally have a passion for: media and politics.

As you will read, what drives them very much aligns with these concepts of rightfully

belonging and accomplishing that which is possible in all of us. As María Teresa says on p.98, “We should stop having to tell people why we’re here, because we know what we’re here for. We’re here to grow, to contribute to be the best version of ourselves. [We’re here] because we deeply believe in this country. We have to do this unapologetically. We have to flex our muscles unapologetically because when we show up, there’s nothing that we cannot do.”

And in Alicia’s guest editor’s letter on p.94, she notes that the audience for her Latina to Latina podcast “loves to hear other successful Latinas’ challenges, and learn how they overcame them to achieve greatness. [Challenges such as] learning to take our seat at the table, navigating office politics, proving wrong those who don’t see us as leaders or visionaries. By celebrating Latina excellence, we’re reminding our listeners what is possible.”

Our 2020 Leading Latinas are powerful because they know who they are. They know where they rightfully belong. Their power is in being their true selves, not forgetting where they came from, and bringing others along.

It’s time for us to stop and listen. These Latinas are giving us the lesson in leadership we all need to hear.

“Our 2020 Leading Latinas are powerful because they know who they are. Their power is in being their true selves, not forgetting where they came from, and bringing others along.”

Masthead

Featured Contributors

Alicia Menendez is a journalist and multimedia storyteller. Named “Broadcast Journalism’s New Gladiator” by Elle Magazine, “Ms. Millennial” by the Washington Post, and a “Content Queen” by Marie Claire, Menendez has quickly become a force in American media. She is currently a weekend news anchor on MSNBC, cohost of the podcast Latina to Latina, and author of the newly released book The Likeability Trap. Read her Leading Latinas Guest Editor’s Letter on p.94.

Creative

VP, Creative

Kevin Beauseigneur

Director, Editorial

Kevin Warwick

Managing Editor

Kathy Kantorski

Senior Editor

Frannie Sprouls Editors

Melaina K. de la Cruz

Sara Deeter

KC Esper

Hana Yoo Staff Writers

Sara Deeter

Billy Yost Editorial Intern

Brianna Wright Contributors

Will Grant

Russ Klettke

Corporate

CEO & Publisher

Pedro A. Guerrero

Chief of Staff

Jaclyn Gaughan

VP, Sales

Kyle Evangelista

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Vianni Busquets

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Director, Client Services

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Senior Client Services Manager

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Client Services Manager

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Director, Talent Acquisition

Elyse Schultz

Talent Acquisition Manager

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Reprinting of articles is prohibited without permission of Guerrero, LLC. Printed in China. For reprint information, contact Reprints & Circulation Director Stacy Kraft at stacy@guerreromedia.com.

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WE AND OUR FAMILY OF 68 INDEPENDENT BOTTLERS KEEP THE COCA-COLA COMPANY LOCAL ACROSS NEARLY EVERY CORNER OF THE COUNTRY. WE’RE PROUD TO CREATE JOBS IN THE COMMUNITIES WE SERVE.

THE CAPACITY TO UNABASHEDLY

Think

How Gary Acosta revolutionized the business-conference experience with NAHREP and L’ATTITUDE

BY KATHY KANTORSKI

Gary Acosta is a tall man.

Speaking literally, he is six-foot-threeinches in height. Speaking figuratively, he sees eye to eye with giants. “I’ve always been attracted to people who have the capacity to unabashedly think big,” Acosta says.

He met his first giant playing basketball—obviously. At Pomona College in Claremont, California, Acosta played for Gregg Popovich, who was, at the time, new to the role of head coach, but who has since risen to become the longest-tenured head coach in the NBA, leading the San Antonio Spurs since 1996.

“The one thing that I remember most about Gregg Popovich was there was never a moment where he was willing to settle,” Acosta says. “Pomona College is a Division III school . . . a very small basketball program. But not to him. To Gregg Popovich, we were Duke. Every game we played was just as important as if we were playing in the Final Four.

“That sort of intensity and consistent commitment to excellence has stuck with me to this day,” Acosta continues. “No matter how small the playing field that you’re currently in, you play as if you are on a world-class stage.”

This lesson would prove an underlying theme in Acosta’s own career. As the grandson of a pastor who cofounded a church and became the “community godfather,” Acosta developed an entrepreneurial desire. When he was twenty-six, he started his own mortgage brokerage.

Through his brokerage, he crossed paths with a man named Ernie J. Reyes, who was a real estate broker at the time. “He was about twenty years older than I was, so he was introduced to me as somebody that would be a good guide,” Acosta recalls. “Somebody who could help me navigate the San Diego real estate community.”

Their relationship grew into a channel partnership—Reyes would refer business to Acosta—and they began to meet frequently to celebrate closing business together. “But when we got together, we rarely talked about business,” Acosta says. Reyes had a background in politics—he had worked for Northern California congressman Leon Panetta and helped manage several campaigns in San Diego. “He loved to philosophize about life, his passions, and politics,” Acosta recalls. “I knew nothing about those things at the time, so he was terrific in that regard.”

About ten years into their friendship, those philosophic discussions turned into actionable ideas. Acosta approached Reyes with the idea to start what would become the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP). “We

structured the organization as a professional trade association because we wanted it to be a business organization,” Acosta says. “But we decided that the mission statement should reflect more of a community focus . . . we believed in the virtues of homeownership and that [those virtues] would resonate with people. We ended up saying our mission is to help advance Hispanic homeownership in this country. It was one of the best decisions we made—people really were inspired by that.”

The characteristic Acosta identified in Popovich—which he describes as “self-confidence and the ability to visualize

Gary Acosta Cofounder, L’ATTITUDE Cofounder and CEO, NAHREP

“No matter how small the playing field that you’re currently in, you play as if you are on a world-class stage.”

yourself on a big stage”—is something he began to seek in partners as this idea for NAHREP developed.

Because they needed a partner to really launch NAHREP. “There’s a funny anecdote,” Acosta offers. “We filed the paperwork, set up the corporation, and about three months before we were going to have our launch event in Los Angeles, Ernie said, ‘You know, you and I don’t really have the credentials to start an organization like this.’ And I’m like, ‘Ernie, I don’t know why you’re telling me this now.’ But what he was getting at was—remember, he’s a political guy—he said, ‘What we need is

somebody who does have those credentials to endorse us.’”

So the two sat down and wrote down a list of names, and a name they both wrote was Henry Cisneros. “Henry had just completed his tenure in Bill Clinton’s cabinet as the HUD Secretary,” Acosta says, “and we were like, ‘If we can get him to endorse us, we’re golden.’”

They wrote Cisneros a letter, thinking it was a long shot to expect a reply—but, to their surprise, he wrote them back, offering help in launching NAHREP. They wanted Cisneros to keynote their launch event, so Acosta called to ask. “His assistant said,

‘When is the event?’ and I said, ‘It’s whenever Henry can make it.’”

They secured a date, rescheduled their launch event, and issued a press release announcing Cisneros as the keynote. “That’s where the buzz for the organization really started to build,” Acosta says.

This was the year 2000, and the census results released that year showed that, for the first time in history, Hispanics were going to be the largest minority group in the country. Plus, the internet age was dawning, and NAHREP launched a website called realestateespanol.com. “It really took people aback,” Acosta says. “They were like, ‘We haven’t seen anything like this before.’ Most Latino organizations were in the civil rights genre, and this was focused on business, forwardthinking in terms of technology, and yet had a very compelling, community-focused mission statement.”

With all of these factors, it’s easy to identify that, at its launch, NAHREP was already playing on a world-class stage.

Of course, when the 2008 recession brought the housing industry crashing down, NAHREP took a hit. “We went from a $2.5 million budget down to an $800,000 budget, and our staff went from twelve to one,” Acosta says. Over a four-year period from 2008-2012, Acosta and Reyes took the opportunity to reinvent the organization. They implemented major structural changes, and their annual event went from a national convention to a cultural celebration.

“It was right around 2012 that we started to call it the NAHREP National Convention and Latin Music Festival,” Acosta says. “We realized a couple of years into the event . . . I mean, people would come to the event and they would cry because they were so moved by their experience. They were just so inspired by

In the opening session on day three of L’ATTITUDE 2019, Acosta interviews Ana Navarro, GOP strategist and CNN commentator.

Gary Acosta’s Three Favorite L’ATTITUDE Moments

ROBERT RODRIGUEZ AND LATINXT

“Once Sol and I were a partnership, the first person that raised his hand and said, ‘I’m in, just tell me where I need to be,’ was Robert Rodriguez. If you look at the evolution [of L’ATTITUDE] from year one to year two, Robert Rodriguez went from being a participant onstage to actually having a hand in and building what we ended up branding as LATINXT. Next year, we’re working on building LATINXT into a fullday event within L’ATTITUDE, and maybe even having LATINXT sessions at the Sundance Film Festival and other places. It’s exciting stuff.”

JUANES

“This panel [discussing] the way Latin music has become the cornerstone of pop music overall in this country [featured] an executive from the largest network of Spanish-language radio stations onstage with Juanes, this global star who sells out stadiums around the world. And they’re having a business conversation. Then Juanes says, ‘Hey, anybody want to hear a couple of songs?’ and he brings out the guitar and breaks out in song . . . it was so seamless and it just made it a completely multidimensional event. People in suits there for a business conference just lost their minds. One of the executives from the Wall Street Journal said he’s never seen anything like that.”

MATCH-UP

“The Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative came, and their study showed that Hispanic entrepreneurs are the most undercapitalized entrepreneurs than any other segment. [With Match-up], we’ve created a platform that addresses that and brings entrepreneurs together with sources of capital in a very organized and structured way. That now has the potential to have a life of its own within L’ATTITUDE. We see this evolving as conferences within a conference—the L’ATTITUDE umbrella now having LATINXT as a stand-alone event in itself, Match-up as a standalone event by itself.”

“L’ATTITUDE is a celebration of what we describe as the ‘new mainstream economy’ and attracts the best and brightest within our culture and community. But it is also an effort to change the narrative around the Latino community. It’s about bringing together those people who have the capacity to move money and to green light projects. That’s what’s different about L’ATTITUDE than any other event that’s out there.”

being around people like themselves who had similar aspirations and backgrounds. People have as much an emotional connection to this organization as they do an intellectual or a business connection. . . . We made sure that the event itself had that sort of cultural and emotional piece interwoven into the program.” Today NAHREP’s annual budget is more than $14 million and with a full time staff of thirty-four people.

After the success of NAHREP’s cultural convention concept, Acosta began to develop an idea for an event with a larger scope. “Once I really felt like we were good at [putting on the event], I thought, ‘Why do we have to just stay in our own lane?’” Acosta says. “Maybe we should start taking some of this secret sauce to other segments of the economy.”

Be it luck or divine intervention by Reyes, who passed away in 2014, Acosta crossed paths in 2015 with another giant who had the think-big, world-class mentality first introduced to him by Popovich: Sol Trujillo.

Acosta was invited to present research findings from NAHREP’s State of Hispanic Homeownership Report at a Latino Donor Collaborative event in Beverly Hills. “There was a big focus on the entertainment industry at this particular event,” he remembers. “The session before me had a panel with the chairman of Warner Brothers, the CEO of Fox Network, and the CEO of Starz. And while they’re up there, Sol asked them all a question. He said, ‘You know, we released a study today. We determined through various sources that Hispanics purchase about 28 percent of all the movie tickets in the United States. Twenty-eight percent, even though we’re only 18 percent of the population. Yet only 3 percent of the products you guys put out have Latinos in any lead or substantial role. Explain that for me. Is this our

problem or are you guys just not very good at what you do?’”

Impressed by Trujillo’s candor and ability to gather the heads of these major corporations, Acosta approached him. “What I just saw onstage was amazing,” he told Trujillo. “The only problem is that there’s a hundred people in the audience when there should have been five thousand people hearing that. I have an idea I think you might be interested in.”

“And that,” Acosta says, “was the genesis of our relationship.”

Today, L’ATTITUDE is a four-day event that has, for two years running, been up to the first-rate and world-class stan-

dards that Acosta and Trujillo share. The event has welcomed giants from entertainment, business, politics, technology, and the media.

“It is a celebration of what we describe as the ‘new mainstream economy’ and attracts the best and brightest within our culture and community,” Acosta says. “But it is also an effort to change the narrative around the Latino community. It’s about bringing together decision makers, resource allocators, those people who have the capacity to move money and to green light projects. That’s what’s different about L’ATTITUDE than any other event that’s out there.”

L’ATTITUDE Cofounders Sol Trujillo and Gary Acosta present the L’ATTITUDE Philanthropy Award at the closing reception of the 2019 event.

Latinos

to the Rescue

As the US non-Hispanic workforce declines and threatens to stall the country’s economy, US Latinos become the engine for growth, the Latino Donor Collaborative’s US Latino GDP Report shows

BY KATHY KANTORSKI

THE KICKOFF TO L’ATTITUDE 2019 WAS aptly declarative. In 2017, the most recent year measurable, the American Latino GDP was $2.3 trillion. Put into context, if the Latino GDP were a country, it would be the eight largest in the world, and of the top ten economies, it would be the third fastest growing.

The declaration was, in so many words, “Our community is vital to the US, and relevant worldwide.”

“This thing is gobsmacking from start to finish,” began Matthew Fienup, executive director of the center for economic

research and forecasting at California Lutheran University and coauthor of the LDC US Latino GDP Report, when speaking about the report the morning of its release while onstage at L’ATTITUDE 2019. “The reality is whether you’re an economist, you’re a policy maker, or you’re just a responsible citizen or resident of the United States, this is important information that needs to be a starting point for an important conversation.”

In an early morning press conference officially releasing the report to the media, David Hayes-Bautista, coauthor of the

2.3T GDP

The economic value of the US Latino community in 2017. Were it to represent a country on its own, the US Latino GDP would rank as the eighth largest GDP in the world.

Fastest Growing GDP

Between 2010 and 2017, the compound annual growth rate of the US Latino GDP, when compared with the GDP growth rates of other countries, is the third fastest in the world. Comparatively, the growth rate of the broader US economy (including both Latinos and non-Latinos) ranks sixth.

Faster Population Growth Years Old

Between 2011 and 2018, the US population growth among Latinos is six times faster than that of non-Latinos.

The median age of US Latinos is 29.3 years, compared with 40.5 years for non-Latinos.

More US Retirees

According to Federal Reserve economists, the number of people retiring in the US is forecasted to increase more than 15 percent between now and 2022.

report and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the University of California at Los Angeles— who was introduced as the “godfather” of the report—explained that the measurement of GDP is important, because it is the figure most widely understood worldwide in regards to population size and growth rate. He also noted that the methods of measuring the Latino GDP were the same methods employed by the Department of Commerce.

Hayes-Bautista honed in on Latino postmillennials (born 1997 or later), identifying this group as the “secret sauce” for America to retain its economic predominance. He noted that most of their parents were immigrants who worked in low-wage agriculture and construction jobs, but the up-and-coming professionals are a very different group. They are native English speakers who are well educated (the report shows that number of Latinos with a college degree increased 51 percent since 2010, while their non-Latino counterparts grew by only 21 percent)—both factors indicating that this generation will earn and consume more than their parents over the course of their careers.

Latino postmillennials are an important focus not only because of their numbers and career trajectories, but also because of how that data compares with the rest of the population. US retirement rates will increase more than 15

percent between 2019 and 2022. Yet, to maintain its economic growth rate and meet commitments made to American retirees, the US needs to add more than three hundred thousand jobs per month— which, combined with the loss of retiring workers, means the country needs eight million new workers each year. In this time of potential shortage, the US Latino demographic is surging.

“The cavalry is coming,” Hayes-Bautista said. “This is what will take the US economy into the future.”

Sol Trujillo and Ana Valdez, chairman of the board and executive president (respectively) for the Latino Donor Collaborative, elaborate on the “rescue” sentiment in their letter introducing the report. They write, “With America’s declining GDP, shrinking workforce, and more than seven million job vacancies, US Latinos are the cavalry coming over the hill to rescue our economy. The US Latino cohort is young, growing six times faster than the rest of our population, and with a higher workforce participation rate.”

With information as “gobsmacking” and important as this, it is just as important to determine how the knowledge can be applied. Aptly, Trujillo and Valdez end their letter with a call to action: “It is time for all of us to do everything possible to further catalyze the accelerating US Latino economic engine, which is proven to be a powerful force driving our economy.”

“With America’s declining GDP, shrinking workforce, and more than seven million job vacancies, . . . the US Latino cohort is young, growing six times faster than the rest of our population, and with a higher workforce participation rate.”

—SOL TRUJILLO AND ANA VALDEZ, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD AND EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT (RESPECTIVELY) FOR THE LATINO DONOR COLLABORATIVE

Despite being only 18 percent of the population, US Latinos are responsible for 82 percent of the growth of the US labor force since the financial crisis.

Social Security

At its current rate of decline, the US Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2034.

Between 2014 and 2016, the number of Latino-owned businesses grew by 22 percent, compared to just 6 percent growth in the number of non-Latino-owned firms.

Employees

In 2016, Latino-owned firms employed nearly three million people.

of US Labor Force Growth Growth of Latino-owned Firms 3M 82% 19% 22% 2034=$0

Growth of US Latino Households

Stemming from a younger age distribution and the importance of family in Latino culture, the growth in the number of US Latino households between 2010 and 2017 is 19 percent, compared with just 3 percent for non-Latinos. Latinos also have an average household size that is 30 percent larger than non-Latino households.

ANDREA TRUJILLO of

Photographer Cass Davis followed L’ATTITUDE’s director of brand and digital marketing around her Los Angeles home base. Daughter of renowned businessman Sol Trujillo, Andrea has shown her own entrepreneurial prowess with her A.sweeT. Boutique business, which she owned and operated in Beverly Hills for six years. Now, she balances community and philanthropic initiatives with her marketing work for L’ATTITUDE.

At the end of the day, Andrea heads to dinner with friends at Craig’s in West Hollywood, where the exterior mural by RETNA represents the design-district location and serves as one of the most Instagrammed walls in Los Angeles.

7:04AM

Andrea kicks off her day with strength and circuit training at Heart & Hustle in West Hollywood. “The best way to start the day is a good workout. I love it. It gets my mind, body, and spirit in ‘go’ mode and sets the tone for the day. Plus, the energy in the gym is unparalleled. I always leave feeling better than when I came in.”

8:34AM

Before her daily grind begins, she grabs an almond matcha at Alfred’s Tea Room in Brentwood. “A clean caffeine kick is always a nice supplement to my morning workout. But a hot drink at the beginning of the day is also a habitual cozy ritual that starts off the morning calmly and with focus.”

9:21AM

Andrea shows her mastery of the art of communication: she routinely checks emails and social media to stay updated and responsive.

10:07AM

Basking in the daylight from her courtyard, she hops on a scheduled call with La Reyna, Robert Rodriguez’s creative agency and L’ATTITUDE event partner. “Working with La Reyna has been so fun. We have great synergy. We are in lockstep when it comes to getting things done.”

12:11PM

At a meeting with L’ATTITUDE’s social media firm, SWIM Social, Andrea dissects the latest audience metrics and engagement strategies. “SWIM is the best in the business. It’s a gift to be able to present my ideas and strategies, then have their team translate them into social concepts that come with unparalleled results in engagement and growth.”

12:32PM

Andrea’s role may be focused on digital marketing, but she still reads the Wall Street Journal in print. “The Wall Street Journal is a L’ATTITUDE media partner and one of the few publications that truly understands the new mainstream economy. I always save the copies with pertinent features and op-eds.”

1:33PM

She arrives at the office of Fingerprint Communications, L’ATTITUDE’s public relations agency, for a meeting to debrief L’ATTITUDE 2019. The conversation is jovial, as the weight felt by the pressure of the four-day event has been lifted.

2:34PM

“I feel lucky to work with longtime friends like Jessica Miesels, president and founder of Fingerprint Communications, who are passionate about making L’ATTITUDE a huge success.”

3:01PM

At Pacifique LA, Andrea and colleagues from Fingerprint enjoy a late lunch and toast to a successful event. “I count my blessings every day to work with insanely talented people, friends, and family. It’s love, passion, and coordinated collaboration that have made L’ATTITUDE a success so far. I am so excited for what’s to come. This team has a lot of L’ATTITUDE, and we have mapped out a bright future!”

Recommended Viewing

The arts and entertainment-themed day of L’ATTITUDE 2019 featured dozens of US Latino film and television professionals poised to become the next generation of mainstream leaders. Here is some of their work.

Spoken Word Performance

A spin-off of The Loud House, Nickelodeon’s new animated series follows an elevenyear-old girl trying to survive a big city. It is one of the first cartoons in the US to feature a multigenerational Mexican American family.

Featuring L’ATTITUDE Speakers

Carlos Alazraqui, Actor

Lalo Alcaraz, Writer

Izabella Alvarez, Actor Miguel Puga, Director

A L’ATTITUDE exclusive, acclaimed poet Lemon Anderson captivated the audience with his spoken word performance about US ethnic and racial minority culture.

Watch the performance at hispanicexecutive.com or on Hispanic Executive’s YouTube channel.

This half-hour drama series follows the life of two Mexican American sisters from the Eastside of Los Angeles who move back to their childhood home after the death of their mother. The show depicts issues such as sexual identity and gentrification, written by an all-Latinx staff.

Featuring L’ATTITUDE Speaker

Ser Anzoategui, Actor

Random Acts of Flyness

HBO

The Infiltrators Oscilloscope Laboratories

Created by Terence Nance, this latenight sketch comedy series is described on IMDB as a “stream-ofconsciousness response to the contemporary American mediascape.”

Featuring L’ATTITUDE Speaker

Nalma Ramos-Chapman, Actor

Weaving together documentary footage with re-enactments of events, this docu-thriller tells the true story of young immigrants who hatch a plan to get detained by Border Patrol and put in a detention center in order pull off a “prison break” of sorts. After winning the Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Award: NEXT and NEXT Innovator Prize, Oscilloscope acquired the rights to the film and plans to release it in theaters and stream on digital platforms. The film was also optioned to be adapted into a scripted television series, to be written and produced by Jennifer Gomez.

Featuring L’ATTITUDE Speakers

Alex Rivera, Director, Editor, and Writer

Christina Ibarra, Director and Producer

The Casagrandes Nickelodeon

Vida STARZ

MIS SION

When

From Puerto Rico to the Global Stage

BY SARA DEETER

Havidán Rodríguez, SUNY’s first Latino president, discusses the diverse community he has found at the University at Albany and the research on disaster preparedness and recovery that has shaped him as a leader

Havidán Rodríguez President University at Albany

FOR HAVIDÁN RODRÍGUEZ, PRESIDENT of the University at Albany (UAlbany) and the first Latino president of a State University of New York (SUNY) four-year campus, his path to the presidency was never a straight shot. Raised in Puerto Rico and the Bronx by a single mother, Rodríguez grew up in a very humble background. Thankfully, Rodríguez says, his mother was always a strong supporter of education.

“That foundation was critical for me,” Rodríguez stresses, “especially since my high school teachers didn’t think I was college material.” Encouraged to obtain a technical degree, Rodríguez graduated with a concentration in auto mechanics. “When

people ask me how I got to the presidency, I say, ‘By being an auto mechanic,’” Rodríguez says, laughing.

For a while, Rodríguez worked as an emergency medical technician with the United States Air Force while completing his bachelor’s degree. But after many conversations with “one of the greatest mentors in my life,” who instilled in Rodríguez the idea that he could make even greater contributions with an advanced degree, he obtained his master’s and PhD in sociology, and moved back to Puerto Rico to give “back to my community.”

At the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, Rodríguez worked his way up

through various professorial and administrative roles for twelve years. Eventually, he moved to the continental US, working at the University of Delaware and the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley before heading to upstate New York to serve as the twentieth president of UAlbany.

“There was one important factor that was very appealing to me about the University at Albany,” Rodríguez remembers of his decision to move to New York. “At the University of Texas, about 90 percent of the students were Latinos/as, and many were first-generation, low-income students. I felt that I could have a significant impact on that community in particular, and that

“We are one of the most diverse research one institutions in the country. . . . We don’t just talk about diversity— we see it and feel it everywhere around us.”

A comprehensive Research 1 (R1) institution, the University at Albany is led by President Havidán Rodríguez, whose vision focuses on collaboration, coordination, and communication.

was one of the first things I looked for at the University at Albany.”

According to Rodríguez, close to 40 percent of UAlbany students are minority students, and a third are first-generation students. Given his own upbringing and experiences, such statistics resonated with Rodríguez. “The University at Albany also stood out because of the nationally recognized success of its Latino and African American students,” Rodríguez says. “We’re one of the top institutions in our category in terms of the social mobility of these students, and we are one of the most diverse research one institutions in the country. That was very appealing to me; we don’t just talk about diversity— we see it everywhere and feel it around us.”

also want to increase our international visibility, reach, and impact.”

Right now, Rodríguez says, UAlbany is also focusing on developing partnerships in Central and South America as well as the Caribbean. Rodríguez notes, “And we want to continue to prioritize internationalization.”

PRESIDENTIAL PRAISE

Known in the academic community as an expert in disaster mitigation and preparedness, Rodríguez is helping lead SUNY’s and New York State’s recovery work in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria—just one of many experiences that has helped strengthen his leadership abilities.

Rodríguez received the American Association for Access, Equity, and Diversity’s 2016 Cesar Estrada Chavez Award and has been recognized by an array of prestigious organizations such as the New York League of Puerto Rican Women and the National Diversity Council.

Of course, the University at Albany that Rodríguez leads today is much different than the one that was founded 175 years ago. Originally a teacher’s college, UAlbany is now a comprehensive Research 1 (R1) institution well-known across the country and the world for its cutting-edge research programs. Rodríguez sees it as his responsibility to continue that legacy.

“When I first started as president, we engaged in a strategic planning process to engage everyone across the institution— faculty, staff, students, external community members, and our global alumni—in our efforts to build and expand the university,” Rodríguez explains. “We do a very good job of reaching out to our communities, getting students to come to the university, retaining and graduating them, and ensuring that they become engaged global citizens. But we

“I worked in Honduras following Hurricane Mitch, in India and Sri Lanka after the Indian Ocean tsunami, and in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina,” Rodríguez says. “So, when someone walks into my office and says they’ve got a disaster on their hands, I just think, ‘I’ve looked disaster in the eye.’ These experiences also made me much more proactive in terms of the issues that we confront.”

But at the end of the day, just as in disaster recovery efforts, Rodríguez’s work at UAlbany comes down to collaboration, coordination, and communication. “Last year, our strategic plan kept changing up until the very last minute—because we received feedback from hundreds of stakeholders, and incorporated many new ideas into the plan,” explains Rodríguez. “This is so important to me—when you treat everyone as a leader and with dignity and respect, you come together as a family and a community.”

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT UALBANY

Contributed

128,960 service hours to the community in 2018

One of Only 131 institutions nationwide to be recognized as a Carnegie R1 “highest research activity” institution

Offers 600 study abroad opportunities across the globe

One of the Top 10 institutions for Latino/a student success according to the Education Trust, and a top 30 university for social mobility

Includes 50 research institutes/centers, bolstering research in life, social and health sciences, public health, emergency management, engineering, and more

Ricardo Pravda Chief Human Resources Officer Catalent Inc.

Ricardo Pravda Catalyzes Talent

IF YOU EVER FEEL ESPECIALLY COMFORTABLE IN YOUR position, it’s probably because something is wrong. That is the philosophy that has guided Ricardo Pravda throughout his career, from his first position as an HR analyst in Argentina to his current role as Catalent Inc.’s chief human resources officer. Never looking to rest on his laurels, Pravda constantly seeks to challenge himself and learn from previous experiences.

BY SARA DEETER

“How you get to your current position is always just a series of your own experiences, and I was able to make the right decisions when it comes to those experiences— because I wanted to learn from every single interaction that I had,” Pravda explains. Whether he is at job interviews, in performance reviews, or simply meeting someone new, Pravda exerts himself to pinpoint what he could be learning or doing better. “Even when I’m just talking to my boss, peers, colleagues, and teams, I always ask people for feedback and advice,” he says.

According to Pravda, that commitment to learning and gaining new experience was what opened his eyes to the “world of HR.” While working at Nabisco International (now Mondelēz) in Buenos Aires, Pravda secured his first international assignment, which required him to “pack everything he had into a suitcase and jump on a plane to Canada.”

As chief human resources officer and the first Latino member of Catalent’s leadership team, Pravda takes advantage of the company’s fast-paced growth to advocate for employee development opportunities

Despite the tumult, he found his experiences in Canada incredibly rewarding. As he points out, “You may think you know how to do HR work, but what about in a different culture? In a different language?”

Pravda continued to expand and hone his expertise in HR roles at Philip Morris Argentina, BellSouth International, and the Gillette Company before coming to Catalent. And as he moved from one company to another, he witnessed a complete reversal in the perspective that many business leaders took on the HR function.

“HR as it is today is a critical component of any business,” Pravda says. “But for a long time, it went unexplored. Now people understand that HR helps the business improve and be better: the most distinctive characteristic of any business is the people that are behind it.”

Struck by the potential of the “uncharted territory” within HR even from the beginning of his career, Pravda has found a wealth of new territory and opportunities at Catalent.

Catalent is “extremely dynamic—it’s growing constantly and it’s growing fast,” Pravda says. While that growth sometimes translates to a bit of a shortage in terms of staffing, it also provides “opportunities for everyone, including opportunities for advancement,” notes the CHRO.

Known for its diverse business footprint, Catalent is the world’s premier partner for drug development, delivery, and supply. But the company also touches on biologics, health and beauty products, animal health, and gene therapies, Pravda explains. “Catalent is moving forward, and moving into some very exciting spaces, but at the same time, the company is extremely cautious,” he says. “Catalent as it is today is a combination of all that—growing in exciting spaces with cutting-edge technologies, a good business environment, and constantly trying to improve the everyday lives of patients.”

Pravda himself has found a number of opportunities to grow and expand within the company. In addition to leading a team that comprises more than two hundred HR professionals, Pravda heads Catalent’s diversity and inclusion department, serves on the executive leadership team, and operates as the executive sponsor of the company’s Latino employee resource group (ERG).

As Pravda notes, those positions allow him to play a key role in the company’s cultural transformation. “About three years ago, the emphasis on diversity here at Catalent became purposeful,” Pravda says. “I’m trying to keep those programs and initiatives going in a direction that will help them better serve the objectives of the company but also promote the development of all our employees.”

The development of all Catalent employees is a priority for Pravda, but on a more personal level, he feels driven to promote the

development of the company’s Latino employees. The first Latino to serve on the leadership team at Catalent, Pravda says that he definitely feels a sense of pride and is deeply appreciative of the honor.

“But I also feel a sense of commitment,” he notes, “commitment to advocating for the development of more Latinos within the company. That is the same reason I became the executive sponsor of our Latino ERG.”

Following through on that commitment—making a positive impact on the people around him while adding value to the company—is what has marked Pravda’s career thus far, and it’s something he has every intention of continuing in future. “I want to have made a difference,” he says. And knowing that, knowing exactly what he stands for, provides a great sense of clarity, Pravda shares.

“Whenever you feel confused, look back to the essence of who you are and what you believe in,” Pravda advises. “That will most likely get you out of any situation and provide you with guidance for your decision-making.”

Accelerating at Her Own Speed

BY BILLY YOST

THE JOKE IS THAT MONICA CALDAS DIDN’T ENCOUNTER the traditional American chicken dish of pot pie until she was in college. Growing up, she was steeped in Portuguese culture at home. Her family emigrated to New Jersey from Portugal when she was eight, and she found herself raised in two different worlds. Caldas was in a regular elementary school during the day but was otherwise encompassed by Latin culture from television to newspapers to even going to Portuguese school in the evening.

She recalls the emigrant experience being one of perseverance and grit where, in one instance, her father cut out cardboard to place over a hole in her mother’s car so that her feet wouldn’t get wet. “We were very connected to the experience of trying to achieve our American Dream; it’s something we would talk about every night around the dinner table,” Caldas says. “It shaped who I am. My parents’ courage and determination were inspiring.”

Caldas built her career upon the foundation of perseverance and tenacity and in part grew to understand how important these different experiences are to enrich a team and how critical diversity and inclusion are to lift an orga-

nization’s success. Following her impressive rise through General Electric, Caldas now lays claim to the roles of SVP and chief information officer for global retail markets at Liberty Mutual Insurance. “I was blessed by starting at an organization that valued grit and D&I,” Caldas says. “All of the different roles I pursued at GE were about pushing the art of what is possible and not settling for the status quo.”

The CIO keeps a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote handy when discussing her philosophy, especially when it comes to matters of diversity. “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail,” Emerson’s saying goes. Caldas goes on to elaborate, “I really believe that to be effective you have to be bold and courageous, speaking up for diversity of thought, background, and experience to create a dynamic environment that helps propel that boldness forward.”

One of the lasting lessons Caldas has been able to bring to Liberty was learned at GE. “When I first started working, I wouldn’t really tell anyone where I was from, and my introduction would be two sentences,” she says.

As an SVP and diversity and inclusion champion, Liberty Mutual’s Monica Caldas helps centralize the organization to better operate on a global scale

Monica Caldas

SVP and Chief Information Officer, Global Retail Markets

Liberty Mutual Insurance

“At GE I was able to find role models who weren’t just women—they were Hispanic, and we shared similar stories around being an immigrant.” Caldas says that learning to be her authentic self at work is something she stresses to her teams. It not only applies to the girls-in-STEM program at Liberty she executive sponsors called LEGIT— short for Liberty Encouraging Girls in Technology—but also to her global team of twenty-five hundred.

Part of the allure of coming to Liberty was Caldas’s desire to help a progressive organization accelerate a wide-scale transformation effort. “My leadership opportunity is about transforming Liberty from a decentralized operation worldwide to a globally-orientated organization that can serve customers with global scale,” Caldas says. “It is about harnessing the power of our diversity to bring our capabilities together and deliver outcomes with greater value and speed. With the sixteen-country landscape, this is an incredible opportunity.”

Creating global scale with teams that have not operated at that level is a challenging role that Caldas is ready for, especially given her past experiences. “Operating globally is not about taking control away. It’s about enabling choices that serve our customers better and make us all add more value together,” Caldas explains. “It’s about appreciating the local differences in customer base and needs, while acknowledging regulatory constraints and balancing those with how we can scale, solve problems with greater speed, and, most importantly, serve customers better.”

Caldas says threading the proper balance of needs between, say, Vietnam and Ecuador is complex. You have to

purposely understand what local customers value so that you may carefully create the formula between local and global capabilities. Caldas states, “To do this you must understand the value chain of the business process and work with the teams to comprehend the reusable opportunities.”

A year into taking this role, Caldas says that her organization now has carefully crafted global plans that set three-year road maps that are more focused and purposeful in using the power of technology to enable greater customer value. “I am proud that our team was cocreated at a global scale to generate a road map that benefits from the power of our diversity.” Caldas continues, “Not only is there a road map, but in 2019 we have been executing the plan and benefiting from each other to accelerate our goals.” Thrilled

to be part of the Liberty team, she goes on to say, “We haven’t achieved success because I came with a specific solution—instead the success is the result of the culture of Liberty, which welcomes my full self every day. I was encouraged to bring my courage, my grit, and my humility along with the understanding that diversity of thought and inclusion matters.”

Diversity and inclusion will be ongoing passion points for Caldas. With so much more on her to-do list—including enabling business process optimization and modernizing global ecosystems—Caldas can apply the motivation and passion of her Portuguese upbringing and her family’s de facto motto when it comes to not just enabling success, but success through diversity and inclusion: “Failure is not an option.”

“I really believe that to be effective you have to be bold and courageous, speaking up for diversity of thought, background, and experience to create a dynamic environment that helps propel that boldness forward.”

Our pursuit of excellence begins with a passion for diversity and inclusion. We

At Liberty Mutual, we foster an atmosphere of respect, where our collective differences and similarities drive new ideas that support our success.

LMI.co/Diversity

Planting Seeds of Innovation

BY SARA DEETER

As CEO of venture capital firm Stray Dog Capital, Lisa Feria develops strategies to find visionary plant-based start-ups capable of driving changes the world desperately needs

Raul Vazquez CEO Oportun Inc.

Lisa Feria

CEO Stray Dog Capital LLC

WHEN YOUR JOB IS TO HELP SAVE THE WORLD, how do you decide where to place your bets?

That is the question, and the weight, laid on Lisa Feria’s shoulders. As CEO of venture capital firm Stray Dog Capital LLC, Feria is tasked with identifying the plant-based start-up companies capable of making a positive impact on human beings, on animals, and on the planet itself.

Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Feria has always sought to challenge herself, even when it makes her uncomfortable. And by the time she was 21 years old, Feria was managing more than 150 people. “I was sometimes two generations younger than the people reporting to me,” recalls the CEO. “But I quickly realized that I didn’t want to just run the facility at any one location—I wanted to be part of the team that set the strategy.”

Feria pursued her interest in business operations and strategies at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, graduating in 2006 and quickly landing a position as brand leader at Procter & Gamble. It was there that Feria discovered the world of plant-based foods.

“One day, I found myself looking at PETA’s website, and it really began expanding my mindset,” Feria says. “I realized that these issues are not just about animal welfare and agriculture but about the environment and human health as well. We have to create our food differently—it’s not that it would be nice to do it; we have to do it.

“The more I explored, the more I realized that this was something I needed to bring all my talents to bear on,” Feria continues. “I wasn’t going to find any other direction that satisfied my mind the way this did.”

Since then, both Feria and her entire family have begun following a vegan diet. And four years ago, when Feria’s passion for plant-based products led her to the cofounders of Stray Dog Capital,

SHIFTING THE NUMBERS

According to Lisa Feria, less than a handful of Hispanic women have leading roles in venture capitalism— literally. “I could count the numbers of us on one hand and still have fingers left over,” she says. “And I can’t sit back and watch as the door closes behind me—I’m going out of my way to make sure we funnel more diverse people into the industry.”

it was immediately apparent that their vision aligned with her own. “They saw an opportunity to not only drive social change but to gain financial returns as well,” Feria says of the company.

Today, Stray Dog boasts more than thirty investments in the “future of food”: startups that specialize in delicious, nutritious alternatives to popular foods such as beef, chicken, seafood, eggs, and dairy. As CEO, Feria sets the company’s funding strategy—what projects to pursue, how those projects enter the company pipeline, and how they move up that pipeline. That can be difficult to determine, Feria explains, given that start-up companies rarely have long track records (or any track record at all).

So instead of looking at past performance, Feria and her team focus on the people behind the product. “We like to see founders who have a vision—people who know where they’re going, what they want to accomplish, and how they want to do it,” the CEO says. “We have invested in OK products with a great team, and those companies make it. Whereas we have invested in great products with just OK teams, and those most often do not make it.” A product can always evolve and grow and be improved, Feria points out, but “the team is the team.”

“We have to create our food differently—it’s not that it would be nice to do it; we have to do it.”

For an example of an excellent team backing an excellent product, Feria says, one need look no further than Stray Dog’s partner Beyond Meat. “They’ve been able to build an incredible product that I can feed to any of my friends, and they wouldn’t even know it was plantbased,” Feria says of the company’s popular chicken and beef dishes, which are now available at fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s. “Beyond Meat, and Impossible Foods, have really paved the path for other companies coming up behind them.”

But to Feria, funding a start-up is about more than making a few new plant-based products available. It’s also about the large compa nies that, because of the market impact of those startups, have begun expanding their reach into new categories.

“Millennials and Gen Zers want to eat healthier, and they also care about animals and the environ ment. And baby boomers and older generations are eating more of these products because of chronic diseases like high blood pressure and heart disease,” Feria says of the multi generational success of plant-based start-ups. “Now, we’re seeing even the industry giants beginning to provide delicious, healthy products that we can all eat and serve to our families—products that will make a meaningful impact on the lives of millions of people.”

Javier Diaz

Corporate Counsel and Corporate Compliance Officer Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

Former Marine Javier Diaz devotes his career to paying it forward

Patriotism and Patronage

THOSE WHO DEDICATE THEIR LIVES TO SERVING others often have harrowing stories of the trials they had to overcome. And those who have endured hard times are often the only ones who are can truly relate to the ones they’re working to help—and the healing that service offers is often a by-product for both the servant and the served.

While Javier Diaz might not be that person in totality, that isn’t to say that his life and the lives of his family members haven’t been without difficulties or challenges. His grandfather, as an example, had his entire business stripped from him when Fidel Castro’s government assumed control of Cuba. His father, who emigrated from the Dominican Republic to New York, had to support himself and his family from the age of thirteen by working in grocery stores. And, ultimately, Diaz’s motivation to give back to family, friends, and his community is borne out of the will and perseverance of people like his father and grandfather.

Over the course of his career, the corporate counsel and corporate compliance officer has sought employers whose ideas of service and the greater good align with his own. But none have proven as excellent a fit as Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), an institution that cares for children whose extreme needs and afflictions often lead them to being turned away by

BY BILLY YOST

other healthcare organizations that can’t handle the level of complexity associated with their care.

Diaz’s career dates back to the moment he turned eighteen. It was then that he enlisted in the US Marine Corps, after having watched his brother do the same. Following four years of ROTC at the University of Michigan, Diaz later moved on to Quantico, Virginia, where he entered Officer Candidates School and its intense Infantry Officer Course. “I grew up in a patriotic family,” Diaz explains. “We were very thankful as immigrants from Cuba and the Dominican Republic; I always felt a debt to the United States for allowing my family to thrive here.”

The young lieutenant’s Fourth Marine Expeditionary Brigade was one of the first units sent into Afghanistan shortly after 9/11 and thereafter helped reestablish the United States embassy in Kabul. “All of my Marines came back with all of their fingers and toes—it was a blessing,” Diaz remembers.

After finishing his service, Diaz attended law school at Seton Hall, a university known for its promotion of pro bono work. The soon-to-be-attorney enrolled in the Seton Hall Law Clinic, which provides legal services to those unable to afford quality representation. The seeds sown during that era for Diaz would inspire and initiate what’s become nearly a decade (and counting) of pro bono and charitable work.

Managing Complexities.

GOING TO THE MAT FOR HIS COMMUNITY

At Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Javier Diaz focuses on plenty of ways to give back to his community—and he doesn’t take time off over the weekend. He’s a volunteer wrestling coach at Northern Kentucky-based Spatola Wrestling. Diaz, who wrestled and practiced jiujitsu competitively, says it’s an opportunity to connect the sport to valuable life lessons. “Wrestling is a sport that gave me a ton of discipline that I was able to apply throughout my life. I’d like to pass along that passion to the kids we work with,” Diaz says.

He explains the firm Gibbons P.C.—where he landed as a senior counsel in 2016—still serves as a benchmark for pro bono service. “In addition to advising Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies, that level of business allows you to do all of that work that gives back.” As a young Hispanic attorney, Diaz also acknowledges that the firm’s commitment to diversity was felt from managing director Patrick Dunican on down.

While at Gibbons, he worked toward his MBA and, subsequently, met his future wife while enrolled in an online class. Once the pair decided to relocate to the same city, Diaz discovered a job opening at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, which is where, not so coincidentally, his wife is a pediatric anesthesiologist. He accepted the position even though he had dealt with few healthcare compliance matters. Today he credits his general counsel for giving him the opportunity to grow—and thrive—in the role.

Since coming to Cincinnati, Diaz and friends have continued a Christmas fund-raiser that, in the beginning, sponsored more than a dozen families in conjunction with St. Vincent de Paul. Today, they partner with the Women’s Crisis Center of Northern Kentucky, where last year they donated two truckloads of housewares, furniture, and clothing to victims of domestic violence. Diaz’s wife currently sits on the initiative’s board, and Diaz admits that he’d be right alongside her had he not already been on the board for Support Our Smiles. Through that organization, he supports mission trips to Cusco, Peru, where he helps provide surgeries for children with cleft lips and palates, as well as other ear, nasal, and facial deformities. “These are children who otherwise would never have access to this type of medical care,” Diaz says. “It’s an organization that’s near and dear to my heart.”

Diaz says his own motivation to give back has only been bolstered by watching CCHMC’s mission in action. “I admire the leadership here so much because it takes tremendous effort to help the most difficult patients that have sometimes been turned away by five, six, or seven other hospitals,” he explains. “To me, that speaks volumes about how committed the doctors, nurses, and administrators are to helping those people who can’t get help anywhere else.”

The lawyer, on the other hand, is much more low-key about the countless hours of service he’s put in. “I saw a lot of people struggle as I grew up, and I think once I got to a place where I had the ability to help others, I figured that I only need so much. If I can inspire one kid to follow the same path, just think of how many people that can affect.”

Taft’s Health Care Group: Connected to the legal and regulatory issues facing our clients.

Advancing a Capital Value

Cinthia Lopez channels her enthusiasm for elevating others into

at Capital One

BY JULIA THIEL

WHEN CINTHIA LOPEZ WAS GROWING UP in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, her father always told her, “If you’re going to do something, do it well or don’t do it at all.” It’s a motto she’s followed throughout her life—with some help from her parents. Lopez and her two sisters went to an American school in Tegucigalpa, an elite private one that wasn’t easy for her parents to afford. “I think so many of the doors that ultimately led me to where I am today started with the fact that I had the privilege of learning English from a really young age,” she says. “But the sacrifice that my parents were making always weighed heavily on me.”

Lopez was determined to go abroad for college, which she prepared for by taking the SAT and TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). Her dad saw an ad

in the newspaper for a full scholarship to schools in Arkansas offered by the Walton Family Foundation, and applied on her behalf, sending in her test results without telling her so that she wouldn’t get her hopes up. Lopez got an interview, then the scholarship, and ended up at University of the Ozarks for college. She went on to get a master’s degree in foreign services with a focus on Latin America from Georgetown, again with the help of a scholarship (this one from the Organization of American States).

“I always thought I was going to move back to Honduras after school, but I thought I should try to apply for a job in the States and then go back home,” Lopez says. Her job hunt, though, was complicated by the fact that her employer had to be willing to sponsor her work visa. “The moment you

the diversity and inclusion initiatives she owns as senior director of human resources

Cinthia Lopez Senior Director of Human Resources and Head of Campus Recruiting Programs Capital One

“Don’t lose sight of having a strong connection to the work that you do, because that’s where the best version of yourself comes to light.”

put in that filter for jobs, that list gets very small,” she says. “Capital One was one of the few.” This was in 2000, when the company was barely known, but the more she learned about it, the more excited she was to work there.

Lopez began her career as a product manager, but during the eighteen years that she’s worked for Capital One she’s had a variety of titles. Moving to a new role was never a problem, she says, because senior leaders in the company have always been willing to help advocate for her. The biggest leap she made was from risk management to HR—which she was drawn to because she’s always been involved in diversity and inclusion initiatives and realized she wanted to do that full-time. “I had never been an HR professional, but I had passion, and someone was willing to say, ‘that’s plenty’ and you can learn the other things. That was a massive bet on me that I’m super grateful for,” she says.

Today, Lopez is a senior director of human resources and head of campus recruiting and programs for Capital One. Close to 30 percent of nonhourly hires come from these programs, and each student is hired into a two-year rotational program. “We not only hire them, but we curate their experience in their first two years at Capital One,” she says.

Now that she’s able to support people in the way she was supported early in her career, Lopez has a few lessons she’d like to pass on to her team and to new hires. “One of the things that is very important is finding something you love to do,” she says. “Don’t lose sight of having a strong connection to the work that you do because that’s where the best version of yourself comes to light.” Lopez also advocates for taking risks and not being afraid to fail because even if you do fail, you’ll have learned something along the way. “The last one, and it’s actually one of our values at Capital One, is elevate others,” she says. “Nobody gets to where they are without support from others.”

Part of that mission is promoting diversity at her company, which Lopez sees as essential. “I think visible representation matters,” she says. “I don’t think we can win from a business perspective, a customer perspective, or even bringing in the talent that we want if the diversity isn’t here.” One initiative she’s particularly excited about is partnering with Howard University (a historically black college) and the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez. It involves not just recruiting talent (something they do at more than forty schools), but also working with freshmen and sophomores early in their journey to prepare them for the workforce.

Getting a work visa was a major factor for Lopez in joining the team at Capital One. “There’s something about the company, as the years went by, that I really believed in our mission,” she says. “We set out to change banking, to give people a sense of empowerment when it comes to their finances. I believe and trust that we are changing banking for good.”

Leading Unicorns While Welcoming Everyone Aboard

BY PAUL SNYDER

AFTER GROWING UP IN A CUBAN HOUSEHOLD IN Miami with strict parents, Vicky Garcia watched her sister take over the family’s accounting business and her brother become a dentist. But as a self-described rebel herself (“unfortunately or fortunately,” she says, laughing), Garcia decided that neither of those careers much suited her—and neither did school for that matter. A high school dropout, she left home to begin a thriving career in the cruise industry.

“I wasn’t a bad student,” she recalls. “School just wasn’t for me—but I was a hard worker and wanted to get things done.”

Garcia

and COO

Having fallen in love with cruises after her family enjoyed a couple of sailings, Garcia landed a job as a reservation sales agent with Royal Caribbean Cruises in 1987. And despite not having a diploma, she quickly worked her way up to sales manager.

Along with her rebellious streak came a strong, solid work ethic, which was ingrained in her from a young

Vicky

Co-owner

Cruise Planners

As co-owner and COO of Cruise Planners, Vicky Garcia emphasizes diversity and inclusion among her team, franchisees, and clientele—because it’s what reality looks like

age. “When we had summers off as kids, we were not out by the pool—we were at the family business with our parents, helping with accounting and clients.”

Her experience in cruise sales paid off as she transitioned to a travel agency franchise owner at Cruise Planners, the country’s largest home-based travel advisor franchise network. Eventually, that led to an opportunity to join Cruise Planners’ home office team and today, she is co-owner and chief operating officer, bringing together people from all walks of life into business ownership.

Garcia is passionate about giving back and, thanks to her company’s CP Cares charity program, she was named Woman of the Year by the Leukemia & Lympho-

ma Society—the company has raised more than $2 million for the organization to date . . . and counting. She also serves as a board member for the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) because Garcia wants to make sure everyone hears the voices of lesbian leaders, a minority group in the travel industry. On top of all that, she was named Godmother of a Viking River Cruises longship, a rare honor and testament to her status in the travel industry.

Though she’s proud of the recognition she has achieved, she’s also careful not to let it temper her drive.

“We’re working harder to keep raising the bar, and we continue to challenge ourselves to be better every year,”

Cruise Planners’ executive team (from left): Scott Koepf, VP of Strategic Planning; Vicky Garcia, Co-owner and COO; Brian Shultz, CIO; Michelle Fee, Founder and CEO; and Theresa Scalzitti, SVP of Sales & Marketing

Garcia says. “We look at innovation as a driving force— and we don’t want to just look within our industry but also at what other companies out there are doing to break barriers.”

For Cruise Planners, that means everything from enabling automated payment reminders for clients to allowing franchisees to run their business from wherever they might be in the world—from their home office to a subway train to a cruise ship on the Danube that uses cutting-edge technology. The company was actually the first in the travel agency world to come out with voice-activated Alexa skills, and it continues to find ways to stand out.

In terms of building her team at Cruise Planners, Garcia emphasizes that while there is no “only females need apply” recruiting tactic taken, the leadership team is nevertheless stacked with women—and features a representative mix of diversity and inclusion from the LGBTQ community. Garcia explains the team is a reflection of herself, and her recruiting efforts are largely driven by the lessons she’s learned over the course of her career. Ultimately, she believes Cruise Planners is in the business of finding “unicorns.”

“I’ve worked at many companies where people have the attitude of ‘That’s not my job,’ when it comes to a certain task,” she says. “That had to go away from my first moment here. It’s all hands on deck, and that includes me first. There’s no ivory tower when it comes to leadership. We consider ourselves part of the team, and we look for team members who have the same attributes, or what

we call ‘Cruisitude’—a positive attitude about life and a zest for travel.

“We call them unicorns,” she adds. “We look for people who have unique traits, but it also comes down to the idea that no job is too big for them—that they want to give the best caring service to our travel franchise owners. When looking for franchise owners and industry partners, we surround ourselves with like-minded people, so we all have the same values.”

Beyond recruiting and creating a welcoming environment for her team, she says it’s also important that Cruise Planners is honest in its marketing efforts, and feels strongly about being more inclusive of all types of people versus targeting audiences by race, color, age, religion, sex, or disability.

“For example, on any given marketing initiative we would include two women or two men as part of a group of people enjoying themselves on their vacation. It isn’t a matter of specifically saying, ‘Let’s create LGBTQ marketing or let’s recruit certain team members.’ It’s just how we do business.

“We sell travel and that’s something people always want to do. This is an amazing job—I just returned from a safari in South Africa and a gorilla-trekking excursion in Rwanda, and last year I went to the Galápagos Islands with our top-producing travel advisors. Through travel, my wife and I get to see parts of the world I only dreamed of. I work with an incredible group of people at Cruise Planners.”

“I’ve worked at many companies where people have the attitude of ‘That’s not my job,’ when it comes to a certain task. That had to go away from my first moment here. It’s all hands on deck, and that includes me first.”

STRA TEGY

Home Field

Advantage

BY BILLY YOST

Associate General Counsel Matthew Valdez is a San Francisco native and Giants fan who not only takes pride in his team, but in how he can give back to his hometown

The fact that Matthew Valdez is the associate general counsel for the San Francisco Giants should be enough to allay any doubts professionally. The lawyer does business from a sacred realm that’s been blessed by the likes of Willie Mays and Willie McCovey. What’s more, Valdez is no newcomer. He is a child of San Francisco, having come up in a neighborhood that tech transplants have yet to gentrify decades later. A beneficiary of the best the city has to offer, Valdez has given back to his community in a number of ways. Still, the lawyer says it doesn’t ever seem to be quite enough, which is a testament to his commitment to create better lives for San Francisco’s next generation.

The associate GC doesn’t diminish his difficult circumstances as a kid, nor does he use them as a crutch. “When I grew up, I didn’t really ever think about being a lawyer,” Valdez says. “Like many families in my neighborhood, some of the issues my family and I faced didn’t naturally fit with becoming a lawyer.” Valdez grew up mainly with his mother, who was very active in the community, and whom he describes as an amazing person. His family—mostly made up of immigrants and farm workers—dealt with alcohol abuse, drugs, and incarceration.

He could’ve easily given up before he had the chance to start. “I was always of the mind-set that I wanted to give back to my community and do something good,” he explains. In college at California State University, Northridge, Valdez pursued a degree in urban studies and planning. He wound up as a community liaison for the Los Angeles Housing Partnership (LAHP), developing housing and running social programs, food banks, children’s programming, and senior and family outreach. Valdez worked in LA’s infamous MacArthur Park neighborhood, the birthplace of the gang MS 13 and a nerve center for the community-focused Rampart Division of the LA Police Department.

After about four years at LAHP, Valdez decided to give law school a shot. “Initially I thought I could go to law school and start my own organization—but my law school debt just sort of piled up,” Valdez says, laughing. Having worked in housing development, real estate law seemed an ideal place to start practice, and Valdez spent three years doing deals at the firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman prior to coming to the Giants in January 2017.

“Joining Pillsbury’s real estate practice directly out of law school, Matt demonstrated to us that he is an excep-

“To be honest, I think I have this eternal chip on my shoulder. I never feel like I’m doing enough.”

tionally gifted young lawyer,” says Bob Herr, senior partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. “He immediately began to represent our most important clients, including the San Francisco Giants—which he was delighted to do as a lifelong Giants fan! At Pillsbury, he became thoroughly familiar with the complex legal landscape occupied by a modern sports franchise and stadium complex. We were sorry to lose Matt but are delighted to continue to work with him as a client as he continues to grow and succeed.”

While Valdez’s tenure at Pillsbury certainly contributed to his maturation as a lawyer, the civic work he does also deeply informs his practice. “Dealing with people from all different walks of life is why I’m able to be especially effective,” Valdez says. “I have a lot of experience negotiating agreements between often very difficult parties, so it’s become my strong suit.” Valdez says that while coming in-house with the Giants is certainly

Matthew Valdez Associate General Counsel San Francisco Giants

a change of mentality from working as outside counsel, it does offer him a different perspective. “I’m fortunate because as an outside lawyer, you’re given as much information as they think you need—and you’re told to run with it,” Valdez explains. “Here, I’m part of the business team and part of a lot of things that aren’t strictly within the purview of the legal department.”

One of Valdez’s biggest transactions thus far is the renovation of Scottsdale Stadium and development of the Giants’ new minor league spring training facility in Arizona. “The team has been looking to make our players feel like our facilities are on par with the best in the world,” Valdez says. He notes that the negotiation between the Giants, the city of Scottsdale, and the nonprofit Scottsdale Charros was complex but ultimately successful. “There are a lot of moving parts to those transactions, but we’re going to be able to provide world-class facilities to both our major and minor league operations.”

As professionally successful as Valdez has become, his community involvement also remains a keen area

of interest. Valdez volunteers regularly with Peer Resources, a nonprofit that partners with the San Francisco Unified School District to develop youth by providing opportunities to practice leadership while fostering personal, civic, and social responsibilities. The organization not only makes a real difference in kids’ lives, but also in their schools and communities. The lawyer also sits on the board of the nonprofit Imprint City, which offers arts and music education for children of San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood. It’s a contribution to the community that’s especially rewarding for Valdez. “This is my hometown. I have a tremendous amount of pride for this city. While it was once a much different place than the land of tech that it is today, I still never thought I’d have the opportunity to be part of such an iconic landmark,” he says, referencing his work with the Giants, and, ultimately, San Francisco as a whole. For Valdez, it means one thing to acknowledge loyalty to a city, but another to give back in response to that loyalty.

“I have a tremendous amount of pride for this city. While it was once a much different place than the land of tech that it is today, I still never thought I’d have the opportunity to be part of such an iconic landmark.”

Inclusion and Diversity –A Team Effort

Before he was a valued member of the San Francisco Giants’ team, Associate General Counsel

Matthew Valdez was a valued member of ours. Pillsbury is proud to work with Matt and the Giants, as both a client and as partners in advancing diversity in the legal industry.

What It Means to Invest in Success

BY SARA DEETER

Now a VP and the consumer finance manager, Amanda Lopez speaks to the many challenges she overcame before finding a home at Cambridge Savings Bank

Amanda Lopez

VP and Consumer Finance Manager

Cambridge Savings Bank

AMANDA LOPEZ KNOWS THAT SUCCESS is built on hard work—and by hard work, she means work that might have discouraged anyone with just a little less determination. As vice president and the consumer finance manager at Cambridge Savings Bank (CSB), Lopez uses that sense of grit, as well as her natural creative flair, to make an impact for her customers and team members alike.

Though Lopez was born in the United States, her parents moved to Puerto Rico (her father’s birthplace) when she was just a few months old. “I was raised there until about the age of twelve,” Lopez explains, “and although we were very poor, I never knew it.” Both of her parents worked extremely hard, she says, to support the family and to make sure that Lopez and her four siblings never quite knew how tough things were.

“At night, my parents would wait for us to fall asleep and then go into the woods for fruits so they could have breakfast on the table for us,” Lopez recalls. Though life was challenging at times— especially after Hurricane Hugo hit the

island—Lopez loved her time in Puerto Rico, especially sharing fun times with her school friends. “It’s one of the sweetest memories of my childhood—laughing, spending time together, and just loving life,” Lopez says warmly.

One of the most important lessons Lopez carries with her from her childhood is the belief that diversity is so important and is all around us. “Each and every one of us has a unique background and a story to be told,” she says. “In my eyes, diversity isn’t just about ethnicity or race, it’s about more than that. It’s about recognizing everyone’s individual differences, from personal values and sexual orientation to physical abilities and gender.”

After returning to the US, Lopez continued to be inspired by her family’s hard work ethic. Indeed, that tenacity was key when, at seventeen, Lopez faced a pivotal point in her life. She was pregnant with her daughter, had dropped out of high school, and was the victim of domestic violence. When her daughter was born, Lopez chose to leave her

CAMBRIDGE SAVINGS BANK AND THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY

“What continues to amaze me is how committed Cambridge Savings Bank is to the local community,” Amanda Lopez says. “In addition to financial investments and education in the communities, CSB even provides employees with paid time off to volunteer. Recently, I had the opportunity to help families who have children with autism as they completed an airport travel test run. I was able to bring my daughter with me, and I loved sharing that amazing experience with her.”

marriage. “I broke the barriers for myself and for her,” Lopez says. “I obtained my high school diploma while attending night school—I became focused on my goals, for both my daughter and myself.”

By the time she was nineteen, Lopez had found a position as a receptionist and loan processor at a small mortgage company. In the years that followed, she earned her bachelor’s in criminal justice from Colorado Technical University, secured a position as a junior underwriter, and learned how to underwrite loans. None of that even makes mention of the stark reality that Lopez was also battling Lyme disease over the course of those early professional years. Still, she refused to let the disease define her—instead using it to both underline her resilience and her will.

Through it all, as she was exposed to more and more aspects of the business, Lopez was reminded of the lessons she had learned while growing up in Puerto Rico. “I learned that I could do anything that I was committed to and worked hard for,” Lopez says of her years at the IC Federal Credit Union and GFA Federal Credit Union.

Lopez has seen that hard work continue to pay off at Cambridge Savings Bank. After joining the company in 2015, the VP has completed several project management training programs and is currently participating in CSB’s middle-management development program. That training has helped instill in her the customer-centric mind-set that sets Cambridge Savings Bank apart from other financial institutions, Lopez notes.

“We recently worked with one of our customers who was applying for a personal loan but didn’t meet the

qualifications for that particular kind,” Lopez recalls. “Rather than denying it, I explored other options, assessed her individual situation and needs, and was able to find a product that would be a fit for her. The customer was thrilled that we were able to provide her with a loan and I was too—I love being able to find unique solutions for our customers. It’s part of what we truly embody at CSB: treating every customer like they are our one and only.”

During her tenure at Cambridge Savings Bank, Lopez has also implemented an innovative end-to-end system intended to streamline the consumer loan application process and remove significant points of friction from that process. Creating that system was a “tremendous” learning experience, Lopez says, and something that she couldn’t have achieved without the support of her colleagues at CSB.

“I couldn’t be more proud to work with such a great team,” Lopez says. “I lead by believing that I can learn from everyone—together, we can build a shared vision to drive success.”

Lopez and her team have certainly secured a number of successes thus far— in the past four years, she notes, her consumer finance division has grown considerably. Now, the VP and her team are looking to build on that foundation and introduce more cutting-edge initiatives to the market, including an initiative designed to connect younger audiences to lending products tailored to their needs and life stage.

“At Cambridge Savings Bank, I feel at home,” Lopez says, “able to grow my career and inspired to make a difference in our customers’ lives.”

Cambridge Savings Bank is proud to recognize AMANDA LOPEZ

As director of the Florida Space Institute, Ray Lugo engineers research in hopes of understanding what no man has understood before

Space Could Use a Manager

BY RUSS KLETTKE

CURRENTLY ROAMING OUR SOLAR system are what astrophysicists call “small bodies,” which include asteroids, transNeptunian objects, comets, and a category simply described as “transitional objects.” Those small bodies can be mere meters across, but some are thousands of kilometers wide—and about once a year an object the size of a washing machine enters the Earth’s atmosphere. Understanding that an asteroid did once wipe out about 95 percent of our species, and also noting that late physicist Stephen Hawking considered an asteroid collision to be earth’s biggest threat, it seems important, as a planet, to be aware. Fortunately, we’re not going about it blindly. The Florida Space Institute (FSI), a research facility created by the

State University System of Florida and the University of Central Florida, is on the case. And since the arrival of Ramon “Ray” Lugo III in 2013 as the FSI director, the grants the Institute has secured for a variety of research and educational programs—as well as the study of small bodies—have quadrupled.

Lugo came to FSI with a made-forthis-job resume. He had previously served as director at the Glenn Research Center, charged with overall management and operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) facility. He has engineering and engineering management degrees, and he understands how to navigate the universe of government and university grant funding.

Because stopping those rogue chunks of space rocks is going to take some money and foresight. That’s what Lugo’s job is about, and he’s pretty clear that means recruiting the best and the brightest to make it happen.

“The idea is to create a research effort focused on space and space-related topics that are broader than what NASA does,” he says. The work of FSI goes far beyond the asteroid threat. It includes identifying commercial opportunities, the role of space in national defense, and being part of a consortium—with the University of Central Florida—that manages the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Arecibo, built by Cornell University in the 1960s, is the largest fully operational radio telescope in the world.

On the way to becoming the leader at FSI, Lugo had gone into something of a retirement mind-set. He was initially in conversation with the Institute’s governance committee about an advisory board position, but becoming the director began to make more sense.

“We were only lightly funded at the time and there were no students on site,” he says.

Ray Lugo Director Florida Space Institute

“I decided I wanted to create something that would last beyond my tenure. Something that would help scientists, that would contribute to our understanding of science and space.”

Lugo’s first steps were to bring in PhDs and postdoctoral scientists to attract grant funding. FSI receives $800,000 annually from the Florida state legislature for seed funding, but currently has more than $10 million from external sources happy to recognize the value of what the Institute’s scientists are doing.

That includes the development and actual manufacturing of regolith—the dust, rocks, and soil that are found on extraterrestrial bodies, including the moon. FSI is a repository of the physical and chemical makeup of this “moon dust” (and that of Mars, Jupiter, asteroids, etc), and with more than two hundred companies for customers, it is able to recover costs involved in producing it. Lugo says that government space agencies and corporations use the mineral composition to conduct research on how and why space exploration and mining will unfold in the future.

WHAT’S THE DIRT?

Space regolith—dust and loose detritus found on the moon, Mars, and other planets—might one day play a role in extraterrestrial agriculture. This is why the Exolith Lab, a wholly owned partner of the Florida Space Institute, develops facsimile regolith for experimentation sold to commercial and educational institutions.

Growing food on other moons and planets might one day enable better, healthier space exploration. The natural soil on those planets will likely need supplementation and figuring out how to do that starts with understanding what is there to begin with.

FSI’s Ray Lugo says Exolith has developed more than one hundred varieties of regolith simulants to meet specific requirements of locations.

The Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS) is at the intersection of NASA science and exploration for rocky, atmosphere less bodies. Science facilitates NASA’s exploration by reducing risk and cost; exploration facilitates science with new data, objectives, and insights.

That regolith contributes to understanding how the universe formed billions of years ago. But in partnership with Microsoft, FSI is mining data from the past four decades that was gathered but never analyzed at the Arecibo Observatory. “Arecibo found the first pulsar ever identified,” he says. “But we have three to four petabytes [equal to three to four million gigabytes] gathered by the observatory that has never been analyzed. We now have the heuristics to understand this—and we might identify other, older pulsars.”

This is the kind of thing that excites students, both at the collegiate and postgraduate levels, but also those in high school. That includes two hundred students from Puerto Rico in the STAR (STEAM Teaching at Arecibo) Space & Planetary Sciences program who compete to visit the Institute as part of their studies.

FSI also intentionally endeavors to have one of the largest groups of female space scientists in the world. Already there are thirty women, about a third of the total, working in various capacities and programs. For example, one is a medical doctor teamed with a medical student, also female, to work on health issues associated with long-duration space flight.

CLASS creates simulated extraterrestrial surface material, ranging from lunar soil to Martian dirt, to try to establishing off-world colonies.

www.sciences.ucf.edu/class

So while some of the work Lugo’s people conduct at FSI includes looking out for rocks hurtling toward the earth, much more of what they do is about earthlings hurtling out to space—which is something that wouldn’t happen but for the funding and the organization to support it.

Alan Cardenas on the evolving in-house legal role and the value of cultural intelligence

Attitude and Aptitude

BY BILLY YOST

Alan Cardenas Lead Counsel of Central Functions and Lead Lawyer of Global Business Services Siemens

ALAN CARDENAS BELIEVES THAT IT’S A privilege to practice law in-house at this moment in history. “During our digital age, the world is welcoming the Fourth Industrial Revolution—it’s truly an extraordinary time.” The lead counsel at Siemens says that the rapid infusion of technological innovation, paired with Siemens’ evolution, creates a sense that the job of an in-house lawyer has never been more multifaceted. And he’s excited by it.

The escalation of technology, both as it applies to the industries which Siemens serves as well as its own inner workings, is, luckily, a component the company regularly anticipates. “We’re so technologically fluent and attuned to those types of issues that we’re having great success moving in that direction,” Cardenas explains. “The whole world is moving in that direction, but it’s already second nature to us.”

That evolution applies to the legal department, as well. “We’ve seen a substantial change in the legal industry, especially as it relates to the maturation of the in-house legal function,” Cardenas says. “In-house lawyers went from being administrators to risk managers to business partners to now business and legal innovators.” The lead counsel believes a high-performing legal department should consider meeting all of those requirements as baselines from

which to grow. “The benefit of working at a company like Siemens is that it’s so diversified and focused on ingenuity. We truly work at the front end of what is expected of a high-performer.”

Cardenas takes his role as business partner to heart. “The client and customer experience have always been a true focus for me,” he explains. “From my perspective, if you approach your relationships with a great sense of humility and empathy in trying to understand your counterpart’s wants, needs, and concerns—and can effectively communicate what you can deliver and provide—you’ll almost always have a positive relationship.”

The lead counsel has placed an exceptional amount of responsibility on himself the past few years in developing a wider understanding and appreciation of cultural intelligence. After speaking on the topic a handful of times to a variety of different audiences, Cardenas says his approach to the issue has evolved as he’s continued his own self-education. “Originally, I was approaching with a perspective of being a Latino working in corporate America,” Cardenas says. “But I’ve learned to think about cultural intelligence in a much broader context than racial or ethnic diversity.”

It’s motivated Cardenas to examine issues like the complexities of multigener-

“I’ve learned to think about cultural intelligence in a much broader context than racial or ethnic diversity.”

ational workforces, gender identity, veterans entering the workforce, and the difficulties of single-parent households when considering the recruitment, retention, development, and advancement of employees. “This is a context that crosses a variety of different lines and borders,” he asserts. “Cultural intelligence has become of such critical importance, especially in working and achieving success within a large global enterprise.”

It’s apparent that continuous improvement and education is an issue Cardenas takes seriously, particularly as he examines the role of law in an evolving marketplace. “My goals are always to have a high level of positive attitude and aptitude. It’s so important to have that mental agility to be able to grow with the business and industry. It’s something I ask my team to focus on,” Cardenas says. “If you don’t approach your job with a healthy attitude, all of the changes that occur in your professional life will just frustrate and stress you out of existence.”

That mind-set is one reason Cardenas has had success—and it’s a mind-set adopted by the high performing company. “We may not make cool phones or consumer market gadgets, but I really do feel like we’re working to solve the world’s toughest problems,” Cardenas says. “I love that energy and it’s what keeps me motivated.”

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP is a New York City based law firm with more than 200 lawyers. Patterson Belknap delivers a full range of services across approximately 20 practice groups in both litigation and commercial law.

For more information, please visit www.pbwt.com.

We are thrilled to congratulate Alan Cardenas for his well-deserved recognition in Hispanic Executive. We celebrate the accomplishments of Alan and the entire Siemens in-house legal team.

Patterson Belknap congratulates Alan Cardenas on this well-deserved recognition. We value our partnership with Siemens and admire the company’s commitment to innovation and excellence in the legal profession.

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP is a New York City-based law firm with more than two hundred lawyers. For more information, please visit pbwt.com.

Algoma Steel is back from the brink of bankruptcy with investments, infrastructure, and plenty of reasons to stand strong

Steel Here

BY BILLY YOST

IN NOVEMBER 2015, ALGOMA STEEL, ONE of the largest steel producers in Canada, filed for bankruptcy protection. It took more than two years for the company to enter into an asset purchase agreement with creditors, but it was eventually purchased by a group of private investors overseen by a seven-member board of directors. General Counsel J. Robert Sandoval came to the company just in time to help Algoma Steel weather its way through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, union negotiations, and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) restructuring. Since then, he’s helped usher in new and promising growth that has allowed the company to learn from its past and leave the rest behind.

The steel producer was able to stand upright, free of any and all CCAA restrictions by late in 2018. What’s more, Algoma didn’t lose any of its employees—in fact, the company has hired more than 368 new ones since 2018. Sandoval believes that stepping out from the CCAA restrictions will make hiring a much more significant priority in the near future.

The company also announced a $300 million modernization drive focusing on a direct strip production complex, the only facility like it in Canada capable of converting liquid steel directly into steel coils. The modernization spend will also go towards Algoma’s plate and strip mill, whose old infrastructure will benefit from upgrades to help boost more plate production. Lastly, the upgrades will go toward a second ladle metallurgical furnace which will deliver another 100,000 tons of steel per year.

In addition to the company’s investment in its own technologies, Algoma Steel received $150 million in 2019 in federal grants and loans to help transform the evolving steel mill. The money will go toward adopting new technologies, improving productivity, and helping sustain competitiveness in the global market.

The new start for Algoma came with new leadership. In March 2019, Mike McQuade assumed the CEO mantle from Kalyan Ghosh, who had helped shepherd the company through its tumultuous but ultimately successful transition. McQuade

joined during the aluminum and steel tariff war launched by the United States earlier in the year. At one point, Algoma was losing as much as one million dollars a day, a difficult scenario for a company recently back from the brink. The year-long standoff ended in May, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau even made a stop by the steel mill to meet employees.

Maybe most indicative symbol of Algoma’s return to glory stretches up into the holiday sky. A 29-footwide steel-framed star outfitted with lights was erected over Sault Ste. Marie during the holiday season. Noticeably absent during the company’s financial struggles, the star was hoisted back up with the help of an 80-ton crane with a 165-foot boom. It’s a sign that the steel company is back to where it was, and that its vision is focused on evolving, growing, and staying competitive on a global scale.

Making It All Work

Camila Casale Chief Marketing Officer Claro Enterprise Solutions

When Tech Meets Marketing

BY SARA DEETER

CAMILA CASALE ISN’T LOOKING TO PLAY IT SAFE.

As chief marketing officer of Claro Enterprise Solutions, a B2B technology services company known for its customized solutions and seamless customer experiences, Casale constantly looks ahead toward new solutions, new ideas, and new ways of using the latest and most innovative technologies to enhance company brands.

“In this day and age, every company is a technology company, whether or not they want to admit it,” Casale asserts. “We’ve seen the disruptors and how the Airbnbs, Amazons, and Ubers of the world are taking down the giants who thought that the technology revolution wouldn’t affect them. My job at Claro Enterprise Solutions is to help companies learn and adapt and grow to not only survive but thrive in this digital age.”

Casale’s own ability to thrive in a tech-centered world is grounded in her early experiences, she says. The CMO completed a young professionals internship while studying for a degree in business administration and economics at the University of Buenos Aires. After

graduating and finding a position at Argentina’s branch of Frost & Sullivan, Casale went on to earn an MBA from the University of San Andrés and serve as Frost & Sullivan’s business development manager and global account leader for Europe.

“Three years later, they ran with one of my ideas and opened a branch office in Miami,” Casale recalls. “Within two weeks of that, I opened the office, got my staff, and beat all my sales projections.” Casale arrived at Claro in 2018 after serving as SVP and CMO at Softtek USA and Canada.

Since joining Claro, Casale has made it her mission to bring marketing and IT together. “I like to think of these two departments as an old married couple,” Casale remarks. “They have their disagreements, but they need each other and always find a way to work things out. Marketing brings the business perspective, an understanding of the customers and their motivations, and IT uses this understanding to make appropriate technology decisions.”

As CMO of Claro Enterprise Solutions, Camila Casale fosters partnerships between tech and marketing to help top companies become preferred outlets

YOU, I, WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

“Volunteers do not necessarily have time,” Camila Casale says of her work with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, “they just have hearts.”

In recent years, Casale has been astounded by not only the organization’s commitment to children but also its commitment to unity. “When you see everyone working together, the energy is incredible—everything is possible, especially when we are united in hope.”

At Claro, Casale relies on her partnership with internal leaders like Director of IT Jose Avalos in order to drive that “marriage” between IT and marketing. “The synergy of our departments is out of this world,” Casale says. “I’ve been in the industry nearly my whole life, but it’s changing so fast. I rely on Avalos to keep me informed.”

It’s not just the speed at which the technological landscape changes, though—one of the main challenges facing Casale and other CMOs today is how readily (and constantly) accessible digital entertainment and technologies are to consumers.

“It’s easy to touch customers and keep them in reach. However, it’s just as easy to lose them,” Casale points out. “You really have to be careful about how you use technology because your customers are being bombarded left and right by everyone and everything—your competitors, viral videos, things that you never thought you’d have to compete with. We’re all competing for the scarcest resource: people’s undivided attention.”

In addition to formulating strategies for how you reach your costumers, you also

have to think about what kind of message you’re actually sending, the CMO counsels. “Consumers today have taste—they know what they want, and their options are endless,” says Casale. “You have to become their preferred outlet to survive, and you have to keep it that way to thrive.”

And that’s exactly what Claro does, Casale notes. It helps other businesses become “preferred outlets.” As CMO, Casale is tasked with positioning the Claro brand in an extremely crowded and competitive market. But she embraces all of the challenges that come with that responsibility. “When a situation pulls me out of my comfort zone, I genuinely like that,” she says. “Bravery is everything in this industry—it’s the lifeblood of innovation.”

But bravery is also gender neutral, Casale notes. “Being a Latina in this industry is an experience that never ends, but I haven’t faced a single challenge that came from me being a Latina woman,” she stresses. “Thinking that my gender or ethnicity creates insurmountable problems is not how I got to where I am today. I’m where I am because I never put myself in a corner.”

“Bravery is everything in this industry— it’s the lifeblood of innovation.”

John Ortiz sells a lot more than just groceries—he sells the Albertsons culture to both customers and colleagues

Never Ready to Check Out

BY CAROLINE PEJCINOVIC

WHAT BEGAN AS A PART-TIME JOB FOR JOHN

Ortiz has evolved into a fruitful thirty-one-year journey through the grocery business. After nearly following his father into criminal law way back when, Ortiz instead was charmed by both the culture and community at Albertsons, the grocery-store company based in Boise, Idaho.

Following high school, Ortiz stayed with Albertsons to fund his education, but as he quickly rose through the ranks, he soon had the opportunity to open his first store in Pismo Beach, California. While operating and overseeing that location, Ortiz jumped at the opportunity to begin classes and watch his lessons play out in front of him. He enrolled at Dale Carnegie and later worked toward his bachelor of science degree at the University of Phoenix.

“Most students go to school but don’t have the opportunity to apply what they learned until many years later. This was not the case for me,” Ortiz says. “I always say that working towards my degree during that juncture of my life and career made the world of business come to life in 3-D.”

John Ortiz

General Vice President of Corporate Retail & Operations Albertsons JERRY SMART/PHOTO ASSISTANT HANNAH BROWN

While balancing a career and ballooning course load, Ortiz had a family that was also growing. He already had two children with another baby on the way, so sleeping wasn’t necessarily on his to-do list. Instead, he learned to manage a crazy schedule—and he still implements a similar resolve today.

“That taught me a valuable lesson about managing a calendar, managing priorities, balancing those priorities, and really making effective use of time. I don’t think I would have had that work ethic if I wasn’t forced to do that while attending school in the middle of my career,” Ortiz says.

The general vice president of corporate retail operations at Albertsons says some aspects of leadership came naturally to him, but much of the qualities of what makes a good leader has to be learned through trial and error over many years. With more than three decades in the business, Ortiz pulls inspiration from previous leaders, whether they were encouraging or tough. He wants to ensure that his team is motivated and inspired to perform at their best, and he does this by putting into action a lesson he says his children taught him: keep it fun.

“I always try to be positive. If you mix positivity and fun at work, I think you get more out of people,” Ortiz explains.

However, because of a change in ownership at Albertsons, Ortiz took a brief hiatus from the company in 2013, going to work for the Fred Meyer superstore chain while simultaneously begin-

ning his own consulting business and obtaining a publishing company. As a result of the latter, Ortiz was able to not only build his portfolio but gain a new understanding of business.

Just as his ventures began to grow, he received a call from a fellow executive and mentor asking him to return to Albertsons, because a group of investors was purchasing the company back. Ortiz explains that he had always imagined retiring with Albertsons, so the decision was a no-brainer.

“I jumped at the chance to come back, and I knew that the leaders would be able to rebuild the company,” he says.

Today Ortiz has the responsibility to provide support for nearly 2,300 stores and 20 banners under Albertsons Companies—and maintaining consistency is just one of his duties. In late 2017, he and his colleagues started finding ways to help each banner uphold the Albertsons values, and with the help of his team, Ortiz created the Culture Council. The Culture Council strives to make “Every Day a Better Day” for both the employees and customers. By improving the employee experience, in turn, the employees improve the customer experience.

“We believe focusing on our people, customers, and communities makes for a better company. We call this the employee promise,” Ortiz says. “If you commit to making every day a better day, for everyone, it will make for a better company—and we truly are working to get better every day.”

Albertsons is hoping to ease the lives of not only its customers but also its employees. Currently, the grocery chain is integrating systems across banners in order to communicate more effectively and schedule employees more easily based on sales and labor forecasts. It is also implementing an industry-leading fresh item management solution to enhance daily in-store production and period-end inventory count processes, making it easier for employees to manage the perishable departments in the store. Ortiz believes that by making employee jobs less complicated and more efficient it will make their day a better day and, in turn, the customers will reap the benefits as well.

The company’s fresh item management software provider, Invatron Systems Corp., has admired Ortiz’s leadership in action. “John’s commitment to delivering financial and operational benefits balanced with making every day a better day for the Albertsons people is what

makes him and the initiatives he leads successful,” says Kurt Brands, chief operating officer.

Ultimately, Ortiz strives to invest in his people—aiming to make the environment a place where people want to work. He feels that in his core. He defines success through the creation of a culture of new leaders and a strong sense of community.

“If I had to say something to a younger leader, it would be that investing in people is still the thing that drives success, especially in our business,” he says. “People make or break a company— so focus on your people.”

John Ortiz is one of the best young executives The Stores Consulting Group has ever worked with. t SCG  worked with John and the Albertsons team in 2017 and 2018 on one of the most critical profit improvement initiatives for the company. John played a key role in driving significant financial savings to Albertsons through his leadership, collaborative approach, and ability to facilitate change.  We are proud of our work with John and the combined effort to improve profitability at Albertsons.

From food to household essentials, we’ve got you covered with our exclusive brands

“If I had to say something to a younger person or a younger leader, it would be investing in people is still the thing that drives success, especially in our business. People make or break a company—so focus on your people.”

As a research and development director at Flint Group, Dr. Paulo Vieira focuses on complexity reduction and the importance of emotional intelligence

The Right Shade of Know-How

BY BILLY YOST

A CHEMIST WITH A PHD IN POLYMERS doesn’t seem like the first person you’d look to for interpersonal relationship expertise or tips on developing emotional intelligence. Dr. Paulo Vieira is plenty aware of the potentially intimidating appearance of his hard science background, but he says it’s the development of his soft skills that has contributed to his career more than anything else.

The director of research and development at Minneapolis-St. Paul-area Flint Group has come full circle from his early career in inks and pigments. From there he moved to resins, to polymers, and, after a meteoric rise at Cytec/Allnex, back to his multicolored roots. At Flint Group, he focuses on bridging interdepartmental gaps and complexity reduction. The director also believes that his eagerness to build people skills—ones that don’t necessarily fit into a scientific scope—is what’s bolstered his Brazilian success story.

Vieira says one of his steadfast leadership rules is to stay away from terms of

deprecation, like “frustrating” or “disappointing.” Still, the director wastes little time in softly undercutting his own expertise. “I studied eleven years of chemistry, and if I use it 10 percent of the time in my job, I’m happy,” Vieira explains, laughing. “More often than not, 90 percent of my time is devoted to conflict management between multiple disciplines and studying people and motivational patterns.”

Emotional intelligence became an increasingly critical component of Vieira’s leadership as he weathered multiple acquisitions of Cytec/Allnex during his tenure there. Despite those reorganizations, however, Vieira was able to navigate turbulent times and shoot through the ranks. “I went from being another lab guy to a director in seven years,” Vieira says. “Focusing on emotional intelligence and motivational patterns is really the reason I was able to rise so quickly; it was pretty clear to me early on that if I wanted to move up, these were areas where I absolutely needed to improve.”

Vieira focused on Daniel Goleman’s scientific approach to motivations and behavioral intelligence, working through exercises and acclimating his mind-set to a more people-focused perspective. “It’s allowed me to give my people more room to spread their wings, express themselves, and, at times, to fail—but to fail in a positive and contributive environment,” Vieira explains. “Understanding emotional intelligence helps you managing your team, expectations, and the matrix environment that comes in working with multiple departments.”

For Vieira, one of the challenges at Flint has been navigating relationships with those who, in some cases, have multiple decades on the director. “I manage some people who have been at the company for thirty-five years,” the director says. “You need to respect their history and value their opinions.”

At the same time, Vieira says hierarchical displacement isn’t ever encouraged on his watch. “I prefer to work on the same level as my colleagues. I have no objections if an idea is better than mine. Regardless of where it comes from, I will gladly use it.”

At Flint, Vieira works to harness his interdepartmental expertise so that he can tackle complexity reduction in a number of ways. “Flint manages around sixteen thousand SKUs, from Starbucks green to PepsiCo blue,” the director explains. “That needs to be the same color in Australia as it is in China, and in order to do that, you need to have lean and streamlined processes.” To further complicate it all, Vieira says that if a batch of color is wrong,

Dr. Paulo Vieira Director of Research & Development Flint Group

it can’t simply be repurposed for another use like in so many industries. It’s unusable, and so perfection has to be much closer to the rule than the exception.

Vieira believes that he’s been benefited by his Brazilian heritage when it comes to process orientation and standardization. “When you’re working closely with so many different departments trying to enact a broad initiative, you need someone who can gel people together,” Vieira says. “Latins have a lot to offer to that environment, particularly in bringing a happy mood and positive feeling to the process.”

Flint is continually working on how to reduce its number of SKUs, finding ways to more easily produce raw materials to reformulate. The goal is, essentially, to try and use one color where it took three in the past. And when it seems like this may be the one area where Vieira’s “10 percent” of scientific know-how might be required, he still doubles down on his assertion that it’s about the people, not necessarily the chemicals.

“True success is about creating a collaborative environment,” Vieira says. “It’s really the key of any business environment.”

Eyes on the Road

BY BILLY YOST

At Volkswagen, Cristian Torres uses the legal expertise he gathered traveling the globe to not only expand the auto brand but also protect it

Cristian Torres Assistant General Counsel of Sales & Marketing Volkswagen Group of America

But he also credits the chance to leave southwest Missouri as one of the most important moments in his life. Torres wasn’t just going anywhere; he was going to Harvard. That education would expand his horizons of what was possible, and today at Volkswagen Group of America—which is the US distributor of VW, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Bugatti vehicles—the assistant general counsel is able to mentor new in-house lawyers on the value of business-minded legal leadership in the always complex automotive space.

INFINITI POTENTIAL

After earning his legal stripes at Latham & Watkins for the first half of the early 2000s, Torres initiated a career of automotive legal support first as senior counsel at Nissan North America, and later as a network development manager for the Infiniti business unit based out of Nissan Motor’s global HQ.

The switch to a supportive function was a critical development for Torres. “We weren’t selling legal advice, we were selling cars,” Torres explains. “We’re trying to enable the business to achieve objectives, ensuring we continue as a profit-turning enterprise and everyone involved can achieve success.”

Nissan was an education in more than legal support. Torres took advantage of a unique opportunity to assume a management role at Nissan’s Infiniti business unit, which was tasked with making Infiniti a recognized premium brand outside of the US. The position allowed Torres to travel the world—meeting dealers, distributors and business partners—with a mandate focused on brand expansion and volume growth. That meant moving to Tokyo—but there were a few loose ends he needed to tie up before he left. “I was dating a girl at the time, and we wound up getting married so she could come with me,” Torres explains, chuckling. “We’re still happily married with three wonderful kids and some amazing travel memories.”

The Infiniti role offered Torres the chance not to just partner with the business, but to be the business. “It was such a fantastic global experience,” he recalls. “To be responsible for a team that had real business objectives, and a team that was entirely made up of people from another culture, was just amazing.” Torres’s job took him to Japan, Dubai, Korea, and throughout Europe—and it provided a true global

Cristian Torres wants to make it clear: he still loves Missouri.

The Joplin native is an adamant Mizzou fan and says he’s proud of where he’s from.

perspective to his role. Living in Japan, Torres says, is an opportunity he would take on again in a heartbeat.

THE HIGH AND THE LOW . . . AND HIGH AGAIN

Torres came to Volkswagen in 2010, and says it was the chance to support a company operating at the pinnacle of success. “We were selling more cars than almost any other time in our history,” Torres says. “In 2013, we sold 440,000 Volkswagens and over 180,000 Audis.” It stretched the legal department of eight lawyers to its maximum with more irons in more fires than Torres had ever encountered during his career. “There was so much hustle and bustle, and that came with a lot of stress for the legal team,” he admits. As the team grew, however, he was allowed the chance to mentor new in-house attorneys from the business operations.

One of the most valuable lessons Torres tries to impart to new in-house attorneys is the need for down-to-earth advice. “I think a lot of firm lawyers can spend their careers pontificating and writing infinite memos,” Torres says, laughing. “But when you’re in-house, you have to deliver advice that’s pragmatic and allows the business to achieve its goals.” He says there are times when the only

viable option is to say no, but that word should be a rarity in the legal department.

Torres’s legal foresight and leadership in support of Volkswagen is often revered and trumpeted outside the company as well. “Cristian is an outstanding lawyer, with a deep understanding of the law, business, and his clients. But that’s just the beginning,” says Billy Donley, a partner at BakerHostetler. “What really sets him apart is Cristian’s pragmatism and laser focus on the goals and objectives of the business.” Just recently that focus was put to the test as Volkswagen was in the throes of a monumental and necessary legal response.

“I’ve had the opportunity to help manage a crisis at a scale that very few people, perhaps fortunately, ever have to encounter.” Torres is speaking of the diesel emissions crisis, which he explains was shocking not only in its findings, but in the scope of the response. “It’s not my expertise to handle viral litigation and massive class action, but I walked into my GC’s office and said I would do absolutely anything I could to help.”

There were days when hundreds of lawsuits were served in one afternoon—and the legal department had the obligation to triage and handle every single one.

“It’s not my expertise to handle viral litigation and massive class action, but I walked into my GC’s office and said I would do absolutely anything I could to help.”

“We had to apportion offices for outside counsel and their staff just to help us organize and make sure we were responding to everything that was coming in,” Torres say. “It was surreal.”

Working to move on meant concerted and diligent efforts to reestablish trust with Volkswagen and Audi customers. Torres needed to make sure that the lights stayed on. “We had to be sure that during this crisis, we didn’t stop doing the things we needed to continue marketing, distributing, and selling cars,” he says. “People are coming to you and you still have to address those issues that might seem menial in the face of an issue like this, but you need to make time to maintain some normalcy and maintain process and protocol.”

Moving forward, the company’s emerging focus on electric vehicles, as well as its nontraditional mobility methods, are becoming more and more prevalent for an industry largely used to simply producing and selling cars. But it’s part of Volkswagen and Audi’s mission to listen to its consumers and offer them more flexibility in its products and services. For Torres, it means continuing to think outside the box and “not be a wet blanket” when presented with new ideas. “Our goals are to alert the business to the risks of these new ventures and to make sure we’re making informed choices,” Torres says. “It’s a very exciting time for us and we’ve committed to moving forward.”

As a growing firm, Nelson Mullins champions diversity and inclusion from the

Tuning In to Legal and Corporate

BY BRIANNA WRIGHT

WITH STATIONS IN CHICAGO, LOS ANGELES, New York, and Miami, Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) has been one of the largest Spanish-language radio broadcasters in the United States for more than thirty-five years. About half of the US Hispanic population uses SBS’s broadcasting services, taking advantage of its broad product offering. In addition to SBS catering to a large radio market, broadcasting music genres such as regional Mexican and Spanish tropical, it also maintains a strong presence online and on television with the operation of lamusica.com and through partnerships with TV stations like Mega TV.

Deputy General Counsel and Executive Vice President Rich Lara is well aware of the kind of presence SBS maintains on media channels consumed by the US Hispanic population. In fact, he’s no stranger to the media and entertainment industry. Prior to his tenure at SBS, he

appeared on various television news programs to provide legal commentary, which provided Lara with a good idea of the impact that SBS can have on the communities to which it caters.

After graduating from Boston College Law School, Lara didn’t begin his legal career in entertainment and media law. Instead, he started out as a private litigator in Miami. In 1998, Lara became the owner of his own firm, Mase Lara, which provided counsel for trial and appellate cases. During his time at Mase Lara, Lara specialized in commercial, maritime, personal injury, and employment litigation.

Lara spent eighteen years working at his firm before he found himself representing someone from SBS in a $12 million trial in 2016. At the end of this grueling trial, the jury deliberated for seven hours and came to an agreeable verdict for SBS. Lara received a phone call at 2:00 a.m. from the individual who worked at SBS telling him

At the Spanish Broadcasting System, EVP and Deputy General Counsel Rich Lara understands the importance of litigation experience in the corporate sphere

how happy he was with Lara’s work. That phone call began Lara’s career with SBS and ended his tenure at Mase Lara.

His previous experiences with Mase Lara have allowed for great success as general counsel. According to Lara, litigators have an unmatched understanding of risk assessment and the trial experience that companies need to integrate into their foundations. While a lot of companies are now starting to pick up on litigators’ transferable skills in general counsel positions, Lara says that, at the time, SBS took a gamble with hiring Lara. Today, that gamble has paid off.

As deputy general counsel and EVP, Lara has a variety of daily responsibilities that he tends to. These responsibilities include overseeing legal and corporate affairs, working on corporate compliance, maintaining government relations, and ensuring corporate social responsibility. With his hands in many different pots at SBS, Lara values how active his position is within the business portion of the company and doesn’t feel confined to legal.

Given that one of the many aspects of SBS that he tends to is corporate social responsibility, it is no surprise that Lara has maintained his litigation skills through community work. Arguably, the most prominent work he has done has been serving as commissioner of the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) for Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal. In this position, Lara is part of a body that investigates applicants for

judicial vacancies within the third district appeals court, which then provides its findings and suggestions to the governor. Alongside the JNC, Lara is also involved in legal community projects such as the Cuban American Bar Association and the Florida Bar’s Professionalism, Ethics, and Consumer Protection Law committees, as well as being the former chair of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee for the Florida Bar.

Lara’s dedication to social responsibility is reflected in his work at SBS. In 2018, the Nielsen Company, an information and data measurement firm, announced that it would no longer be surveying Hispanic households for ratings purposes based on unreliable and inaccurate statistics about Hispanic viewership. Lara immediately took a stand against this practice and made a statement on behalf of SBS that the company would continue to serve its Hispanic-listener base, even in the face of the dismissal of Hispanic viewership ratings.

Ultimately, Lara’s broad experiences in litigation and community work provides for a holistic vantage point. While he does his work in legal, Lara also provides insight and guidance for other aspects of the company, including streamlining different processes and creating cost efficiency strategies. Lara finds SBS to be an exciting and fun place to work, not only to have his litigation skills employed but also to watch the creative processes within the company unfold.

Christopher Garcia

SVP of Legal Dell Technologies

Why Christopher Garcia is using technology to foster a culture of smart legal risk at Dell Technologies

Risks Pay Off

BY SARA DEETER

WHEN MOST PEOPLE THINK OF THE characteristics of a successful attorney, the term “risk-taker” does not typically come to mind. Christopher Garcia is out to change that.

Of course, he does not encourage attorneys to take risks without thinking. “Smart risk is a cornerstone of our legal practice at Dell Technologies,” Garcia asserts. “Here at Dell, we are willing to take risks as long as they are not disproportionate to the benefit. This may seem like common sense, but it has been game-changing at Dell to know that the legal advice a business leader receives will be pragmatic and aligned to our business goals.”

According to Garcia, the secret to Dell’s smart risk culture has been consistency. As the company and legal department grew over the years, Dell realized that hundreds of team members providing legal advice across more than one hundred countries with local laws, unique business practices, and nuanced cultural landscapes will inevitably have different perceptions of reasonable risk.

Those differences, Garcia says, can stifle the velocity of a global business initiative unless everyone is aligned on the same decision-making framework. To accomplish that, the Dell legal team works individually with every team member around the world to ensure that each one understands their business-centric, smart risk approach. Garcia also helps the legal team formulate a reasonable view of outcomes, rather than a sole focus on the worst possible result, by ensuring that they provide both a legal analysis and an enterprise risk assessment.

“Taking smart risks consistently and at scale is a significant challenge,” Garcia admits. “But it’s the companies that can move quickly and be comfortable with various levels of risk that are going to succeed.”

In Garcia’s mind, a company can only take successful risks if the people making those decisions are well-informed. In addition to making sure that everyone on Dell’s global legal team is on the same page regarding risk assessments, the Dell legal team is also embarking on an ambitious digital transformation of the legal department.

“We are leveraging the same Dell solutions that we provide to customers in order to assess workflow and implement intelligent automation, and we’re also moving our legal contracts to a structured, global data tool,” reports Garcia. “I believe that the best and brightest attorneys and legal teams will be armed with technology-based decision making. I appreciate that the legal industry is worried about the negative job impacts of automation and AI, but at Dell, we’re using those technologies to create super attorneys.”

As Garcia explains, technology does more than enable his legal team to make faster decisions—it also empowers them to make those decisions based on concrete data rather than gut instincts, which is the historical norm in legal environments. “Essentially, technology allows us to lean further into risk,” Garcia remarks. “It enables us to capture the details of legal agreements, map the provisions to a risk profile, and thus confidently execute decisions much closer to the front lines. It ensures that we’re not taking risks blind.”

A critical component of this technology-driven legal approach, Garcia notes, is Dell’s working partnership with Knowable. Knowable specializes in gaining machine learning-based visibility into business contracts, a service that plays a foundational role in Dell’s creation of a smart contracts database that connects negotiation playbooks and contract approval workflow tools.

“We have worked with individual team members from Knowable for quite some time, so we had a long-standing relationship with them and had a lot of mutual respect and trust,” Garcia explains. “But when we as a legal team decided to undertake our own digital transformation, which we have coined the ‘Future of Legal initiative,’ Knowable became a key partner to us and our strategy.

“In the past, a team member could only guess how often we adopted a certain contract position or the number of times a certain risk was realized,” Garcia continues. “Going forward with help from Knowable, we expect to both operate at a high level of insight on an everyday basis and address risks before they even arise through proactive risk management.”

All of these changes will help Dell maintain its place at the cutting edge of technology, Garcia says, but they would not be possible without the company’s entrepreneurial culture. “We don’t have a lot of management layers, so the whole company empowers team members to make decisions and take risks,” he says. That culture is actually one of the primary reasons he joined Dell in the first place, more than thirteen years ago.

The other was Dell’s reputation for management excellence. “Even from its early days, Dell was a case study in excellence and execution,” Garcia remembers. Today, Dell continues its legacy as a leader in the industry by committing to social and corporate responsibility. “We recently concluded a multiyear campaign that we referred to as the ‘2020 Legacy of Good,’” Garcia says. “It launched in 2013 looking ahead to 2020, and it galvanized us to closely examine the most pressing challenges facing our people and planet.” Garcia adds, “At Dell we love to win, but there is no point in winning unless you do it the right way. That puts ethics and corporate social responsibility at the heart of everything that we do.”

Garcia is proud to say that Dell has exceeded the goals outlined in the 2020 Legacy of Good initiative. “We met our goal to use one-hundred million pounds of sustainable materials in our products, focused on building the diverse workforce of the future, recovered two billion pounds in used electronics, and more,” notes Garcia. “And those initiatives have furthermore set a strong foundation for extending our commitment to our new plan: ‘Progress Made Real—Our Vision for 2030.’”

Knowable Inc.: “Knowable is proud to celebrate the accomplishments of Christopher Garcia. As the market leaders in the fast-growing field of contracts intelligence, we look forward to our continued partnership with Christopher and with Dell to drive ever more innovation that unlocks the business value trapped in clients’ unstructured agreements.” —Brendan Nelson, Executive Vice President of Product & Client Service

BY CELEBRATING

LATINA EXCELLENCE,

WE SHOW WHAT IS POSSIBLE

THERE IS A WIDELY-SHARED INSTAGRAM post that reads, “In 2019, you have two options: therapy or start your own podcast.”

Two years ago, when my co-owner and executive producer Juleyka LantiguaWilliams and I launched Latina to Latina , our weekly podcast, we weren’t consciously seeking the self-actualization and personal growth that might come from therapy; we were trying to fill a void in the market.

Podcasting is a booming industry. Apple Podcasts says it now hosts more than 750,000 podcasts on its platform. In 2018, marketers spent $479 million to advertise on podcasts in the US, an uptick of 53 percent from $314 million in 2017. And IAB projects that revenues will surpass $1 billion in 2021.

According to Nielsen, black and Latino listeners are using podcasts at twice the rate they were just five years ago. Yet, there

are still surprisingly few highly produced shows made by us and for us.

Each week on Latina to Latina , I talk with remarkable Latinas about making it, faking it, and everything in between. Our past guests include Hollywood powerhouses Gina Rodriguez and Gina Torres; business visionaries Katia Beauchamp and Nina Vaca; and leaders like UN General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa and US Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. Every guest has a unique story, and still, there are so many common threads that emerge again and again: respect for hard work, deep gratitude for families who have sacrificed to make all things possible, resilience in the face of adversity.

Juleyka and I know our listener because we are our listener: an educated, digitalnative Latina. In creating and producing our show, Juleyka and I initially aimed to

A letter from our guest editor, Alicia Menendez

Alicia Menendez

Cohost, Latina to Latina podcast Anchor, MSNBC

Author, The Likeability Trap

give our listener what we thought she would want: tactics, strategies, and how-tos for navigating professional spaces where she is often the first, the only, or one of a few.

Our audience is receptive to those practical elements, but what they really respond to is something different: intimacy, connection, and inspiration. They love to hear other successful Latinas’ challenges and learn how they overcame them to achieve greatness. Some of those challenges, from coming out to caring for ailing parents, are deeply personal. Other hurdles are professional: learning to take our seat at the table, navigating office politics, proving wrong those who don’t see us as leaders or visionaries. By celebrating Latina excellence, we’re reminding our listeners what is possible.

Our numbers tell part of the story of our success. In a year’s time we more than doubled our listens, while maintaining a listen-through rate of 82 percent, which beats the industry average of 60 percent. We’ve monetized with dynamic ads, merchandise, and live events.

But the real story is best told in the direct messages and emails we receive from our listeners. Our DMs are flooded with young Latinas across the country who affirm the need for these stories and this space.

It’s easy to forget how lonely and confusing those entry-level professional years can be. I think back to the early part of my career, when I would stay up late at night reading prominent journalists’ and broadcasters’ Wikipedia pages. That sleuthing provided some answers on the steps they took publicly, such as which markets they worked in, which networks they worked for, and

The insights Menendez gained through her interviews on the Latina to Latina podcast led her to write The Likeability Trap, released in November 2019.

which bad haircuts they survived. But no amount of internet research answered the finer points of how to give and receive feedback, how to manage up, and how to keep saying ‘yes’ to myself even when others were saying ‘no.’

The response from our listeners should remind all of us of the importance of mentorship and sponsorship, particularly for women of color. These young Latinas are looking for guidance, for inspiration, for help from someone who knows what they are going through.

In researching and writing my book, The Likeability Trap: How to Break Free and Succeed as You Are, I was struck by the fact that African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians in senior leadership are less likely to sponsor a colleague, even though they feel a responsibility to do so. One study from the Center for Talent Innovation found that only a quarter of Hispanics were sponsoring someone at their company. That is, in part, because we worry we don’t have the capital necessary to be an effective advocate for others. But if we don’t step in, who will?

To the Leading Latinas honored here, thank you for sharing your stories. They will inspire and inform the next generation of Latina leaders. But don’t stop there— connect directly with young Latinas at your company, in your industry, or simply those who you meet in your day to day.

Neither sharing our stories as inspiration for others, nor investing in mentees and sponsorees fully compensate for necessary organizational change, but it often provides someone else with the life raft she needs to stay afloat as she waits for the greater tides to turn.

“I was struck by the fact that African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians in senior leadership are less likely to sponsor a colleague, even though they feel a responsibility to do so.”

TERESA MARÍA KUMAR

MOBILIZES THE SECOND-LARGEST VOTING BLOC AND THE FUTURE LATINO PUBLIC SERVANTS OF AMERICA

BY KATHY KANTORSKI

PORTRAITS BY GILLIAN FRY

María Teresa Kumar Founding President and CEO Voto Latino

DRESSED IN A NAVY-BLUE JUMPSUIT WITH SATIN SASH— attire that exudes her confidence as a patriot and a feminist—María Teresa Kumar stood comfortably, her hands in her pockets, on the stage at L’ATTITUDE 2019 where she was about to begin her presentation. She squinted and covered her eyes as she looked out over the crowd, saying, “So I don’t think you guys can appreciate how bright it is.”

Though she was referring to the stage lighting, her statement tells a great deal about her attitude.

Just a few minutes prior, she was seated next to Al R. Cardenas in what Kumar said was supposed to be a conversation that crossed the political spectrum, but really reflected unity. During this session, Kumar’s positive outlook became evident.

“When people say America is broken, I say ask any immigrant what broken looks like,” she said, with Cardenas nodding in agreement. “That’s what they fled.”

Kumar is speaking from experience, though “flee” is not the correct term for her story. She and her mother migrated from Colombia when she was four years old so that her ill stepfather could convalesce with his family in Sonoma, California. Kumar continued to spend summers in Bogotá, gaining an acute awareness of the lack of opportunity she would have had in Colombia compared to the wealth of opportunity America offered.

When she became a naturalized US citizen at the age of nine, she went back to school the next day. “I went to a Catholic school and the teacher always asked, ‘What are you thankful for?’” she recalls. “People were thankful for things like their cat. I remember raising my hand that day and saying, ‘I’m thankful for being an American,’ and I could tell that nobody in my class knew what that meant. My teacher looked at me like, ‘How do you know what that means?’”

The nine-year-old Kumar may not have been able to explain her statement of gratitude, but she understands it very well now. “I said it because I deeply believe in this country,” she explains.

When she was in fifth grade, she came home from school crying. Her father asked what was wrong, and she told him that she had just learned the natural-born citizen clause in her studies of the constitution and realized she could not become president of the United States.

“I was precocious,” she says, laughing. “But the reason it hurt me was because I deeply believed that there were no barriers, and all of a sudden a barrier had presented itself in the country that told me I had none.”

She explains further, “I’ve been fortunate enough to travel the world and see very developed countries, and I know that, as a brown woman in any other country born of my circumstance, I would not have been able to self-realize.”

HER OPTIMISM IS RADIANT—BUT IT SHOULD NOT BE mistaken as naivete. Kumar understands the challenges facing America today. She sees the hatred, the division, the “tribalism,” as she calls it, that our current administration champions.

She saw it firsthand very recently, in fact. “I have family in El Paso,” she told the audience at L’ATTITUDE. “My kids were playing in that same mall two days before the shooting. El Paso is considered [one of] the safest [cities] in the country and it’s 85 percent Latino. This individual jumped into his car and drove ten hours to send a message.”

She then read a portion of the El Paso shooter’s manifesto: “This attack is in response to the Spanish invasion of Texas. . . . It helps remove the threat of the Hispanic voting bloc.”

The Hispanic voting bloc is a group Kumar knows very well. She works to empower and engage them daily in her role as the founding president and CEO of Voto Latino, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on civic engagement, issue advocacy, and leadership development for the Latino community. Since its inception in 2004, Voto Latino work has focused on voter registration, but over time, it has evolved.

“We do voter registration, but then we identify what issue you care about,” Kumar explains. “And once you tell us the issue, then we will tell you how and when to get activated. We will tell you points where you can mobilize, whether you’re going to a rally, signing a petition, showing up at town hall, or calling your member of Congress.”

Beyond civic involvement, Voto Latino also empowers young leaders with skills that they likely won’t learn from their family. “We were finding that 90 percent of the people participating in our conferences were the first in their families to go to college,” Kumar explains. “They’re just like me; we enter spaces where our parents have limited ability to help and coach us because you’re in spaces they’d never seen before, let alone understand.”

The leadership development conferences have a curriculum developed by Voto Latino in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation and MIT’s civic engagement lab. They focus on building financial skills, teaching how to be mentors and mentees, how to find networking opportunities, and more.

Another part of the leadershipdevelopment arm of Voto Latino is a camp that encourages young, aspiring leaders to run for office. “In the last five years, we’ve had four people [from our camp] run. Three have won and all of them have been the youngest [in their elected office],” Kumar says, listing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Greg Casar, and Wendy Carrillo.

“My hope is that the first Latino president will go through Voto Latino,” she

continues. “But it’s really about just preparing the country because if we do deeply believe in our values, we are a democracy, and that democracy thrives with participation. It is that participation that has actually gotten us to be a world leader. We shouldn’t shy away from that. We should own it.”

KUMAR DIDN’T ALWAYS WORK IN THE public sector. After earning her undergraduate degree from UC Davis, she worked as a congressional staffer for two years before earning her master’s degree from the Harvard Kennedy School and beginning a career in the private sector as a healthcare

“The only reason they fear us is because they see our potential. We should stop having to tell people why we’re here, because we know what we’re here for. We’re here to grow, to contribute to be the best version of ourselves. [We’re here] because we deeply believe in this country. We have to do this unapologetically. We have to flex our muscles unapologetically because when we show up, there’s nothing that we cannot do.”

consultant. “I wanted to do that because one of the things I noticed in Capitol Hill was the people who were representing businesses didn’t know anything about business,” she says.

PricewaterhouseCoopers hired Kumar right out of the Kennedy School, and she was slated to begin her career with the company in New York in late 2001.

This is where her story takes a turn. As it did for so many people, the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed her life.

“I was in the area that was cornered off because it was so close to the World Trade Center,” she recalls. “My boyfriend at the time—now my husband—and I walked past St. Vincent’s Hospital, and I remember very clearly that everybody was just waiting for ambulances, waiting for people. Nobody came. And then we turned the corner and it was the new business school, which was housing the area where people were searching for their loved ones . . . lines and lines and lines of people with pictures.

“So you have no one showing up to the hospital because there’s no one to save, and then you have lines of people looking for their loved ones,” she continues. “That was a turning point for me. My parents couldn’t get ahold of me and I couldn’t get ahold of them, and I had this come-toJesus moment where I realized I was working in the private sector because I wanted to satisfy my parents. They wanted me to do well and not worry about struggle. So up to that point, I had made a lot of my decisions based on financial factors versus what’s actually going to get me up in the morning, what’s meaningful and important.”

FACTS & FIGURES

60% OF US LATINOS ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 33

12M PEOPLE HAVE TURNED 18 YEARS OLD SINCE THE 2016 ELECTION

2/3 OF THEM ARE YOUNG PEOPLE OF COLOR

4M ARE LATINO YOUTHS

IN THE 2018 MIDTERM ELECTION, THE ELECTORATE WAS MADE UP OF

11% LATINOS

28% YOUNG VOTERS (AGES 34 OR YOUNGER)

25% FIRST-TIME VOTERS

THE 2020 LATINO ELECTORATE:

32M ELIGIBLE VOTERS, UP FROM 29 MILLION IN 2016

16M ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE

10M OF THE UNREGISTERED ARE YOUNG PEOPLE (AGES 34 OR YOUNGER)

With a new set of priorities for her career, Kumar spent a few years working on optimizing hospital systems, while openly looking for an opportunity to get into community work. In August 2004, Rosario Dawson and Phil Colón launched Voto Latino as what Kumar calls a “PSA partnership with MTV.” In the weeks to follow, they began “trying to figure out if it could be something more than a media campaign,” Kumar recalls. Her mentor helped her connect with Dawson.

“When I met Rosario, I was like, ‘Look, I want to give back to my community,’” she says. “And I either wanted to run something or start something, but I knew I wanted to focus on young people. When Rosario asked if I was interested, I jumped at the chance. I quit my job. I left New York and moved back home with my mom.”

At the time, she had been sending some of her earnings home to support her family. But with the new role, she would have no salary. “But my mom was so welcoming,” Kumar recalls. “She basically said, ‘María Teresa, that’s why we’re here, because I didn’t have these opportunities. This is what your heart is telling you. Let’s try it.’”

ON THE STAGE AT L’ATTITUDE, FIFTEEN years later and now a mother of two, she tells the audience of the incredible turning point she sees in our future, in her children’s future—all while emphasizing the importance of participation.

“What is beautiful—and why it’s so painful right now in this country—is that our biggest asset is the fact that we come from everywhere with a deep belief that

we can make anything happen,” she said. “And somehow along the way we’ve started questioning our ability of greatness. That hurts, because we shouldn’t expect less of this generation than of the past, when they didn’t have things like technology or medicine. We are in the best position possible and we’re not taking advantage and preparing the next generation, who is incredibly diverse.”

She explained that, in the 2018 elections, 49 percent of the registered Latino voters were never contacted by a political candidate or a party. Still, 2.5 million Latinos voted. “We have to realize that our power comes not from the parties, but from ourselves,” she said. “Because when we start showing up, they start paying attention.”

In 2018, Voto Latino’s goal was to register two hundred thousand voters. In 2019, that goal increased to five hundred

thousand, in concentrated states critical to the spring 2020 primary election. “By March 17, 2020, 70 percent of eligible Latino voters will be able to choose who their candidates are in the primary,” Kumar said, encouraging the audience to download Voto Latino’s VoterPal app, which simplifies the process of registering yourself and others to vote.

“The only way that we’re going to be at the table and not on the menu is for us to ensure we are building the infrastructure that we need, we’re registering our friends and family, and we’re having honest conversations about what’s going on in this country.”

This country, the land of opportunity. Where a precocious young naturalized citizen can take a crushed dream of becoming president and turn it into an opportunity to teach, empower, and champion future leaders and presidents.

More than half of Voto Latino’s board is female. We caught up with three of them for a photo shoot at the VL Power Summit in Austin, TX. Clockwise from top left: Ingrid Duran, Mar Í a Teresa Kumar, and Rosario Dawson.

ROSARIO

DAWSON

CATALYZES US LATINO CIVIC ENGAGEMENT THROUGH HER VOICE AND VISION

INTERVIEW BY KATHY KANTORSKI PORTRAIT BY GILLIAN FRY

IN AUGUST 2004, ROSARIO DAWSON OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED

Voto Latino at MTV studios in New York City. Attended by celebrity supporters such as Romeo Santos, John Leguizamo, and Nina Sky, the launch was a public service announcement to catalyze voter registration among the Latino community—especially young voters. After the fifteenth anniversary of Voto Latino and before the 2020 primaries, we caught up with Dawson to discuss the organization’s evolution.

What inspired you to launch Voto Latino?

Numbers don’t lie. Population shifts meant that Latinos had become the largest minority group and were therefore poised to be even more of a critical voting and leadership power in the United States. It fired up an urgency to connect community to information, resources, and networks to better prepare and address issues long neglected by lack of participation and representation. What better way to do that than launch an effort using technology and media to reach folks where they were and empower them with the knowledge that their leadership and voice—through voting, filling out census forms, and mobilizing individually and collectively—could positively impact the country in an unprecedented way.

What did you see in María Teresa when you first asked her to lead Voto Latino, and how has that evolved in the fifteen years since?

The possibilities and scope of this organization could not and would not have been explored without someone at the helm to take the seeds of this idea and nurture them to fruition. María Teresa is a passionate, brilliant force of nature with vision and tenacity who immediately put me at ease when I met her. She knew what was possible and what was at stake and meticulously built and grew Voto Latino into what

it is today. I love the audacity she continues to bring to this work. We dream big at Voto Latino and I’m consistently blown away at seeing plans, wistfully imagined over the years, come to life with real impact and scope. The family that is our team has developed an effective organizational force over the years and I couldn’t be more grateful.

What has been your favorite Voto Latino moment?

There have been so many. Being a part of advancing technology like voter registration through texting in 2006—which other campaigns co-opted. Being a part of the creation of National Voter Registration Day. The community, leadership, and education that has come out of our yearly Power Summits. And now expanding the reach and usability of our VoterPal app that makes it possible to register voters across the United States. [All of this] impresses upon me that dreaming big, coalition building, commitment, focus, and determination can make a real impact. When we see and support each other there is nothing we cannot do.

What do you hope will be Voto Latino’s biggest impact?

Voto Latino will be remembered for galvanizing community, building coalitions that spearheaded critical change, and clearing the path for the first of many Latinx presidents! We often talk about making ourselves obsolete. [We are] evolving the efficiency of the system so voter registration won’t have to drain so much money, time, effort, and resources. To imagine that we could be a critical part of the evolution of how our democracy works and how citizens participated in it would be remarkable indeed. To represent the full spectrum of our capabilities and usher in an era of justice and peace from the grass roots, ground up . . . that is the future we are building and creating now.

Rosario Dawson Cofounder

Voto Latino

KATIABEAUCHAMP

HAS EVOLVED FROM LEADING A WILDLY SUCCESSFUL START-UP TO REVOLUTIONIZING THE CULTURE OF WORK

BY KATHY KANTORSKI

HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED A TELEVISION SERIES by Aaron Sorkin or Amy Sherman-Palladino? From The West Wing and Newsroom to Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, they create worlds of fast-paced dialogue in which strong personalities are put in situations of intense vulnerability. These captivating scenarios expose the thoughts and emotions experienced during the human-nature processes of learning and growing, failing and adapting.

If a series were created about the life of Katia Beauchamp, it would be best written by Sorkin or Sherman-Palladino. The fast-talking, quick-thinking, open and honest Beauchamp began her career as an almost instant success. And ever since, she has been learning and growing, failing and adapting in the spotlight.

“[Leadership] is such hard work,” Beauchamp says. “Success hides a lot of your flaws. People start to think of you as being so good at your job, and I assure you that when I think about the job title I had then, I’m just like, ‘That was robbery. I was not good at that.’”

As the story goes, Beauchamp and her Harvard roommate, Hayley Barna, cofounded a beauty-product subscription service called Birchbox from their college dorm room. Their subscription-service model would go on to be copied by dozens, if not hundreds, of other ecommerce businesses.

Beauchamp’s entrepreneurial ambition was driven by her desire for self-realization. She was good at math and had been finding her way into a career in finance. A mandatory class on entrepreneurship—one that mostly

Katia Beauchamp Cofounder and CEO Birchbox

covered cases of failure—sparked inspiration. She laughs when thinking about it now. Despite the sobering reality of failure that the class taught, Beauchamp had what she describes as the wrong reaction: “This sounds awesome.”

At the time, she felt that no one cared about her brain. “It was like, ‘All you can do is this Excel model,’” she recalls. “And I was like, ‘I think I can do more.’ So, when I started learning about entrepreneurship, I was like, this is the opportunity to find out. Test the hypothesis. Could I do more? What if I was in charge of limiting myself? What if I was the only thing standing between me and the goal? I just became obsessed. I was like, ‘I just want to know myself. I just want to know what I could do.’”

To sum it up: Beauchamp looked with disdain on the reality she saw, so she decided to invent her own.

It takes a certain kind of toughness, a fearlessness, to invent your own reality. Beauchamp calls it resilience—“which I define as being knocked down over and over again and being willing to get up,” she says. “I have never really been that afraid of being knocked down, and I think it’s because if you don’t come from a lot, the fall doesn’t feel far.”

It’s true that she started her business at a very young age, when she was able to take risks without much fear of failure, but Beauchamp’s resilience is also a byproduct of confidence—a trait she learned from her grandmother.

“My grandmother was this powerful and incredible matriarch, a feminist of her time,” she says. “When I was four years old and I said, ‘Abuelita, I want to be president of the United States,’ she said, ‘Absolutely.’ And the whole

THE FUTURE STARTS NOW

Evidence of her leadership style, Katia Beauchamp empowered a Birchbox staffer to develop an idea for formalizing the company’s philanthropic initiatives. Called The Future Starts Now Fund, the idea aligns with Beauchamp’s own invent-your-reality beliefs and empowers customers to remove the obstacles preventing them from following their passion. “We kicked it off kind of quietly and had thousands of applications the first year,” Beauchamp says of the 2018 launch. “And then the number got even bigger, and we are just building around it. Because, honestly, why else would you start a company other than trying to make the world better? It makes everybody at Birchbox so excited just to hear these people’s stories and to feel like we were a small part in being like, ‘Why not today? Today you can do it.’”

family started planning, who’s going to be on my security detail, who’s going to be in the cabinet. She was just this really important person in my life.”

It was this confidence and resilience that carried Beauchamp through the first few years of Birchbox— years in which she learned some very important lessons.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DELEGATION AND EMPOWERMENT

“I always had this feeling that I needed to protect people from what was really hard, protect them from failure,” she says. “And that just disengages everybody. It also makes you feel extremely alone. Everyone says it’s lonely at the top, but it doesn’t have to be. You ask me a question, ‘How should I do this?’ And of course I have an answer for that! But I didn’t realize this was taking away people’s agency and really not allowing them to be with me on this journey of evolution.” Beauchamp has worked on finding a happy medium where she leads while also giving away significant responsibility—of choosing the times when she is hands-on, and the times she should step back to let others lead.

WHICH CUSTOMER TO TARGET

“The biggest shift for Birchbox was when we had this epiphany in 2014,” she recalls. The company was trying to figure out how it fit into the beauty industry and discovered that other beauty companies focused on the hyper consumer—“people who really like beauty,” Beauchamp explains. “Someone who walks into a Sephora or Bloomingdale’s and is like, ‘I’m so excited to see all of these options.’” These other beauty companies would design their user experience around this hyperconsumer, but Birchbox noticed that its customer base was “the complete inverse of that,” she says. “Our customer came in skeptical and moderately interested in beauty, which is exactly how my cofounder and I felt about it. I want to not wash my hair, get out the door in ten minutes, and I

would like to freeze myself in time. A lot of women that we talked to felt that way. Like 70 percent of the market was just not even considered [by the beauty industry].”

So Birchbox homed in on the everyday consumer. “It was hard,” Beauchamp says. “We’re going after a customer that is not looking for anything and is, by definition, fine.

“But here’s what I believe,” she continues. “Beauty is discretionary. No one has to do it. So why should anybody be fine when we spend discretionary dollars? That’s BS. Discretionary dollars should be delightful to spend. You should feel smart when you’re spending it. And 70 percent of the market is a huge opportunity. So, the biggest shift has been shedding everything that looks like a beauty company and making sure it’s about the individual and not the product.”

FOCUS ON INNOVATION RELEVANCE

During the journey of self-discovery for both the company and Beauchamp, technology has played an important role. But Beauchamp did her best to steer clear of the bright, shiny distractions of technological advances. “I think innovation is important, but it gets confusing to focus on innovation,” she says. “At Birchbox, we focus on relevance. Innovation for the sake of innovation is like, ‘Great, that’s a party trick.’ There’s a lot you can do with technology, but if it’s not useful to the consumer, then you’ve just spent a lot of time impressing somebody else. We learned early on at Birchbox that focusing on relevance could take you to a different place and could be innovative without the traditional way we think of innovation. Our vision, which keeps us on this treadmill of change, is to be forever useful and always delightful.”

Now ten years since its founding, Birchbox has recently been making some big—yes, innovative—moves to further its relevance with the everyday consumer. A partnership with Walgreens has resulted in a dozen Birchbox shops now open within the drugstore’s locations, and a nonbinary rebrand has Birchbox selling gender-free products.

The company’s journey is advancing, but so is Beauchamp’s own leadership journey. The experience of inventing her own reality has been so powerful, she has become a champion of the mind-set. “What drives me and motivates me every day is to change the expectations of what it means to go to work for people at Birchbox,” she says. Unlike traditional corporate careers, where, as she explains, “you have to wait five to fifteen years in your career before you can have an idea and contribute,” Beauchamp wants staffers to have a voice, to be able to create their own realities. “Because once you realize how possible it is to invent reality—inventing reality means you get to define the start line of when it begins—you can just be like, ‘Right now, crossing over.’

“I hope that the biggest impact I have from Birchbox is the throughput of thousands of people who have a different expectation and change the workplace so that my kids can go to work and have a voice, be part of creation and inventing their own reality. I want that for my kids, I want them to understand how possible it is to create.”

“I hope that the biggest impact I have from Birchbox is the throughput of thousands of people who have a different expectation and change the workplace so that my kids can go to work and have a voice, be part of creation and inventing their own reality. I want that for my kids, I want them to understand how possible it is to create.”

Maria Bartolome Winans Chief Marketing Officer IBM

THE CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER HAS SPENT NEARLY THREE DECADES AT IBM FORWARDING AN AGENDA OF INNOVATION, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION

BY LIOR PHILLIPS PORTRAITS BY CASS DAVIS

MARIA BARTOLOME WINANS

A MOVE CAN BE A DIFFICULT, LIFE-CHANGING experience for any child—especially one that’s intercontinental. Raised in Santiago by her Chilean mother and Spanish father, Maria Bartolome Winans immigrated to the United States when her father, then a professor at the University of Chile, accepted an opportunity at Duke University. Ultimately, the family welcomed the leap, knowing it would hold strong to its culture over the course of its journey. “My parents were very instrumental in making sure that I stay connected to my background. I learned to honor what made me unique,” Bartolome Winans says. “We spoke Spanish at home and embraced our roots. But more importantly, they saw an opportunity to give me a better life while Chile faced economic uncertainty.” This dichotomy, chasing opportunity and challenges while also honoring one’s past and culture, is critical to Bartolome Winans’s work for IBM.

As she grew up, Bartolome Winans pursued opportunities afforded to her in the fertile academic area of North Carolina known as the Research Triangle Park. She attended the University of North Carolina, earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration and art. When it came time to find her first job after college, she wanted to commit to an institution that valued the continued education and diversity that thrived at UNC. “For every one of my twenty-nine years at IBM, I’ve been given the opportunity to continuously learn, educate, and challenge myself,” she says.

It’s no secret that IBM is a massive company, both in terms of its global impact and the sheer number of people in the organization. That size gave Bartolome Winans a new perspective and a clear way to embrace and be inspired by her parents’ dreams. She learned early on not to shy away from the magnitude of IBM but to instead be

excited by the freedom she was afforded to make a name for herself. “I was always the type that looked for opportunities to try new things, to stretch myself,” she says. “And I learned that a lot of the characteristics that really make me unique—my heritage, my culture, speaking Spanish, being curious, always working very hard—helped me differentiate myself.”

Three years into her tenure with IBM, Bartolome Winans was given the chance to utilize her background and skills in Latin America and Europe. Not only did she speak Spanish and have a deep understanding of a variety of cultures but she also had a strong work ethic and an eagerness to test herself. As a dreamer traveling the world for IBM at a young age, Bartolome Winans began to see that she could maximize her influence—and she became empowered to think big and think bold. “I made a commitment to myself that by the time I was forty, I was going to be a vice president of this company,” she explains. “I didn’t know if it was going to be in sales, marketing, or strategy, but I knew I was going to be a vice president. I was certain I could do more; the opportunities were immense.”

Part of the process of differentiating herself came in learning to be vocal, bringing her unique self to the leadership experience. As she rose through the ranks of IBM— eventually to her current role as CMO of North American marketing—Bartolome Winans put a priority on sharing that focus with other women and people of color. Not only does she run the largest geographical marketing team at IBM, she finds the time to attend and lead conversations with diversity and inclusion groups, encouraging employees to embrace the diversity within themselves. “I’m a very proud mother of two beautiful children, and I’m an executive. I’m a Latina and also an American. I’m all the ands that I want to be. That’s the power of choice,” she says.

Hispanic Executive asked IBM Global Performance Marketing Manager Vanina Marcote about her mentor-mentee relationship with Maria Bartolome Winans and what it means as a young Latina to work at a forward-thinking global company.

How has IBM empowered you to bring your authentic identity as a Latina to the workplace?

IBM has always provided me with opportunities, including the life-changing one to move to the United States. What brought me to the place I am today are the qualities that make me different. IBM values and promotes my personality, cultural heritage, and challenger mentality. It’s enabled me to nurture and develop my career in a new country.

What’s a recent IBM initiative that underlines the company’s progressive mentality when it comes to D&I?

Something that I really admire about IBM is the way that we prioritize the empowerment of our female leadership. IBM has very strong women in critical roles, Maria being a clear example. It’s taking the necessary steps towards breaking gender biases and creating a path of equal opportunity.

How has your relationship with Maria informed your own role as a strong Latina mentor?

Maria is an inspiration to me in almost all facets. Her story proves that you can

achieve anything as long as you are willing to take risks and work hard. I’ve learned so much from my relationship with Maria by listening and observing her closely. She teaches and inspires me with her actions, which I think is the only way to be an impactful leader.

What is a particularly impactful strength of Maria’s that you feel has resonated with you?

I think there are special people who have their own light, who are game changers. People who inspire, motivate, and challenge you. People who invite you to think big and different. People who push you to take risks and learn from both your good decisions and your mistakes.

That’s Maria. Her energy inspires me to push forward, her vision provides clear direction, and her work ethic drives concrete results. She is the type of leader that everyone admires, and the leader that I hope to be.

As a native of Argentina, how has IBM become your home away from home?

Leaving my life in Argentina was not easy. I had a great job, my family, my friends, my

people, my life. But I also had a dream—a life in New York. So, when that dream came knocking on the door, I had no choice but to chase it. Not only did IBM give me the opportunity to move to NYC but it also took special interest in my career by growing my skill set from a small geography like Latin America to a worldwide scope.

But my life is not just about work! I needed to create a social life in my new country as well. IBM introduced me to new

friends, some of them expats from different countries— which makes this company rich and diverse—and some of them Americans that were open to meeting new people. IBM not only gave me my career but friends that bring me so much happiness and laughter.

Building my home away from home reminds me of a phrase that rings true in my life: “If you are brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.”

In addition, Bartolome Winans is a believer in the power of mentorship. Having had role models and mentors herself, she wants to help IBM employees and other professionals realize their capabilities. “It’s important to hear from outsiders, from the experiences of others about what motivated them, what inspired them, and what decisions they’d have made in particular situations,” she says. “For some that’s business, and for others it’s more personal—being a mother in the workforce, for example.” IBM has long maintained an external perspective, performing outreach through social engagement, building relationships, and instilling the values of mentorship.

One of the CMO’s most recent mentor relationships is with Vanina Marcote, IBM’s global performance market manager. Marcote moved from Argentina to the US to enrich her opportunities and was connected to Bartolome Winans by another marketing executive who recognized that she could learn from someone who had traveled a similar path. “We’ve built a great rapport, an ability to connect through the different dynamics between the US and Latin America,” Bartolome Winans says. As cochair of the IBM Hispanic Council, she was able to pull Marcote into a project building the group’s social presence. “We started to do a lot of outreach through social engagement, demonstrating that there is opportunity for Latinas at IBM, and focusing on our own executives as well as the importance of mentorship,” Bartolome Winans says. Not only did Marcote help build external engagement in the council but, as a result of excelling in a new area, she’s also built confidence to take on broader responsibilities with her own job. Bartolome Winans has worked to instill in Marcote the attitude that as she leads from the front, it’s crucial to include every single voice—that strong leadership means leading with the people.

By putting forth positive energy and an environment of inclusion, Bartolome Winans ensures that she commits to IBM’s enduring values. (In 1935, the company instituted equal pay for women and men who were in the same position, and it first signed an equal opportunity agreement in 1953.) In fact, she believes IBM’s commitment to inclusion is inherent in her background as well as the drive her parents inspired within her. “I want to build a culture where every single team member is working at their best and wanting to come into a job where they feel like what they’re doing matters,” she says. “IBM has a long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion. We’ve stayed very true to those values because we know that diverse teams drive innovation. It’s to our benefit to come to clients with a diverse team

full of different backgrounds, with different experiences and points of view.”

Bartolome Winans says that she’s proud to lean into the IBM motto “I believe. I belong. I matter.” Not only do the words resonate deeply with her own career path but as a mentor, she also uses it to influence individuals like Marcote to believe that they too can summon the power of change. Nearly thirty years in at IBM, the CMO remains committed to the long-standing values of innovation, diversity, and inclusion, in part because they match the values of her upbringing. And she still gets excited by the prospect of motivating young Latinas to be their best selves through the promise of those same values. “Working with someone like Vanina—it’s why I get up every day,” she says.

CATHERINE HERNANDEZ

-BLADES

APPLIES FORWARD-THINKING COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIES TO GROUNDBREAKING SOCIAL GOOD CAMPAIGNS LIKE THE MY SPECIAL AFLAC DUCK INITIATIVE

BY SARA DEETER

NO ONE HAS BEEN QUITE READY FOR CATHERINE

Hernandez-Blades. When she was appointed executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, she was the youngest director of a state agency since the Reconstruction. In the aerospace and defense companies she worked for, she was the youngest executive ever promoted to her positions. At Aflac, Hernandez-Blades’s leading-edge environmental, social, and governance (ESG) program has led to the invention of the award-winning social robot known as My Special Aflac Duck, which helps pediatric cancer patients in the US and Japan find comfort and joy in supporting their communication and treatment efforts.

“When I received the distinguished graduate award from my alma mater three years ago, someone told me that I’d come quite a way from the Louisiana swamp I grew up in,” the SVP says, laughing. “I love that deep down, I’m really that kid who grew up down at the bayou. When I was young, I never even realized that a career path in PR was an option. I just knew that I loved language and words and telling human interest stories.”

Some of Hernandez-Blades’s favorite stories have emerged from the company’s My Special Aflac Duck initiative, through which the company distributes toy-sized Aflac ducks to patients. But a special Aflac Duck is far from a mere plaything. It is an advanced, soothing companion to distressed children—and its actual heartbeat makes it that much closer to a living, breathing friend.

Selected as one of Time magazine’s 50 Best Inventions of 2018, My Special Aflac Duck is equipped with a variety of sensors (including tickle sensors) that enable it to play and snuggle as well as act out a child’s

Catherine Hernandez-Blades SVP and Chief ESG & Communications Officer Aflac

thoughts and feelings. “One of my favorite moments was when I was visiting Children’s National Medical Center with a reporter from the Washington Post and met a family with twin boys, one with leukemia and the other cancerfree,” says Hernandez-Blades. “The little boy with leukemia had been diagnosed before his second birthday, so he wasn’t verbal. His parents had a great deal of difficulty explaining what was going on; the boys couldn’t understand why one of them had to stay in the hospital all the time and get poked with needles and undergo very difficult treatments while the other didn’t.

“The family showed us how it used the My Special Aflac Duck to explain to the boys what was going on. And something truly incredible happened! The boys showed us how they used it to communicate with each other. One brother asked the other why he didn’t want

Shining the spotlight on Catherine Hernandez-Blades

“We commend Catherine Hernandez-Blades and Aflac for their commitment to customers and community, and for their ongoing innovation in communications.

Congratulations on this recognition, with best wishes from your partners at Hill+Knowlton Strategies.”

Richard Millar Global President, Hill+Knowlton Strategies

SHOWING UP . . . IN STILETTOS

For Catherine Hernandez-Blades, Aflac’s majority-women workplace is an inspiring but striking contrast to her previous experiences in maledominated industries like seafood, aerospace, and defense.

“When I was coming up in my career, there was no one who looked like me,” Hernandez-Blades says. “I wanted to model behavior that demonstrated that I was competent, but I also didn’t want to sacrifice myself, or change who I was, to become one of the guys. I always wore heels, whether I was in the office or on an airboat or a seaplane.

“I did it because I like them and they are comfortable for me. While that may seem unconventional to some, I hope my efforts to bring my full self to the table at work have helped others to feel they can do the same. And over time, I have come to know that who I truly am is reflected in all the work I do at Aflac.”

to play with him today. The child with cancer responded by holding up the green emoji to the duck’s chest, and then the duck acted out the feeling of being ill. Everyone speaks emoji, no matter what age,” recalls Hernandez-Blades.

“That’s exactly what we’re doing with My Special Aflac Duck,” she goes on to explain. “We’re telling an authentic story filled with passionate people in order to change hearts and minds and drive behaviors. Currently, of all of the US government funding earmarked for cancer treatment and research, only 4 percent goes toward pediatric cancer efforts. Four percent is not enough. This is not a moment, it’s a movement—and I’m proud of the role that Aflac and my team have played in this.”

Aflac’s partners at Hill+Knowlton Strategies have taken a keen notice of Hernandez-Blades ingenuity in relation to her My Special Aflac Duck initiative. “Through her focus on purpose-driven communications and ESG programs, Catherine Hernandez-Blades is helping Aflac make a meaningful difference,” explains the company’s global president, Richard Millar. “Hill+Knowlton Strategies proudly supports efforts promoting Aflac’s CSR platform with reputation-focused thought leadership and creative initiatives that activate national CSR efforts through local-level programs.”

According to Hernandez-Blades, the convergence of business opportunity and social impact makes the My Special Aflac Duck initiative a perfect example of the importance of ESG programs. “I like to compare these programs to Santa Claus,” the SVP says,

chuckling. “Regardless of how you feel about it or whether you believe in it, you can’t deny the social or economic impact. You must be as transparent as possible and tell your company’s narrative in a way that everyone can understand the social and economic impact of the good you’re doing.

“One of my happiest moments was after my presentation at Cannes, where we won two Lions, when a gentleman from South America told me his company had seen media reports of our robotic duck,” Hernandez-Blades remembers. “He shared that they were so inspired that they were developing their own social robot for another cause, which is incredible, as Aflac doesn’t have a presence in South America. It was a secondary goal of the campaign. We could not have been more delighted.”

As Hernandez-Blades sees it, telling those narratives is much more complicated than it used to be—at least, for those doing it right.

“Companies often engage in communications the same way they did five years ago, and they might as well be using hammers, chisels, and stone tablets,” Hernandez-Blades asserts. “The world has changed—consumer expectations have changed, the user experience has changed, and the pace of change is never going to slow down. Think about it. That can be scary. More importantly, it creates an enormous opportunity to create environments that provide experiences, drive engagement, and facilitate exchanges. Think of it as moving from the four P’s of marketing to the four E’s of marketing.”

The narrative that Hernandez-Blades has helped craft surrounding the My Special Aflac Duck initiative has unquestionably changed hearts and minds. After seeing its measurable influence on children across the nation as well as potential customers, Aflac has committed $3 million a year to the initiative—in perpetuity.

“Even though the entire My Special Aflac Duck media campaign has been completely earned, without any paid support, a Reputation Institute survey found that six months into the distribution of ducks, 15 percent of Americans had heard of the program and 100 percent of them were more likely to apply to purchase an Aflac product as a result,” explains Hernandez-Blades. “It’s just another example of doing good meaning good business. I hope those statistics inspire other companies to find their causes, their social purposes, and make a positive impact as well.”

“With My Special Aflac Duck, we’re telling an authentic story filled with passionate people in order to change hearts and minds and drive behaviors.”

Diane E. Lopez VP and General Counsel Harvard University

DIANELOPEZ

THE HARVARD OF TODAY IS NOT THE HARVARD OF FIFTY—OR EVEN ONE HUNDRED— YEARS AGO, BUT THE GENERAL COUNSEL CONTINUES TO ENSURE THAT THE UNIVERSITY IS RESOLUTE IN WORKING TOWARDS DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

BY SARA DEETER

DIANE E. LOPEZ HAS WORKED AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY for more than twenty-five years, but her life there is far from repetitive. As vice president and general counsel, Lopez helps bring a sense of order to the ever-shifting legal, cultural, and social landscapes that define one of the oldest and most tradition-bound institutions in the country.

“I’ve been in the position for only four months, but it’s been a pretty earth-shaking change for me,” Lopez says of her recent promotion to general counsel. “There haven’t been many general counsels at Harvard, so I am joining a very select group of people. It is a little overwhelming.”

Having previously served as Harvard’s deputy general counsel, Lopez has plenty of experience in managing the affairs of the legal department. Now she is not only responsible for hiring and retaining excellent legal professionals but also for translating the truly “mind-boggling” variety of legal matters overseen by her department to Harvard’s governing body, known as its President and Fellows.

“We have operations all over the world as well as really specific educational and research issues,” Lopez offers. “In this legal department, you might do everything you would as a counsel for a small city, as well as provide legal advice needed by a sophisticated and expanding nonprofit enterprise.” But because the university has such particular legal needs, Lopez says, her department has a number of specialized lawyers who often don’t have much opportunity to talk with one another.

“During my first year as general counsel, I want to focus the office on increasing collaboration between the attorneys and thinking of ways in which we can do better at information sharing; it makes us better lawyers to share about the situations we’re seeing and the advice we’re providing,” Lopez says. “We have a saying in my office: ‘everything is related to everything.’ It’s amazing how a real estate matter can relate to a healthcare matter and to a student affairs matter.”

Whatever the context of a case, Lopez says, the legal department’s mission is to help the university solve its problems and achieve its goals. And these days, some

PICTURING SUCCESS

Despite the array of projects, initiatives, and programs that fall under Diane E. Lopez’s purview, she still makes time to attend events such as those sponsored by the Harvard Foundation Portraiture Project. Through this project, Lopez explains, Harvard has been commissioning oil portraits of people of color associated with the university, including a portrait of Rosa Rios, the first Hispanic woman to serve as treasurer of the United States. “When you go to these types of ceremonies,” Lopez says, “you know it’s all worth it.”

of the main goals revolve around diversity and inclusion.

“We have a particularly multidimensional problem to solve in higher education,” Lopez reasons. “We have the usual component of how to deal with a changing workforce, and lifetime tenure provides both challenges and opportunities in the area of diversity. But, of course, we also have the dimension of the student body.”

Because students only stay at a university for two to eight years, Lopez explains, institutions can diversify that population much more quickly than other constituent parts of the university. But Lopez is fully aware that diversity is only the first step. In a recent effort to promote inclusion, she joined with other leaders of the Harvard community in a presidential task force to examine key issues such as recruitment, retention, and academic and social integration, resulting in a report that is a blueprint for change: Pursuing Excellence on a Foundation of Inclusion

However, community meetings, reports, and surveys are only part of what’s needed to address fundamental issues at an institution that is hundreds of years old, Lopez notes. “You have to find a way to honor the history and traditions by making changes in a way that brings all people along,” Lopez says, adding that “you must take

care not to change too much of a culture that has been so successful for so long.” She notes that this “is not easy—it requires ongoing effort.”

Recently, as part of this effort to drive inclusion, Harvard and a number of its peer institutions filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of the continuation of the DACA program. DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is an Obama-era program that allows immigrant children with unlawful presence in the US to work and attend school here without fear of deportation. Many young women and men protected by DACA attend Harvard and other top schools, Lopez says.

But sometimes, as with the recent lawsuit challenging Harvard’s admissions policies, the university’s endeavors to promote diversity encounter pushback. “At this point, we have been defending our holistic admissions process for Harvard College for many years,” Lopez says of the widely discussed case, which she says will likely go all the way up to the Supreme Court. “We recently received good news that the District Court sided with Harvard and recognized the validity of considering race as one of many admission factors to achieve the benefits of diversity among our undergraduate population. Defending

Pursue change.

this case is a concrete way to demonstrate that the university cares about these values, and I’m very proud of that.”

One of Lopez’s outside law firms, Goodwin Procter LLP, strongly believes in the general counsel’s own values as they apply to Harvard. Not only is the firm quick to back her legal acumen, but it also touts her ability to thrive under pressure. “Diane is an exceptional lawyer set apart by remarkable leadership skills and judgment,” explains Roberto Braceras, a partner at Goodwin Procter. “She has a measured, tactical approach to complex problems and manages to project calm and confidence even at the most challenging of times.”

Whether it’s an admissions policy or a recently adopted accessibility policy to make the university’s web content more approachable for the deaf and hard of hearing community, Lopez and her team know that their ideas will be explored, their concerns considered, and their voices heard by other leaders at the university.

“Important decisions at Harvard are not made in a top-down, hierarchical way,” Lopez remarks. “Many of our decisions have to be made after listening, gathering information, talking, and developing a concept—and only then going out and persuading people that this is the time to do something. It’s not a ‘because I said so’ environment.”

That environment is just one of the many things Lopez has come to place great value on during her long tenure at the university. “I have come to have so much affection for the institution, the good it does in the world, and the values it tries to transmit to students,” she says. “I would just like to leave the office of general counsel as strong and respected as it was when I inherited it.”

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Pickering Hale and Dorr llp

WilmerHale is a leading, full-service international law firm providing quality, world-class legal representation and client services across a comprehensive range of practice areas. A leader in diversity, WilmerHale ensures an inclusive workplace that reflects the diversity of our clients and the communities in which we practice. Learn more at wilmerhale.com.

“We recently received good news that the District Court sided with Harvard and recognized the validity of considering race as one of many factors to achieve the benefits of diversity among our undergraduate population. Defending this case is a concrete way to demonstrate that the university cares about these values, and I’m very proud of that.”

DANIELA

DWYER

UNDERSTANDS THE DELICATE BALANCE BETWEEN LIFE AND WORK—AND SHE ENCOURAGES THOSE SHE MANAGES TO WORK TOWARDS THAT UNDERSTANDING TOO

BY JULIA THIEL

DANIELA DWYER’S CAREER TRAJECTORY hasn’t always moved her forward—and that was by her own design. After eight years at the software company VMware, where she was legal operations manager, she decided it was time for a change. Dwyer had both a newborn and a one-year-old, and her husband’s career as a police officer was taking off. She wanted a job with more flexibility and an easier commute while her daughters were young, so she applied for an executive admin position at eBay. “When I went to interview, I said, ‘Here’s my resume, and I know you’ll ask me why I’m even applying for this position,’” she says. Her soon-to-be boss was surprised that she wanted the role, which was a step down from her previous responsibilities, but she was also happy to hire her. Dwyer made sure that even if it was an executive admin position, she would run all of the operations for her team. After a couple of years, a position opened at eBay that better fit her skill set—the head of legal

Daniela Dwyer Head of Global Legal Operations eBay

WINNING, TIME AFTER TIME

In the last several years, working out has become a big part of the work/life balance that Dwyer strives for. She always wanted to play sports growing up, but her parents couldn’t afford it. Working full-time while going to school didn’t allow much time for exercise either. But when her younger daughter, Scarlett, was two years old, Dwyer ran her first full marathon. Then, she became a spin instructor at Gold’s Gym.

Now Dwyer competes every year in the Dri-Tri fitness competition at Orangetheory, which consists of rowing 2,000 meters, doing 300 body weight reps (like squats and push-ups), and running a 5K. For the last three years, she’s placed first in her age category.

“My daughters go and watch me, my husband helps them make motivational signs,” Dwyer says. “Avery is five, Scarlet is four. Having them come to my competitions and see that mommy finished a marathon—it’s a good example for them to see that if you work hard and prepare, you can pretty much do anything.”

operations—and that’s where she’s been for the last two years. “I took a step back for two and a half years, now I’m back pouring myself into my career,” she says.

Dwyer was born in Mexico City and grew up in San Jose, California. Her parents worked blue-collar jobs and didn’t graduate high school. “They instilled a strong work ethic in my sisters and me,” she said. “We all graduated with four-year degrees while working full-time.” Her interest in law began in high school, when she worked as a receptionist at a small law firm. Over time, she took on some of the responsibilities of a paralegal, and when that law firm closed she moved on to others, getting her paralegal certificate along the way. After taking a paralegal job at VMware in 2007, she considered law school but ultimately decided to get a degree in business instead. “I had worked with many attorneys and knew what that life would entail,” she says. “I like to have work/life balance.”

It was at VMware that Dwyer made the transition from legal assistant to legal operations manager, a shift that she credits largely to her boss and mentor at the company, Leif Frykman. “He gave me projects that I thought I wasn’t capable of and said, ‘I trust you, I know you can do it,’” Dwyer says. There was no legal operations team at VMware at the time; and with Frykman’s guidance, Dwyer started one, including an e-billing system and mentoring program.

She also streamlined processes, managed a budget, handled communications, assisted with IT projects, and created a worldwide legal department newsletter. Frykman also encouraged her to make her first big presentation at an off-site legal meeting to share what she was doing in the legal operations space. “I said, ‘I can’t. It’s going to be directors, VPs.’ He said, ‘You can do it, we can review your slides,’” Dwyer remembers. “He would make me practice, give me constructive criticism. I just felt like I had someone who was always backing me up. It was true leadership.”

After moving to eBay, Dwyer found another mentor in Tekedra Mawakana, who was VP of global government relations. “She taught me that things will happen when it’s the right time,” Dwyer says. “I had put my career a little bit on hold and she always said, ‘You need to be patient. Be focused but positive.’ When I took on the head of legal operations, she was the first person to tell me, ‘See? It was the right timing.’”

Now that she’s a boss herself, Dwyer tries to implement lessons she learned from Frykman and Mawakana. She knows that she needs to be nimble when creating practices that improve and drive efficiencies within her legal team at eBay. Currently, she is working with various key players in the company on the Outside Counsel Cost Savings Project, which would not only lower rates and outside counsel costs, but also set up a law firm list of preferred providers. She’s also been focused on implementing an e-billing system in 2020 that will offer a better reporting structure and clearer budgeting capabilities to the company’s senior leadership team.

Still, one of the most important components of each initiative for Dwyer is trusting that, as a manager, she has the faith of each member of her team. “It has been said that managers focus on things, such as deadlines, budgets, and strategic plans,” she says. “Leaders focus on people. A good leader is constantly mindful of both the things and the people.”

Work/life balance remains a priority for her and is something she tries to give her direct reports as well. “I need to be fulfilled in my career but I also need to be fulfilled at home,” she says. “Work is always going to be there, but my kids are not always going to be five years old or three years old. I always make a point to tell my direct reports that I’m very transparent—as long as you’re producing, I’m all for you taking time off, logging off completely. You need to always make time for yourself.”

eBay was started to create economic opportunity by connecting people from widely di erent backgrounds and geographies. On eBay, sellers with items to o er and buyers seeking to find their version of perfect join together in a global marketplace that is open to all. Diversity and inclusion at eBay goes well beyond a moral necessity – it’s the foundation of our business model and absolutely critical to our ability to thrive in an increasingly competitive global landscape.

To learn more about the company and career opportunities, please visit careers.ebayinc.com

The more diverse and inclusive we are in our own company, the more we reflect our customers. This enables us to make better decisions as a business and to more positively impact our society.

–

DEVIN WENIG, PRESIDENT & CEO

AS GC OF PINDROP SECURITY, CLARISSA CERDA IS DEDICATED TO ENSURING CONSUMERS ARE ABLE TO CONFIDENTLY USE THEIR VOICES FOR ALL FUTURE INTERACTIONS. AS A LATINA, SHE’S DEDICATED TO ENSURING FUTURE LEADERS ARE AS DIVERSE AS THE WORLD THEY LIVE IN.

BY SARA DEETER

PORTRAITS BY GILLIAN FRY

CLARISSA CERDA

CLARISSA CERDA IS KNOWN FOR HER FIRSTS.

She was the first person in her high school to go to Harvard, the first woman to be allowed to attend members-only rotary meetings in Australia, the first Latina in the White House counsel’s office, and the first Latina to make partner at a hundred-year-old law firm. And that’s only naming a select few of her many accomplishments. As she enters the second half of her life, however, Cerda says she is realizing that reaching those milestones is only half the battle.

“I thought that success consisted of achieving those firsts and ensuring that I did it in a way that the door remained open for others that look like me to follow,” she says. “But now, I am realizing that just leaving the door open isn’t enough—somebody actually has to go through it. I encourage, motivate, and mentor the next generation of leaders as much as I can to ensure that happens.”

Going through the door can be hard, Cerda acknowledges: things often aren’t fair, and you may not be judged by the same standards as the next person over. “But even if the person next to you is swimming in water and you’re swimming in Jell-O, I say embrace the Jell-O,” Cerda advises. “Swimming in Jell-O only makes you stronger. And you can’t achieve personal bests while focusing on what someone else is doing—you have to swim against the clock.”

Cerda’s associates have long trumpeted the finesse with which she empowers those around her. “I have always been inspired and impressed with how seamlessly Clarissa encourages, leads, and promotes those around her to be the best version of themselves,” explains Cindy Ricketts, founding partner of Sacks, Ricketts & Case. “She not only helps open the door, she motivates and helps navigate you through it.”

Clarissa Cerda General Counsel and Secretary Pindrop Security

Plus, to Cerda, achieving diversity of leadership is worth a few swims in Jell-O. Having diverse leaders means promoting unity, tolerance, and compassion in a world that desperately needs it, she says. But even further, it means economic success for everyone involved.

“There’s a McKinsey study that shows that diversity in leadership actually leads to greater financial returns for the organizations that embrace it,” Cerda says. Having worked in different senior executive roles at leading

CLARISSA CERDA Always leading the pack

FIRST in her family to go to college – Harvard!

FIRST woman to make partner at international law firm

FIRST general counsel for identity theft protection services company ALWAYS championing worthy causes, advancing diversity in law firms and legal departments, and working on other firsts

Congratulations on being recognized for your many contributions as a Leading Latina 2020 in Hispanic Executive. Your friends at Sacks, Ricketts & Case are proud to work with you.

Smart. Resourceful. Committed.

As a 100% women-owned firm, we are committed to diversity and inclusion and our varied backgrounds and experiences allow us to practice a uniquely special and effective brand of lawyering. www.srclaw.com

THE SKILLS OF A SCHOLAR

“People often assume that if you are someone who competed in pageants, you can’t also be a smart businesswoman. But the funny thing is, I learned almost everything I needed to survive in corporate America on the beauty pageant circuit,” Cerda muses of her participation in the Miss America pageant.

Cerda was the first person to use a Miss America scholarship towards her Harvard tuition, and in 2018, she decided to endow a one-of-a-kind scholarship at ASU Law to promote the next generation of Latina leaders.

“I believe the world needs leaders that look more like the diverse world we live in,” Cerda states. “And we can’t just hope that happens—we have to make it happen.”

companies such as Initiate Systems Inc. (an IBM company), and LifeLock (formerly NYSE: LOCK), Cerda has a list of employers that acts as a perfect example of that theory. In 2016, she accepted the role of general counsel and secretary at Pindrop Security, one of the companies on Forbes’ The Cloud 100—a list which recognizes the best private cloud companies in the world.

“Pindrop believes that your voice is the interface of the future. Our mission is to provide real-time security, identity, and trust on every voice interaction,” Cerda says. As GC, Cerda leverages her nearly two decades of experience in the tech space to help the CEO and leadership team navigate the industry’s complex regulations and define a product vision for the company.

Pindrop is dedicated to protecting consumers and finding new and creative ways to combat fraudsters, Cerda says. From Siri and Alexa to Google Assistant, there is an array of technologies crucial to today’s economy that rely on voices—rather than typing—for interactions. Pindrop focuses on improving voice security so that consumers can feel confident using their natural voices to authorize transactions at their bank, order purchases from Amazon, check medical records, and much more. “We live and breathe fraud detection,” Cerda states. “That’s why we’re able to find fraud at a much higher rate and with fewer errors than our peers. Across all functions, our organization is dedicated to catching fraudsters of all different types.”

But a focus on security shouldn’t translate to an inferior level of consumer convenience, Cerda stresses. “We don’t believe you have to compromise customer experience to achieve security,” says the GC. “Our passive biometrics spotlight suspected fraudsters and flag them for analysis or investigation, while allowing genuine customers the ability to continue on with a smooth and frictionless experience.”

Stefanie Fogel—who at DLA Piper is chair of the information governance and data strategy practice—knows Cerda’s expertise at Pindrop cannot be overvalued. “Clarissa is an incredibly novel thinker who knows how to strike a balance between advocating for innovation and navigating risks in a strategic way. She has always been a champion of diversity on legal teams, and she consistently prioritizes mentorship of younger lawyers.”

Cerda may spend her days helping Pindrop find a balance between convenience and security, as well as between consumer protection and individuals’ privacy rights, but to her mind, the company’s work carries even greater meaning.

“At the end of the day, for me, our mission means that we help people,” Cerda says. “Pindrop’s vision is to make technology more human, and the more people trust the security of using their voices for all future interactions, the more the digital divide will break down as the world moves to voice computing. Today, people access information and technology very unequally, and Hispanics in particular have bigger divides than others.”

That divide isn’t about a difference in who is able to watch the latest TV shows or use social media, Cerda adds. People today need the internet to receive medical information, view test results, and access healthcare programs. If you don’t have access to technology, or the skill set to use it, you’re at a critical disadvantage, Cerda explains.

“Our technology is protecting millions of consumers but at the same time is creating the security standard—which I hope will become the gold standard— for the new conversational economy,” Cerda says. “And that economy will be more accessible to everyone because it is more human, easier to possess, and easier to utilize and optimize.”

Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, joins Hispanic Executive in recognizing one of our alumni partners, Clarissa Cerda of Pindrop Security, for her outstanding accomplishments.

“Pindrop’s vision is to make technology more human, and the more people trust using their voices for all computing interactions, the more the digital divide will break down as the world moves to voice computing.”

JENNIFERRODRIGUEZ

EMPOWERS THE MEMBERS OF HER TEAM TO SPEAK UP AND ACHIEVE THEIR DREAMS

BY SARA DEETER

and Director of Facilities & Services

Jennifer Rodriguez

SVP

FCB Global

JENNIFER RODRIGUEZ HAS GOTTEN TO WHERE SHE is today by seizing opportunities, but she doesn’t want her team to endure the stresses—and mistakes—that might come from seizing those haphazardly. As senior vice president and director of facilities and services at FCB, the global advertising and marketing company, Rodriguez empowers the growth and development of her team through open communication and a commitment to happiness.

“I made it happen,” Rodriguez says of her first office position. When she was just nineteen years old, Rodriguez overheard a mention that someone had found another position and was moving on from a company. The following Monday, she showed up to that very company and asked if there were any openings. And “magically” there was one, Rodriguez says, laughing.

Rodriguez explains that at the time, she didn’t really know what it meant to be an administrative assistant, let alone an “office facilitator.”

“It was the first time I had ever heard the word ‘facilitator,’ to be honest,” Rodriguez says. “So obviously I made a couple of big mistakes in that first job.” Rodriguez appreciates those mistakes, as fortuitous moments and experiences can’t be learned from textbooks or classes. According to Rodriguez, you have to learn on the job and align yourself with the right resources in order to keep yourself from making the same mistakes twice.

“I actually remember calling my supervisor from my first real corporate role years later to thank her for being hard on me,” Rodriguez says. “She drove me to work harder and to course correct.”

Despite her takeaways from previous mistakes, Rodriguez firmly believes that her own teams should have a different experience and after joining FCB in 2014, she knew what she had to do to enable success.

“I needed to find a way to trust my team and empower them from the very start,” Rodriguez explains. “So I taught them everything I knew and let them put their own flair on it. It’s important to have your own style even while mixed with the internal culture of a team.”

Ultimately, Rodriguez says, this approach boils down to the fact that while she can and will make decisions for the group, she still wants all parties to engage in a dialogue and feel like they have a voice. “If you strip a voice, you lose the fire that makes your talent who they are,” she notes. “You lose the very reason you chose them in the first place.”

Rodriguez encourages a culture of open dialogue on her team and believes it is one of the most important measures of the overall success of a company. “If people are comfortable communicating openly up to the leadership level, then we’re all winning,” Rodriguez asserts. “I don’t like siloed cliques—we’re not in high school anymore. The workplace is where you work and talk with others to get yourself and your colleagues to the levels that you want to achieve.”

The environment of a team dictates its success, Rodriguez believes. When you have an environment where your colleagues are comfortable interacting with you, coming to you for advice or help, asking for time off to go to important family events, and even taking a break for a quick stretch during a meeting, you know that your framework is effective.

“It’s basically like a happiness barometer,” Rodriguez chuckles. “You have to make sure that the energy of your environment is adding value to your team.”

With Rodriguez serving as guide, voice of reason, and happiness appraiser, her team members are able to take ownership of tasks and initiatives. This, in turn, serves as a morale and confidence booster as they start to progress in their careers, Rodriguez notes.

Rodriguez loves being able to inspire her team to success in their careers. But her aspirations as a role model actually extend much further, she says.

“As a Latina woman, it’s important to me that little girls and other women can look up to me,” Rodriguez offers. “But I don’t want to be an example just for them. I want to be one for little boys, and men, and anyone, of any race. I want to be able to reach them all.”

And Rodriguez says that everyone, Latino or otherwise, should reflect on what makes them “them.” “You have to become fluent in the language of corporate America,” she says. “But you can’t lose what makes you unique, because that very well might be the thing that drives you to succeed, or the thing that made your leadership team look at you and pick you in the first place.

“I think that in positions like mine you have to see yourself as what you want to be,” Rodriguez continues. “And I see myself as a strong woman. In the eyes of the world I might be a strong Latina woman, because my last name often speaks before I can. But I don’t believe in labels, and in this position, I just look at myself as a strong woman.”

“If people are comfortable communicating openly up to the leadership level, then we’re all winning.”

PATTYJUAREZ

RECOUNTS THE EXPERIENCES AND INSIGHTS THAT LED HER TO CREATE WELLS FARGO’S NATIONWIDE COMMERCIAL BANKING DIVERSE SEGMENTS BUSINESS

BY SARA DEETER

PATTY JUAREZ KNOWS WHAT SUCCESS looks like. An entrepreneur at heart, she has spent the past three years of her twenty-five-year career at Wells Fargo honing and developing a focus on diverseowned businesses with the intent to empower and support the needs of these business owners across the country.

“I’ve been with Wells Fargo my entire adult life,” Juarez explains. Throughout her long tenure at the company, Juarez has worked in a variety of areas within the bank, serving as senior vice president and loan team manager, regional vice president, and now the national wholesale diverse segments leader. But she credits her time at the bank’s Santa Clara Valley office with truly jump-starting her career.

“I worked with technology companies that are just phenomenal—today they’re household names but back then they were just getting started,” Juarez recalls. This was around the time of the dot-com boom, she explains, so her experience in Silicon Valley gave her a great deal of perspective on what a company goes through when it gets funded, as well as everything that happens after that. And for the bank, how does it lend to companies that just have an idea and may not have turned a profit? To help answer those questions, Juarez and her colleagues developed tech-lending policies, many of which are still in use by Wells Fargo today, she says.

After witnessing the market’s crash, Juarez explains, she was left with some pretty

crucial questions: For the companies that survived, how did they do it? And the ones that didn’t survive—what went wrong? The experience of seeing what works and what doesn’t work for over twenty years and in multiple industries is what Juarez now leans on to advise her growing diverse clients.

But Juarez felt that she needed something more in order to get to the next stage of her career. In 2007, she began an MBA program at Saint Mary’s College of California to add to her University of California at Berkeley undergraduate finance education—and soon after completing the program, she was promoted to senior vice president and tapped to run a new commercial banking office for Wells Fargo in Anaheim, California.

“I did everything, from picking out the office space to hiring a new team and figuring out how to go to market,” Juarez says. “And I was also very active in the community. I was the chairwoman of the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and I sat on boards for many great organizations, so I really became aware of the trends of Hispanic-owned businesses and how much that segment was growing.

“And when I was booking new clients for the bank, I noticed there were a lot of women and minorities. That was a moment of clarity,” Juarez continues. “I thought, ‘I should look to see where this is headed.’”

After looking at the statistics, Juarez says she was blown away by the growth potential of this and other minority-owned business

segments. “I knew that we, as an organization, should enhance our focus on these growth areas,” she says.

After creating a business plan that encompassed all of the statistics and data she had found, Juarez asked for an audience with Wells Fargo’s head of the commercial bank. “That was my Shark Tank moment,” Juarez explains, laughing. “It was my moment to sell my idea. And he absolutely loved it— he was incredibly supportive and said that he wanted me to look into it more, refine it, and decide what the market strategy would be across the country.”

Juarez did just that, and for three years now, the diverse segments business has been a tremendous success. “We’re seeing more

Patty Juarez National Diverse Segments Director Wells Fargo

FOSTERING EDUCATION

“My education opened up so many doors: for me, it is the greatest equalizer no matter the circumstances you’ve grown up with.”

And for eight years now, Patty Juarez has worked with CASA-OC, Court Appointed Special Advocates of Orange County, to ensure that children in the foster care system are able to take advantage of that equalizer and be paired with a strong community volunteer.

“Children in foster care are often vulnerable,” Juarez says. “They’re some of the most abused and neglected children, oftentimes ending up homeless on park benches or in jail. I don’t want those to be the outcomes for these children; we have a responsibility to help.”

and more minority-owned and women-owned businesses coming into the fray,” Juarez enthuses.

But Juarez emphasizes one key point: the diverse segments business is not successful because it provides capital to minority-owned businesses. Rather, it has flourished because it is holistic—it provides capital as part of a larger package of support, education, training, and critical business connections. “Whatever business owners need to grow and expand their businesses, we strive to provide; we want to be their bank of choice,” Juarez says.

And on a broader level, the success of the diverse segments business is an incredible achievement for Wells Fargo as a whole. “For the first time ever in the commercial bank, we’ve had womendriven and minority-driven marketing campaigns,” Juarez says. In fact, the comprehensive nature of this diverse segments business makes Wells Fargo a pioneer within the industry, she explains.

“Right now, even though most other large banks have some sort of consumer-oriented business that targets all these segments, and they generally target the smaller end of businesses—those with annual revenues under $5 million,” Juarez says. “But we aren’t going to be alone for long. People recognize that this is our demographic footprint, that in order to truly serve the communities we live and work in, we must reflect the markets we serve and continue to help the growing communities that are the fabric of our economy.”

Watching the diverse segments business grow has made Juarez incredibly proud, she says. “I continue to be so impressed with the resiliency, work ethic, and ability of these women and minority-owned business owners to gracefully handle so much all at once,” Juarez says, admiringly. “It’s been so rewarding to give diverse business owners some of the tools they need to succeed.”

Juarez is especially proud of the tremendous growth of Latina business owners, the fastest growing segment in the country. She wants Latinas to continue blazing trails, and as for the glass ceiling, her advice is, “break it ladies—this is our time.”

“We’re seeing more and more minority-owned and women-owned businesses coming into the fray. . . . Whatever these business owners need to grow and expand their businesses, we strive to provide.”

We measure our success by your success

Wells Fargo makes it our business to know your business. We take the time to listen and learn about your business and its growth opportunities, challenges, and operations, so we can offer relevant and informed recommendations.

As the #1 commercial bank for business banking and middle-market companies,1 Wells Fargo is committed to helping Hispanic-owned businesses succeed financially.

• Announced a $1.2 million grant in partnership with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to develop programs that help Hispanic business owners grow and thrive2

• Created a Commercial Banking Diverse Segments group and initiated a focus on Hispanic-owned businesses

• Awarded, in partnership with the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, $95,000 in grants to 12 local Hispanic Chambers to support innovative programs and empower local Hispanic businesses3

• Spent more than $752 million with Hispanic-owned businesses over the last six years4

If you’d like to learn more about how Wells Fargo can help your business turn opportunities into revenue, let’s start a conversation.

Patty Juarez, National Diverse Segments Director Wells Fargo Commercial Banking

949-358-6216 · juarezp@wellsfargo.com

1Barlow Research Rolling 8 quarter data (Q12017 – Q42018)

2USHCC press release – 09/21/2015

3USHCC press release – 04/02/2019

4Wells Fargo internal supplier diversity data

© 2019 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. IHA-6606334

THE CHIEF OF STAFF LEVERAGES HER DUAL EXPERTISE IN LAW AND POLITICS TO FOSTER AN ENVIRONMENT OF TRUST, OPPORTUNITY, AND EMPOWERMENT FOR AIRBNB’S COMMUNITY AS WELL AS ITS FAST-GROWING EMPLOYEE BASE

BY SARA DEETER

MARISAMORET

MARISA MORET HAS ALWAYS LOVED POLITICS— a campaign volunteer from the age of twelve, the Georgetown government major has been fascinated by public policy since she can remember. So it came as a surprise to many around her when she decided to enroll in law school. “I went to law school never planning to actually practice law,” the UCLA grad says. “It was a boys’ club back then, and I knew there was something about being a lawyer that would give me the level of respect I was looking for.”

Today, there are very few who would not readily and willingly accord Moret that level of respect. Before cinching the position of chief of staff to the senior vice president of global policy and communications at Airbnb, Moret spent decades building connections in both the legal industry and the San Francisco political arena. She worked her way up to partner of her firm by day and spent her “free” time as a field volunteer, city commissioner, and eventually the right hand and top advisor to San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera.

According to Moret, her transition away from traditional legal and political work and toward the tech indus-

try has been relatively seamless. Her work at Airbnb is much more similar to political campaigns than one might think, she explains.

“The pace here is really fast, just like in a campaign. But more importantly, in both areas, you have to be really intentional about everything, especially with the people you’re bringing onboard,” the chief of staff says. “Our policy team here at Airbnb is built out and structured like a political campaign, and most of our people have actual political campaign experience rooted in advocacy and community.”

But it’s more than just the campaign-like structure at Airbnb that resonates with Moret: it’s the mission, the history, and the impact that the home-sharing company has on communities all around the world.

“We want to help create a world where anyone can belong,” Moret says. “Communities of color have always shared their homes—there were times when we weren’t allowed into hotels, or just couldn’t afford a room. I can remember countless times when a ‘sort of’ cousin visited my family because they needed a place to stay.

RETURNING THE FAVOR

Marisa Moret knows exactly how meaningful it is to have someone reach out and give you a hand. When she was still an associate attorney, she started working with a Latino general counsel who helped transform her career. “The first meeting I went to, he pulled me aside and asked, ‘Are you a Latina?’ I said yes,” Moret recalls. “The next thing I knew, he called the managing partner and said that he wanted me in on all our meetings going forward.”

Inspired by the mentors, colleagues, and bosses who gave her room to grow, Moret now makes a concerted effort to spend as much time as possible mentoring and helping younger executives navigate their careers. “It’s so important, particularly for Latinos,” Moret says. “There aren’t that many of us at the top, and the next generation of leaders needs to be prepared to step forward and step up.”

Marisa Moret Chief of Staff, Global Policy & Communications Airbnb

“Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere, which is what really drew me to the company. We’re helping to democratize travel and provide access to places around the world where people may not have otherwise had the chance to visit.”

Of course, the hosts play an integral role in creating that network. “When I came here, I knew I would be serving the community. Our hosts—people who open up their homes and keep up to 97 percent of the profits—are essential to our company and our community. In my role, I can help our hosts truly reap the benefits.”

At the end of the day, Moret says, that sense of economic empowerment and community commitment is what makes Airbnb truly mirror her work on the frontlines of local government. “It’s about the constituents,” she remarks. “It’s about building relationships and creating trust with the people in your community so that you can help fight for them and share their stories.”

Moret’s own story is bursting with standout moments. She gave Hispanic Executive a behind-the-scenes look at a few of her most memorable experiences.

CONGRESSIONAL CONSULTATION

When Moret became the first Latina equity partner at Nossaman LLP in the early 2000s, she did so with the advice of none other than Nancy Pelosi. “I went

to college with her son, and at dinner one night, I told her that I was trying to become partner,” she remembers. “She told me to go to every partner, to talk to them directly and ask if they had any concerns about making me partner, and to also ask for their vote.

“She taught me that you can’t make assumptions about people—even the people who like you,” she continues, “because they’re probably going to be the toughest on you.”

ENVIRONMENTAL EVIDENCE

“I didn’t know that the case was going to be a big deal at the time,” Moret says of her work on the Erin Brockovich case.

“I was very junior; my job was to review a lot of documents and read scientific papers and understand the harm caused by hexavalent chromium. But I learned that the facts, and how the facts are presented, make all the difference in the world.”

GLOBAL HOSPITALITY

“Our team has grown tremendously since I joined in 2016,” Moret says. “But we make sure we hire people who embody our core values. In fact, part of the hiring process includes core-value interviewers who ensure we recruit people who embody the same principles as our hosts—be kind, welcoming, and respectful, no matter the position.”

With over 6 million listings in over 191 countries worldwide, there is something for everyone on Airbnb.

MARÍA ESPINOSA FERNANDA

ON DEVELOPING A VISION OVER THE COURSE OF HER CAREER, BUT ESPECIALLY AT THE UNITED NATIONS, WHERE SHE ESTABLISHED LEADING-EDGE GENDER EQUALITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION CAMPAIGNS

BY SARA DEETER

“GARCÉS IS MY MOTHER’S NAME,” BEGINS MARÍA

Fernanda Espinosa, the former president of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly. “I typically go by Espinosa, not Espinosa Garcés. My name is already long enough,” she says, laughing. And after listening to Espinosa detail her decades of trailblazing work in academia, foreign affairs, national defense, cultural heritage, and international policy, it’s hard to imagine anyone wouldn’t want the opportunity to meet the mother who raised this woman.

Espinosa began her professional career at a young age. “I was seventeen when I got my first job at the National Institute for Heritage in Ecuador,” she remembers. “It connected me very early on to indigenous people’s rights and environmental issues.” And as she continued on to various graduate programs, Espinosa began cultivating a reputation for her expertise on the Amazon region, climate change, and sustainable development—not to mention social science, linguistics, and political science.

Espinosa’s studies may have been wide-ranging, but they were far from unfocused. When she came to the United States to pursue a PhD at Rutgers University, she knew she needed a discipline that would reflect the diversity of her interests.

“I chose geography because I thought it was the most holistic and comprehensive career choice,” Espinosa explains. “It brought together everything from the environment to politics, economics, and anthropology. It was the combination of that academic work and my work at the ground level that led me to work for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and later the UN.”

A public servant for more than a decade now, Espinosa has many firsts to her name: the first woman to serve as Ecuador’s minister of national defense, the first woman to be appointed as Ecuador’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, and the first Latina woman to be elected as president of the UN General Assembly. But Espinosa refuses to take her position for granted.

“As a woman, especially a woman from Latin America, you are required to perform twice as hard just to show that

María Fernanda Espinosa Former President United Nations General Assembly

you are fit for the purpose,” she points out. “As Ecuador’s minister of foreign affairs and minister of defense, I was not what people expected: the diplomatic world and military are both very male-dominated.”

But Espinosa wasn’t satisfied with proving herself the equal of her male colleagues. Wherever she went, her first priority was to execute change on a broader level by looking at public policies through a women-centered lens. During her tenure as minister of defense, she passed Ecuador’s first policy on gender equality and violence against women in the military. As minister of foreign affairs, she helped pass the first policy on gender equality for those in Ecuador’s diplomatic service. Those laws and policies remain in place to this day.

“Us women, we deserve to be in positions of power,” President Espinosa stresses. “It’s a demographic reality: we are 50 percent of the population. And it’s not just about the numbers. When women participate in decision-mak-

ing processes, at the UN or as mediators or wherever else they choose, outcomes improve, and the sustainability of the agreements is increased.”

This past year, Espinosa organized the UN’s first meeting for women in positions of power, including all nineteen women working as the head of state and government in UN member states. Her campaign for gender equality, as well as the global campaign Espinosa launched to reduce plastic pollution, is what helps her feel that she has delivered on the promises she made at the beginning of her yearlong term as president.

“Of course, you can always do more. The world is facing very difficult times right now, from the climate crisis to immigration,” Espinosa says. “But I wanted to leave a footprint that made people say, ‘Wow, Latino women really can make a difference.’”

Having left office in September 2019, Espinosa is now focusing on finding ways to continue the political and social momentum that marked her presidency. “We were able to eliminate single-use plastics from the UN, but that has to be multiplied, and the campaign has to continue. Next year will be a very important year for the UN, for women’s rights, and for pollution,” she asserts. “I have pushed to make sure that we gather interest and traction by addressing a commitment of public opinion regarding the role of the UN, the importance of multilateralism, and the UN that the public needs and wants for the future.”

Espinosa has no intention of backing away from that effort to make the UN “relevant to all” now that she’s served out her presidency. Wherever she is in the future, Espinosa promises she will continue to contribute to and be connected to that process. In fact, that sense of relevance is the essence of what the UN is and must constantly strive to be, Espinosa says.

“We are here for a purpose, and that purpose is to serve the people—especially the people in need,” Espinosa says simply. “There are so many people in need, and the numbers are only increasing. As we work here in this huge building, we must see that and remind ourselves because that is the very reason why the UN is so important.”

POETIC POLITICS

“Poetry is part of my DNA,” says President María Fernanda Espinosa, winner of Ecuador’s 1990 National Poetry Prize. Espinosa started writing poetry as a child and never lost her love of the art, as she’s continued to read and write poems throughout her career. In fact, she says, her passion for poetry has had a strong influence on her work in politics. “Poetry is a lens, a special way of looking at things in the world,” she explains. “So, it has been extremely useful for what I do in my everyday life.”

One of President Espinosa’s favorite poems from her collection, “Clase de Geografía” (“Geography Class”), captures the strength, resilience, and quiet power of the women in a small town in Mexico called Juchitán:

CLASE DE GEOGRAFÍA

Juchitán, pueblo de México, limita al sur con el cactus, y al este, con ningún pueblo que se le parezca.

Las mujeres de Juchitán han vivido eternamente movidas por el viento. De ahí sus mantillas ceñidas, para no perder la conciencia. Son pescadoras, que siembran camarones, que siembran hijos. Venden y compran, cuentan monedas. Se sientan en la plaza a contemplar la velocidad, a poner las trenzas al sol.

Ellos cuidan de la casa, hacen fuego, iguana asada, maíz. Les llaman mushes. Son hombres vestidos de mujer, pero de otro modo: trenzas postizas, follones repletos de almidón para esconder sus escuálidas caderas.

Juchitán es el mundo al revés, como debe ser.

AFTER BEING ENCOURAGED TO CODE AS A YOUNG GIRL, BANK OF AMERICA’S MICHELLE BOSTON IS GIVING BACK BY PROMOTING PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN AND MINORITIES IN TECHNOLOGY

BY LIOR PHILLIPS

PORTRAITS BY GILLIAN FRY

MICHEL

LEBOSTON

FOR DECADES, THE GENDER DISPARITY IN STEM FIELDS has been traced back to early education. The same can be said for the low representation of people of color. But that didn’t stop Michelle Boston. “My dad was an electrical engineer and when I was seven years old, we decided I was going to be an astronaut or a nuclear physicist. He always encouraged my interest in science and technology,” she says.

At age ten, during the dawn of cartridge computers, Boston took her first programming class at Texas Instruments. “I just remember walking into that class with my father and there was a personal computer at each station,” Boston says. “We did math problems, graphing, very simple graphical pictures, and then at the end of the class, we played a game.” She was blown away—coding something and then seeing it appear on the screen. That moment of discovery set Boston on a lifelong path that would eventually lead to her role as senior vice president of business solutions technology for Bank of America.

In high school Boston doubled down, continuing her programming courses and finding mentors. She moved on to Texas A&M University, graduating with a degree in management information systems. Since then, Boston has sought opportunities in which she could share her expertise with girls and young women interested in the field. “My oldest daughter actually just graduated with a degree in technology, and in her first college-level coding class, there were two girls in a class of fifty,” Boston says. “We need to get to a point where the classes are at least

50 percent women. I really try to pay my experience with great teachers forward by encouraging others.”

A big part of the conversation is in setting positive examples and normalizing women in technology. It shouldn’t be a surprise, she explains, to see women in a coding class or in the technology office at a company. “You need to be okay with letting yourself fail,” Boston adds. “It’s going to be hard, but when you get past that hurdle and you go into the professional world, there’s such a variety of creative and inspiring careers in technology.”

Boston’s first opportunity in the field came as an IT consultant with Ernst & Young. As she rose through the ranks and began taking leadership roles at organizations such as Sea-Land Services and RSA Insurance Group, she focused deeply on her ability to make a difference in technology representation. “We have a responsibility to change the dynamics in the workplace by creating a more diverse and inclusive space—not only for women but for people of color,” she says. “That helps us innovate and deliver products, services, and capabilities that are representative of the communities and the people we serve.”

In 2005, Boston joined Partners Imaging as vice president of information technology, eventually rising to become CEO of the turnkey CT systems provider. That allowed her even more ability to act as a role model and a change-maker for diversity. “It’s the responsibility of senior leaders to impact their culture and their community, so getting involved with groups like Girls Who Code was important to me,” she says. “It’s an important

Michelle Boston SVP of Business Solutions Technology Bank of America

NO CODE TO CRACK

Through her participation in Women in Technology & Operations—an organization that focuses on advancing women in technology via leadership development, education, and training—Michelle Boston is also currently an executive sponsor for Girls Who Code.

“We talked about the importance of developing, attracting, and retaining women in tech,” she says. At the monthly meetings of Girls Who Code, Boston and other mentors help elementaryand high school-aged girls build applications and present them. “For example, I facilitated a session on design thinking to expose the girls to the creative side of opportunities in technology — there’s a lot more to technology careers than just coding,” she says. “In our seven-week Girls Who Code summer immersion program, we taught twenty girls everything from personal development and branding to understanding the variety of careers they can pursue in technology.”

The girls also went on field trips to meet with other women in technology, learn about career opportunities, and actually build projects. At the end of the course, Boston and her colleagues met with the girls’ parents and thanked them for their commitment to exposing these young women to technology. “Bank of America has an enormous presence in this work,” she says. “We actively look to identify and recruit female talent and mentor them to success.”

step towards solving the pipeline problem, particularly for Hispanics. How do we get to the parents and make them aware of the great career opportunities in technology?”

Boston moved to Bank of America in 2012, drawn by the organization’s commitment to sustaining a diverse culture. “I come from a large family, and the closeness and the connection that I feel in my culture passes through our extended family. I bring that into my job and into my leadership,” she says. “I’m thrilled my culture is reflective of the bank’s strong commitment to culture as well.” Additionally, Bank of America remains active in volunteering in the community and holds celebrations of holidays for international cultures.

Boston also acts as a mentor for women in technology and works with the Hispanic network group and the Hispanic and Latino Leadership Council.

Everything about Boston’s leadership style emphasizes her ability to help others and make Bank of America more diverse—and that work is clearly paying off. She was recently recognized as one of the HITEC 100, a list of the one hundred most influential Hispanic IT executives. “As leaders, we are here to enable people. At the end of the day, we should have a flat organizational structure and not have boundaries of hierarchy,” she says. “We work for the people who work for us, and we celebrate our shared success.”

The Board of Directors of the Chicago Chapter of the Association of Latino Professionals for America congratulates its members who made the U.S. Most Powerful Latinas list! These executives serve as role models for all LatinX professionals, and remind us that we are making progress in our mission to build a pipeline of Latino professional leaders from the college classroom to the boardroom.

ALESSANDRA

GINANTE YOCKELSON

DRIVES TALENT STRATEGIES AT HPE AS A BENEFIT TO BOTH EMPLOYEES AND COMPANY

BY LIOR PHILLIPS

MANY IN THE TALENT AND RECRUITMENT WORLD NEED TO learn an industry from the ground up. Alessandra Ginante Yockelson, chief talent officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, was certain she’d work in the technology field far earlier than she fell in love with information systems. “HR found me,” she says, with a laugh. She accepted an HR position to help pay for college with the plan of taking an applications and system development job once she graduated. But the latter career didn’t quite pan out. “I did it for three months and hated it,” she says. “I knew I needed to go back to HR, and I’ve stayed there for most of my career since then.”

While she’d always been fascinated by the ways in which technology impacts how people work and live, Ginante Yockelson quickly found herself fulfilled by learning the ways in which people enable performance. There was much more to hiring than filling seats; HR could be a strategic driver of change and success for the business and enable individuals to fulfill their visions for their lives.

As she earned her master’s degree and executive MBA in her native Brazil, Ginante Yockelson quickly rose the ranks in HR, holding leadership positions at companies like Banco de Crédito Nacional, Volkswagen South America, Philips, and Diageo. In order to broaden her skill set, however, she moved into a strategy job for two years, developing strengths in business excellence with lean, six sigma, and other business transformation approaches.

She served as the president for Avon Foundation in Brazil, helping fight against domestic violence and breast cancer. But the whole time, Ginante Yockelson kept her eye on the HR office. “Those experiences helped me become a better HR person and more employ-

Alessandra Ginante Yockelson Chief Talent Officer Hewlett Packard Enterprise

able outside of Brazil,” she says. Ginante Yockelson left Brazil and her family a few times. She lived in the Netherlands and in locations in the US and has learned tremendously from different cultures.

Additionally, Ginante Yockelson found the experience important to reinforce her passion for identifying strengths and individuals that may otherwise have been overlooked. “It’s really important that people look at me and see the potential I have, not necessarily the experience I have,” she says. That’s especially important considering her place as a Latina in a leadership position in a technology giant like Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The technology field generally lacks representation from both women and people of color in leadership roles; and driving stronger diversity in her organization will benefit HPE and its many clients.

In order to be ready to face the variety of transformational moments and massive challenges that face any modern business, the HR team has to staff with an appropriate selection of skills and approaches in mind. “To advocate for talent and diversity, you need to be open-minded about who you recruit,” Ginante Yockelson says. “We talk a lot about diversity from the standpoints of ethnicity and gender, but also background. There is so much to gain by recruiting—and retaining—people from different industries to technology to drive business results. It’s also paramount that we give a chance to people who are not in our own networks, because we tend to like and stay connected to people who think similarly.”

That’s especially true as HPE transforms its portfolio to be offered as a service by 2023. Ginante Yockelson’s role has incorporated everything from talent recruitment, acquisition, and retention to succession

planning, performance and career management, and inclusion and diversity—and she has also been welcomed in as a full partner in achieving that goal.

“We need to ensure we have an aligned culture and talent pool that enables us to achieve that vision,” she says. “We are evolving as a company, and my job is to guarantee that our workforce is prepared to compete in the future we’ve developed.”

Bringing that vision to more than sixty thousand people, however, requires an incredibly strategic mind working at a quick pace. One method that has enabled that agile workflow has been Ginante Yockelson’s analytic approach to focal points like diversity and inclusion.

“By looking at data and market availability for the balance to hire, we can make sure that we’re recruiting the right people according to what’s available,” she says. “We usually tend to network with people that are like us, and by bringing data and making sure that our interview panels are diverse, we can make that difference. Different people bring more ideas, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise thrives on innovation. We need the power of all their hearts and minds to achieve our vision.”

But ensuring diverse candidates enter the organization is only the first half of the work. Ginante Yockelson is also dedicated to making HPE an inclusive workplace as well, retaining those talents and making everyone feel like part of the team. “We’re having our ten thousand leaders worldwide go to a mandatory inclusive leadership training program,” she says. And after starting from that level, the organization is dedicated to seeing diverse representation at leadership levels to reinforce the inclusivity throughout the entire culture.

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS

“Diversity drives better business outcomes, but you need to look for it,” says Alessandra Ginante Yockelson, chief talent officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Growing up in Brazil, she knew that many might not see her country as a source of technological impact. But Ginante Yockelson wants to be sure that organizations like HPE look for talent around the globe and bring the best teams together across industries, functions, and countries to achieve business aspirations.

In striving to be a role model and make herself more visible to global opportunities, Ginante Yockelson has focused on her education and is about to earn her doctorate in business administration. “I had to catch up to insert myself, globally. Today we can make that easier for others to make a difference,” she says.

“For gender equity to happen, for example, women need to be at the top. They need to have access to the spaces of power,” Ginante Yockelson says. “And to do that, we are supporting our female executives’ efforts to join boards outside of the company, training them on how to have an executive bio, how to interview, and how to work on their executive presence.” Leaders are also incentivized to drive diversity and inclusivity within their teams. While leaders’ other goals may be important, Ginante Yockelson wants to ensure they find these representation goals equally important.

These efforts have seen early success: Hewlett Packard Enterprise has already seen around 5 percent more female team members globally than its competitors. “But that’s not good enough,” Ginante Yockelson says. “We need to always be striving to be best-in-class as far as diversity goes.”

THE DISCIPLINE AND EDUCATION PROVIDED BY BOTH HER MOTHER AND THE MILITARY HAS PROPELLED LUZ MARTINEZ TO SUCCESS AT LEONARDO DRS

BY JULIA THIEL

PORTRAITS BY GILLIAN FRY

GROWING UP IN A LOW-INCOME AREA OF Laredo, Texas, Luz Martinez says she saw a lot of people trapped in a cycle of poverty, unable to escape. Her parents were manual laborers without much education, but that made them even more determined that she would have a better life than them. Martinez’s mother, Emilia, had to leave school when she was just eleven, after her own mother was killed in a car accident and Emilia was left to run the house and raise her three younger siblings. Her parents valued education so highly, Martinez says, that even though they were migrant workers they would only travel in the summer, making sure that they were back in Laredo before school started.

After high school, Martinez went to community college because her family didn’t have the money to send her to a university—but it wasn’t a good fit. “I was looking around and saying, ‘I have to do something other than this, I wanted more than Laredo could offer,’” she explains. After less than a year she joined the military, partly because the GI Bill would pay for her college education, but also because she wanted to get out of Laredo and see the world.

“I really did enjoy my time in the service,” she says. “Mind you, I joined in July 1990, which is when Desert Shield, Desert Storm [the Gulf War] was kicking off. My timing was impeccable.” After training, she was sent to Saudi Arabia

for four months. “For me, just seeing something different is interesting,” she says. “I know it’s not a vacation hot spot, but I didn’t mind going to Saudi Arabia. I stayed back and went to Kuwait after the war ended.”

Between deployments, Martinez worked at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and went to school in the evenings. She volunteered to go to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope, then with a year of service left, she was on orders to Korea without much idea of what she’d do when she returned. An army major she’d worked with named Sharon Daniels, who’d since taken a job as a speechwriter for the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon, recommended Martinez for an executive assistant position in the same office. “For me, that was a huge shift in my life,” Martinez says.

Taking that job required her to move to northern Virginia, reenlist in the Army, and transfer to George Mason University to complete her undergraduate degree. “When I came to this area, I knew this was where I wanted to build my life,” she says. After she left the military at the end of 1998, Martinez spent several years working in public accounting, doing audits for government contractors. She got her CPA license and, after a stint in private accounting, an MBA in finance and accounting from Regis University. She started to shift from accounting to finance, taking a program finance

CARRYING THE EDUCATION TORCH

Luz Martinez says her mother never missed a chance to emphasize the importance of education, independence, and hard work. “Every day and every opportunity she had, she’d ingrain that in me.” Now Martinez is doing the same with her twin thirteen-yearold daughters.

“She would always tell me, ‘Life will throw you obstacles, but don’t lose sight of your goals. The first step in that process is education.’ I’ve carried on the torch from my mom, instilling in my daughters that they are responsible for themselves. They have to be able to stand on their own two feet. I always talk about education.

“Coming from a low socioeconomic family and environment, I think we’ve got to get the message to younger girls who are in the same position I was in—who may not have an Emilia Martinez like my mom—to open up their eyes and realize that there is a way out of poverty. Education really is the key to getting out of that cycle.”

position at the information technology company Unisys in 2008, where she was then promoted to finance director.

Nearly ten years ago, she was approached by a recruiter about a finance director position at Leonardo DRS, a defense technology company. “I was not that interested in a lateral move,” she says. But then she met with the CFO, who told her that he was planning to leave the company soon and wanted to line up a succession plan in which she’d take his job after he left.

Everything went according to plan; in less than a year Martinez became CFO and vice president of business operations. Not only did Leonardo DRS show confidence in investing in Martinez—particularly as that investment pertained to a male-dominated finance world—but the company has continued to support her growth and success.

“In my role, I use both [finance and accounting], because the accounting department works for me so I have to understand the debits and credits—as well as the financial operations and strategy of the business,” she says. Her military training has also served her well. “The military is very much about discipline, timeliness; you have an objective, have to meet the objective,” she says. “That’s how I approach things even now. Where do I need to arrive? How do I back into the things I need to do and the time line to meet my objective?”

Her current focus is strategic acquisitions, particularly the due diligence process for potential acquisition candidates—essentially a financial audit of factors like performance and profitability. “For me, that’s very exciting and interesting,” she says.

Her mother is no longer alive, but did get to see her become CFO—and, Martinez says, “She was very proud, she’d brag every chance she had.” While her mother pushed her as a child, Martinez says that Emilia didn’t have to continue that role after high school. “She was very proud of me, and she always reminded me to stay humble and remember to thank God for all of the blessings in my life. Along with her push for education she also instilled in me my Catholic faith, which I carry with me every day and work to instill in my girls.

“She saw that I had that fire in my belly and once I was off and running, she knew her work was done. I’m competitive, and once I set my mind to something, I’m very focused on the end result. I believe that’s what makes me successful here [at DRS] as well.”

Director Government

Apadula,

BDO: “Congratulations Luz on your well-deserved recognition. BDO is honored to have supported Luz and the DRS team on government contracting compliance and cost accounting matters for over ten years. It’s been a privilege to witness your growth and to serve as your trusted advisory all these years!” —Giacomo

Managing

Contracts

BEATRIZ

BY SARA DEETER

THE WORLD CAN’T BE SAVED BY ONE PERSON alone, and Beatriz Perez doesn’t think it should be done alone. But by taking advantage of the wide-ranging scope of her responsibilities at Coca-Cola, Perez can and is helping drive others—individuals, communities, and entire industries—toward global change.

As senior vice president and chief communications, public affairs, sustainability, and marketing assets officer, Perez touches on nearly every aspect of the Coca-Cola business, from the World of Coca-Cola attraction in Atlanta to the T-shirts and hats sold at global sports and entertainment events like the Olympics and World Cup.

“With the portfolio of areas that I have been given, I have been able to connect sustainability deeply into the business to drive growth,” Perez explains. A perfect example of this, according to Perez, is the recycling program central to Coca-Cola’s World Without Waste initiative.

“We re-create a bottle out of what was once the package that you put in a recycling bin, and then we can put that bottle back on the shelf,” the SVP says. “So it’s a circular economy for the environment and for the business at the same time.” Rather than an obstacle standing in the way of her ability to achieve sustainability goals, Perez sees Coca-Cola’s for-profit business model as a partner to its social responsibility

initiatives. “It’s about how we can leverage the scope and scale of the business in a way that can change the world and drive growth for the business at the same time,” Perez offers.

Scale and scope have certainly been at the heart of Perez’s recent efforts. Coca-Cola’s World Without Waste initiative aims to recycle the equivalent of each and every Coca-Cola bottle sold around the world by 2030. Under Perez’s leadership, that ambitious goal is being realized. Today, several markets around the world have introduced 100 percent recycled-content bottles for certain water and sparkling brands, says Perez, and Coca-Cola has expanded access to its PlantBottle IP to enable other companies— even competitors—to access this game-changing bioplastics technology. PlantBottle material is made from plants but is fully recyclable and acts just like PET plastic.

But the impact of the World Without Waste initiative goes far beyond the packaging of CocaCola’s products. During Perez’s tenure as chief sustainability officer, Coca-Cola has achieved its goal to replenish or balance 100 percent of the water used in the production of its beverages and return it to nature and communities. While the company achieved this goal five years ahead of time, Perez doesn’t focus on the expedience of these results.

BEATRIZPEREZ

HIGHLIGHTS THE GLOBAL SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVES BEING DRIVEN BY THE DETERMINATION OF THE COCA-COLA COMMUNITY

Beatriz Perez SVP and Chief Communications, Public Affairs, Sustainability, & Marketing Assets Officer

Coca-Cola

Hispanic Executive

FORWARDING 5BY20

In addition to steering CocaCola’s global marketing assets, public affairs, communications, and sustainability work, Beatriz Perez is devoted to community service, which she commits to as chair of the Coca-Cola Foundation. The Coca-Cola Foundation has awarded more than $1 billion in grants since its inception in 1984,” Perez says proudly.

The Foundation’s three priority areas—namely environmental protection, community enhancement, and the economic empowerment of women—are aligned with the company’s primary social responsibility initiatives. These priorities are particularly close to Perez’s heart and are embodied in the company’s 5by20 campaign, which aims to enable the economic empowerment of five million women entrepreneurs by 2020.

“We’re working to make sure women get training in how to run their own business including making sure they know that they should pay themselves a salary,” Perez says of the 3.2 million women the company has reached thus far. “We focused very specifically within the Hispanic marketplace and on working with Hispanic entrepreneurs, but we also worked with women farmers and women shopkeepers in Africa and India. There are many different programs, to reach women from diverse backgrounds. They are all really impressive.”

Rather, she focuses on the widespread impact of the company’s water conservation efforts on local watersheds and the communities that depend on them.

“This is really a global initiative,” Perez notes. “It requires different solutions depending on the water in a particular area. Some countries, for example, have an excess of water—but the water needs to be clean. There are other places where we have stopped production when there was a drought and redirected the production to other facilities so that we could actually get water in the hands of people who needed it most.”

To fully integrate its water conservation and sustainability efforts, Coca-Cola is working with organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to ensure the health of river basins and other water systems. To Perez, a standout example is the Rio Grande. “Water has always been an issue there. For the past decade we have partnered with the World Wildlife Fund, the National Park Service, and others to remove invasive vegetation that has grown along the banks of the Rio Grande. We’ve helped to restore more than forty-two miles of riverbank and improved the natural hydrology of the river channel and the aquatic habitat,” Perez says.

Across the world from the Rio Grande, Australian farmers are working with Coca-Cola to reduce the water use associated with the agricultural industry. “Agriculture uses about 70 percent of the water,” Perez says. Through CocaCola’s Project Catalyst, farmers are working together to make sure that they understand different drip irrigation technologies and are equipped to manage the soil in a

way that eliminates any runoff to the Great Barrier Reef.

“The work is not done,” Perez says. “We will continue to work on water—it’s important for us to look at how we maintain the goals we’ve set, and how we think beyond our goals.”

“But it isn’t just the company doing this work,” Perez emphasizes, speaking to the beverage giant’s many social good initiatives, of which sustainability is just one. “It’s real people who care passionately and deeply about our planet, about society, and about each other.”

The genuine, honest passion of those people is something Perez delights in highlighting in her role. The company brand campaign in North America is “putting humanity at the heart of the business,” she says. The marketing materials used in that campaign feature real Coca-Cola employees—including a Coca-Cola hydrogeologist. They tell an authentic story of the societal and environmental challenges that Coca-Cola is trying to solve. “We wanted to get others to join in our journey, other businesses, NGOs, governments, and society,” Perez says. “So we’re excited because it’s really helped to get more people involved.”

Perez, who has been recognized by the Association of Latino Professionals for America as one of 2017’s Most Powerful Latinas and as one of CNN and People en Español ’s 25 Most Powerful Latinas, recently celebrated her twenty-fifth anniversary at Coca-Cola. But the SVP won’t be leaving the company—or its groundbreaking social good initiatives—any time soon. “If I can still walk and function for another twenty-five years, I’ll still be here,” Perez says, laughing.

INSIG HTS

The Dealmaker with a JD

BY BILLY YOST

General Counsel Ricardo Nuñez knows that the deals he oversees at SWM International contribute to the company’s greater evolution

Ricardo Nuñez EVP, General Counsel, and Secretary SWM International

EARLY ON, RICARDO NUÑEZ DISCOVERED

his passion for entrepreneurship, selling cinnamon toothpicks in middle school and branching out from there. His father was an active contributor to charities in his community, and the family home often hosted get-togethers for philanthropic organizations.

At one event for the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Nuñez’s mother noticed that guests kept disappearing. She followed some guests leaving with her thirteenyear-old son and was horrified to find silver jewelry (imported from Guatemala courtesy of a family friend) laid across his bed, the young Nuñez in full selling mode. “My mother said, ‘You can’t do this, this is a charity event!’” Nuñez recalls with a laugh. “I said, ‘I’m not forcing them to buy.’ I think I made three hundred dollars that night. I was a chubby kid selling some pretty good stuff!” Nuñez has been building businesses ever since.

The GC at SWM International—a leading supplier of highly engineered papers, films, nets, and nonwovens—isn’t just a lawyer, but more a businessman who practices law. “When someone asks me to describe what I do, I tend to say I’m in sales,” Nuñez admits. “I disclose I’m an attorney, but I really think of myself as a dealmaker. On top of my legal obligations, I think I’m able to add value when I’m selling and

making deals happen.” Nuñez believes the law part of being a GC is fundamental, but the key is being a true business partner with a focus on increasing stakeholder value in an ethical and compliant fashion.

Doing deals is what brought Nuñez to SWM. “I was recruited to assist in closing a significant deal, the third in a series of deals that transformed SWM from a leading specialty paper supplier into a performance materials business,” Nuñez says. As part of a diversification strategy, SWM took a calculated leap into the performance materials space with the acquisition of DelStar Technologies in 2013, Argotec in 2015, and Conwed Plastics in 2017, a deal Nuñez helped make happen. “This $300 million deal was an important part of our evolution, as we’ve watched our business grow. We acknowledge that we’re not done—we will continue to evolve.”

That evolution relies on the development and execution of vision and strategy. Fortunately, this is exactly where Nuñez operates most effectively. “I think I’ve contributed not only from legal and operational perspectives, but as part of a team that continues to evolve and execute on strategy,” the GC says. “Doing this in a practical way that is effective without being overly bureaucratic is critical to success.”

“Ricardo is a business-minded general counsel who is skilled at coming up with

THE BUSINESS OF HOBBIES

Ricardo Nuñez does occasionally take some time to relax on his boat in Miami, but his main passion may as well have a time clock. “I genuinely enjoy real estate,” he says. “That’s my real hobby.” The lawyer owns several properties in Atlanta and Miami that he renovates and leases, he says, mostly for fun. Nuñez’s father was a licensed lawyer in Cuba who moved into real estate with gusto after emigrating to the United States, and Nuñez says it’s nice to keep both feet in the family business.

Diversity is the Thread of Life

We join Hispanic Executive in celebrating the accomplishments of Ricardo Nuñez.

King & Spalding, its clients and the legal community benefit when the expertise and experience of people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives are woven together.

innovative solutions to issues,” explains Rahul Patel, a partner at the international corporate law firm King & Spalding and one of SWM’s strategic partners. “He is also a very quick study who can quickly peel back the onion and get to the core issues. Ricardo is great to work with and always treats colleagues and those on the other side of transactions with respect.”

Nuñez has taken part in many transactions which have helped make him flexible, accustomed to change, and able to grow. “Helping drive change means recognizing that it’s not enough to simply attack one hundred different issues because if you don’t solve the five that are critical, you’ve failed,” Nuñez says. “It’s not just driving change; it’s driving effective and beneficial change.”

The GC is concerned not only with driving valuable change but also with continuing to push himself to evolve. “People can become stale pretty quickly, and that’s the last thing you or your employer want,” Nuñez says. “Don’t be afraid to take on challenges and pursue new approaches, even if you think you may fail. Sure, don’t be reckless, but give yourself the chance to succeed. Half of the roles I’ve taken in my life I was convinced I was ready for, the other half I really had to work hard to prepare.”

Just as SWM has evolved to take on an ever-diversifying and challenging marketplace, Nuñez has leveraged his legal expertise and entrepreneurial nature to continuously develop his deal-making skills.

Nuñez has continued to pursue professional challenges. He continues to see opportunities at SWM and in potential board service for companies in strong growth mode. “I’ll always want to be part of building something,” Nuñez says. “Challenging conditions with a mandate to achieve growth are circumstances that particularly appeal to me and is the environment where I’m driven to be.”

Squire Patton Boggs: “It has been my good fortune to work with Ricardo Nuñez. He is absolutely committed to upholding the highest level of professional integrity, while navigating complex business matters and providing innovative solutions on behalf of SWM International.” —Peter Kramer, Partner

“I’ll always want to be part of building something. Challenging conditions with a mandate to achieve growth are circumstances that particularly appeal to me and is the environment where I’m driven to be.”

We Cannot Move Forward Unless We Are One”

BY JULIA THIEL

IRENE ORIA HAS WANTED TO BE A LAWYER SINCE she was five years old living in Union City, New Jersey. She may not have known any personally, but she had seen plenty on TV and in movies—and as she got older, she says, “my parents and grandmother, Cuban immigrants, emphasized the importance of law and the dangers of a lawless society.” They had fled the political situation in Cuba before Oria was born, and the experience stayed with them. “I grew up knowing that my family would be so proud of me if I became a lawyer and could advocate for our rights and liberties, which were taken away from them in their country of origin,” she says.

With the help of scholarships and financial aid, she was able to attend Columbia University for her undergraduate studies and then Cornell Law School. “As a Hispanic low-income student in those elite institutions, I felt very different from everybody else,” she says. “There weren’t many other students like me, with my background and my experiences.” She first became involved with the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) in 1998 as a student at Cornell. That year, she attended the organization’s midyear national conference to participate in their Moot Court Competition, where her team won the award for best brief.

“From the very beginning, the organization impressed me,” she says. “In countless ways, it’s helped me become a better lawyer and a better leader.”

Oria joined the HNBA leadership team in 2014 as a regional president in Florida, where she’s lived for nearly twenty years, then served as national finance director and vice president of programs before being elected national

As both a partner at FisherBroyles LLP and the newly installed president of the Hispanic National Bar Association, Irene Oria focuses on the future

president in 2018. She’s excited about a number of initiatives planned for 2020, when the organization’s theme is “Looking Forward With 20/20 Vision.” What that means, Oria says, is this: “We are one community looking forward and leaving behind any stereotypes or prejudices. In the past, not only have we been attacked by common enemies who aren’t Latinos but at times we’ve attacked each other. We cannot move forward unless we are one.”

Because 2020 is an election year, she says, the HNBA will be working on what Oria describes as “nonpartisan election-related efforts to maintain the integrity and security of the election—poll working, poll closing observation, voter protection efforts, voter registration drives, everything that we can do as lawyers using our unique skill set.” She also says that some Hispanic attorneys—government, nonprofit and solo/small firm practitioners—aren’t as engaged in the organization as they could or should be, and she’s planning to study why that is and provide more support and training in order to ensure their success. At the HNBA 2020 annual convention in September, for example, the HNBA will be launching a solo/small-firm boot camp to help these attorneys advance their careers.

“It’s kind of like going back to our roots because HNBA was started in the 1970s by civil rights lawyers at a time when the Hispanic community was discriminated against, and our community is going through some hard times again now,” she says. “So, it’s appropriate for us to turn the focus back on those public interest lawyers to make sure that we are doing everything we can to support them.”

In her own career, Oria has been busy as well. Over the last two decades she’s worked as an associate and senior counsel at several Am Law 100 law firms and served as a federal law clerk to a US district judge and as an assistant US attorney in the civil division of the Department of Justice in Miami. In 2018, she joined the law firm FisherBroyles as a partner, attracted by the fact that it has a different model than most traditional law firms. Instead of having a traditional brick-and-mortar office, the firm operates in a distributed model, leveraging technology over real estate and experience over the training of young

Irene Oria Partner FisherBroyles LLP

associates. “It’s the first and the largest national, distributed law firm,” Oria says. “It started in 2002, and today we are a full-service, cloud-based law firm that has grown from 2 lawyers to over 240 attorneys in over 20 cities— and we’re still very much in a growth mode and in the process of international expansion.”

Not having unnecessary physical offices, support staff, or other overhead that does not benefit clients means, FisherBroyles attorneys can charge clients lower rates. Whereas traditional law firms charge clients for the training of young associates, the vast majority of FisherBroyles attorneys are partners with at least seven years of experience. FisherBroyles also eliminates conflicts of interest traditionally found in the delivery of legal services by eliminating billable quotas, utilizing a nondiscretionary partner compensation formula, and incentivizing and empowering partners to deliver efficient, client-customized rates and services.

Oria says while traditional law firm partners earn 30 percent or less of the revenue they generate for the firm, at FisherBroyles partners get paid 80 percent of the revenue they generate for the firm from their own work for their personal clients and 48 percent of the revenue generated from their work for their partners’ clients. They are incentivized to share work by earning 32 percent from work they originate and share with other partners. Oria is doing the same type of high-exposure, class action defense work she did before at Am Law 100 law firms, she says, but is working more efficiently because of the FisherBroyles model.

“This is the most exciting time in my career thus far, both in terms of really enjoying the model at FisherBroyles, and then of course serving the HNBA, an organization that has been with me my entire career. It does such important work to ensure the advancement and representation of Hispanic lawyers in the legal profession and, of course, to advocate for the interests of the Hispanic community at large in the US,” Oria says. “The privilege and honor of leading the organization this year will undoubtedly be one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.”

Building Legal From Scratch

BY RUSS KLETTKE • PORTRAITS BY CASS DAVIS

Attorney and mom Tricia Timm of Looker doesn’t allow the male-dominated culture of Silicon Valley affect her growth

Tricia Timm

General Counsel and Executive Sponsor of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

“IN ONE MOMENT, I CAN BE THE GO-TO leader in a transaction as large as Google’s acquisition of Looker. In the next, I’m driving the carpool to my daughters’ volleyball game.”

That somewhat summarizes the life of Tricia Timm, a working mother who is general counsel and executive sponsor of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the Silicon Valley data-platform company Looker. It also provides a hint at what she’s able to pull off as a Latina lawyer working in the male-dominated tech landscape that exists in and around Silicon Valley. But though she entered the vaunted industry at a slight disadvantage, you really wouldn’t know from interacting with her.

To be clear, Timm graduated cum laude from the Santa Clara University School of Law in 1996, giving her just enough time to fall in love with a fast-paced internet indus-

try right before trouble hit. After being hired as the first attorney for Homestead— just as the internet company was about to go public in the early 2000s—the dot-com bubble burst and it had to cancel its Form S-1. It was a tough loss for Timm, who had worked hard at creating the precursor to the IPO. “Many of our customers went bankrupt, and our business took a turn,” she says.

Still, it was a good experience for her personally. “Not only did I learn how to build a legal department from scratch but I learned that success is not a guarantee in the tech world,” she notes.

Timm’s can-do spirit is due in no small part to her upbringing. Her mother came from El Salvador and her father from Ecuador, and both arrived in the US with few advantages and even fewer resources. But they worked hard—mom became a bank branch manager, dad worked for the airline

Mexicana de Aviación—hard enough to send their daughter to school and inspire her to become a lawyer.

“My grandfather was an attorney in El Salvador, so my mom encouraged me to be an attorney like him,” explains Timm. During law school, she snagged a summer internship in an international law firm, where she discovered an affinity for intellectual property and high-tech law. After graduation, she joined a large corporate law firm before moving on to work for a pair of software companies during the dot-com era.

Later, after having children, Timm discovered the challenges of being a working mother. She decided to take a year off but soon discovered just how much she missed working. Soon thereafter, she founded GCAssist, an “outsourced legal department” which proved to be a great way for her to balance work and life responsibilities.

“I hired several attorneys to work for my business, and we grew,” Timm explains. “By the time I left, I was generating $1 million in annual gross revenues.” It’s a pretty impressive accomplishment for a “mommy track” job, especially given that businesses with revenue over $1 million make up only 1.7 percent of all women-owned enterprises.

Once her kids reached elementary school age, Timm returned to company life, this time at SugarCRM, a late-stage startup software company. There, she built a legal department from scratch to handle domestic and foreign operations.

It bears noting that despite working at these companies, Timm has never considered herself a native to technology. “I do lots of reading to understand the technologies of my clients and employers,” she says, adding that her law school provided a high-tech certificate program in which she participated. Ultimately, when she moved to Looker in 2018—a young company that had only formed in 2012—it was in keeping with her career track.

As the first general counsel at Looker— reporting directly to the company’s CEO Frank Bien—Timm was again called upon to build a legal department. “I felt like all my previous jobs prepared me for Looker,” she says. “I knew exactly what was needed to prepare the company for either an IPO or an M&A exit.”

Indeed, that exit came in the form of the company’s acquisition by Google. But aside from the considerable responsibilities entailed in that transaction, Timm accomplished an awful lot more in establishing Looker’s DEI program. She proposed its creation to Bien, who gave it an enthusiastic blessing. Two staff members have since been hired to run the program, with eight employee resource groups formed and trainings in unconscious biases given on a regular basis.

Powered by Inclusion

Looker maintains a culture of belonging. We believe supporting more voices leads to better ideas.

We’re a community and industry leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion.

We provide education on unconscious bias, belonging, and allyship.

Learn more about Looker’s commitment to inclusion at looker.com/belonging.

Hector Gutierrez EVP and Deputy Chief Credit Officer Citizens Business Bank

“Not only did I learn how to build a legal department from scratch but I learned that success is not a guarantee in the tech world.”

bakermckenzie.com

Outside of Looker, Timm contributes to her community as a member of the advisory board of the Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center. A part of Santa Clara University, the nonprofit not only serves the needs of low-income communities but also provides free legal services in the form of training for law students to be more conscious of social justice initiatives. Timm believes her commitment to the center inevitably feeds into her work at Looker.

Today, she describes the company as having “an incredible corporate culture,” one that has survived a tripling in size in just a few years. Her next big projects are completing the acquisition and integration with Google and securing a corporate board seat.

The latter goal is an especially necessary one for Timm, considering the lack of diversity on corporate boards. She explains that, currently, Latinas only hold 2 percent of the seats. Timm is looking to change that statistic. If history is any guide, she should be able to manage both of her projects quite well—and still fit in kids’ volleyball games along the way.

We are honored to support

Tricia Timm, General Counsel and Executive Sponsor of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Looker. Her leadership is inspiring.

Helping clients overcome the challenges of competing in the global economy through a new type of thinking and a different mindset.

We are the New Lawyers.

As a Silicon Valley lawyer, Tricia has significant experience counseling technology companies as they grow and expand across global markets. She also is devoted to increasing diversity and representation in the industry. Baker McKenzie applauds Tricia and Looker for their leadership in the tech sector.

Honeywell’s Ray Sanchez honors his late father by motivating future Latino leaders like himself

Paying the Spirit Forward

BY BILLY YOST

RAY SANCHEZ DOESN’T SOUND PREOCCUPIED, BUT AS this feature is being written, his wife could go into labor with their second daughter at any moment. The Sanchez daughters will grow up with a father ready to pass along lessons from a grandfather they will never meet—but whose spirit remains close to the family. Sanchez lost his father to cancer at the dawn of his own professional career, as he was fresh out of Arizona State and ready to put his supply chain chops to the test. “My dad had already provided me with such a great foundation to rely on,” Sanchez says. “He taught me that quitting is never an option and that your most profound growth can come through adversity.”

Sanchez has kept his father alive by working to apply his lessons to avenues in his own life, whether professional or personal. In his thirteen years at Honeywell, Sanchez has progressed into more demanding roles by focusing on integrity, accountability, and the qualities that make the director of corporate procurement a motivational leader to those looking to rise in their careers.

DEVELOPING THE CAPACITY FOR GROWTH

Coming to Honeywell directly after college provided Sanchez lessons in both pride and humility. “My initial buyer role was really where I learned everything that I didn’t learn in the classroom,” Sanchez says. “My communication processes weren’t where I wanted them to be and I knew I needed to continue to grow.”

The Fortune 500 company was a large organization when Sanchez came aboard in 2009—and it’s only gotten bigger. “Being in such a big company helped me identify some key fundamentals that I knew I needed to develop early on, especially accountability.”

It was at the same time Sanchez’s father took ill. The death of his father served as the boldest of underlines to Sanchez’s commitment to himself and those around him. “Losing a parent that early made me realize not to take anything for granted, because we’re here for such a short time,” Sanchez says. “Why not be your absolute best and do as much as you can to help yourself, your family, and anyone else?”

Ray Sanchez Director of Corporate Procurement Honeywell

IMPORTANCE OF MENTORS AND MENTORSHIP

In building his own capacity, Sanchez says the role of mentor has been vital on both sides. “Early on, I really listened to some key managers that I thought were well respected in the organization and I studied how they conducted themselves,” Sanchez says. The director explains that developing a self-awareness about how you’re perceived is an important component of aligning personal values to effective actions.

Sanchez says that finding role models isn’t always about learning the right way to accomplish goals. “Sometimes it comes down to realizing that if you ever find yourself in this position, you would lead an entirely different way,” Sanchez says. “You have to try and have an open mind and absorb, good or bad, whatever you can that can help shape the person you want to be.”

In becoming a more seasoned leader, Sanchez says he hopes to positively motivate other Hispanics hoping to graduate into leadership roles. Perseverance and growth, he says, are difficult but necessary qualities to embrace.

STRATEGIZING SPIN-OFFS

Sanchez took on his director of corporate procurement role in 2016 and over the last year has helped aid two businesses that were spun off from the greater Honeywell.

“We had to start up a procurement organization, all the services and operations that needed support from a vendor perspective and do it all in eight to ten months,” Sanchez says. “That may seem like a lot of time, but when you’re

executing something that large while also doing your normal routine, it’s quite a challenge.”

Those spin-off efforts included losing good colleagues who went with the new businesses. “We had to find a way to still be nimble and execute everything with fewer resources,” Sanchez says. “But these challenges also brought new opportunities to align the nimbler organization to better connect more customers and drive on clear objectives set by our leadership going forward.”

LIVING MEMORIES

Sanchez’s own drive, he says, can often be traced back to the focus his parents placed on the value of experience. “Whatever we chose to do, we had full support—and we had to see it through to completion,” Sanchez says. “You learn the value of adversity by giving it all you have.” It’s a lesson Sanchez will work to instill in his own daughters as they grow and learn about their father’s father.

“Self-commitment and drive are so important, and you can’t ever lose that. If you’re able to apply those, the sky is the limit for what you want to achieve.”

“My dad had already provided me with such a great foundation to rely on. He taught me that quitting is never an option and that your most profound growth can come through adversity.”

Ernst & Young LLP: “Ray is a detail-oriented, highly accessible executive who represents Honeywell at the highest level of professional integrity and deep knowledge of Honeywell’s global business operations. Ray leads his team to continuously improve the procurement process which captures great value for Honeywell and provides a fair level playing field for all vendors. In my view, which is shared by my colleagues, Ray’s high level of expertise, healthy selfconfidence and excellent leadership skills combine to make him one of Honeywell’s best.” —Keith B. Smith, Director

Mastering the Great Pause

Jason Soto Chief Credit Officer Webster Bank

BY BILLY YOST

Webster Bank’s Jason Soto on the value of mentorship and knowing when to take a step back to gain perspective

TO SAY JASON SOTO HAS UNDERSTOOD

the value of mentors from an early age is a bit of an understatement. He was born to one of his best.

Jason’s mother was a fifteen-year-old New York City high schooler when she gave birth to Soto’s older brother. She had two young sons by the time she went back to school to finish her GED and her undergrad degree at Hunter College. When Soto was nine, his mom was accepted to Harvard University, where she earned both her master’s and PhD. It took her twenty years to achieve her dreams, but along the way she became an important symbol of drive and perseverance for her son.

“Her journey shaped a lot of my perspective and motivation. She kept marching forward. She took advantage of opportunities and got it done,” Soto says. “How could you not be influenced by that story?”

Indeed, Soto has taken his mom’s example to heart throughout an ambitious career. As an economics major just out of Wesleyan University, he landed a challenging position at Prudential, swiftly completing five rotations before moving to an associate position at GE Capital. At GE, he was promoted twice within two years and was soon leading the underwriting of new credit opportunities as a vice president. Eventually, he rose to chief credit officer of the corporate finance division. Now chief credit officer (CCO) at East Coast-based Webster Bank, Soto has earned a reputation as a confident credit executive who tempers his hard-charging energy with an

honest desire to motivate others in a positive environment that makes them want to come to work in the morning.

So far, it’s been a career with many interesting turns.

While at GE, Soto threw himself into projects and roles that didn’t necessarily lead directly to his ultimate goal but offered him the scope and perspective necessary to become a seasoned CCO. There, he met a more senior executive mentor who took him under his wing and let him in on what he called “the great pause”—or taking a deliberate, patient step back so that he could see the bigger picture. “That was hard for me, and [he] really had to drill it into me a few times throughout my career for me to understand it. As I’m mentoring folks now, it’s a critical skill I try to teach.”

The value of a thoughtful mentor isn’t at all lost on Soto. At Webster, Soto says he takes it upon himself to connect with those around him, learning from them in every interaction. For those he works with and supervises, he says, “I want to give them flexibility, help their development, and provide direct feedback when they need it,” Soto explains. “There were a lot of nights where I went home frustrated by what [my mentor] had to say, but it’s because he was so direct with feedback that I didn’t want to hear at the time. It made me better.” Soto adds that his delivery tends to be a little less blunt than that of his early mentor.

He follows in the footsteps of another more recent mentor, Webster President and CEO John Ciulla, who once held the CCO post and made critical decisions

during the Great Recession that Soto seeks to learn from during their discussions. “No pressure taking over the job the CEO once held,” Soto says with a laugh.

Soto often looks to Ciulla for inspiration—whether he’s deciding on a particularly challenging credit arrangement or representing Webster at a community event. “I’ve learned from working with John these past few years how important it is to balance protecting Webster’s solid financial position with the needs of the customer.”

During his two years at Webster, Soto led a critical, cross-functional project utilizing innovative technology to provide real-time credit portfolio information. “As we grew our commercial bank, we needed to improve insight into the portfolio and streamline processes.”

Today, Soto—a little over a year into his new position—finds his scope has again shifted dramatically, but his understanding of the importance of the “great pause” has motivated him.

EXPERTISE SPOTLIGHT

Webster Financial Corporation is the holding company for Webster Bank, National Association and its HSA Bank division. With $28.9 billion in assets, Webster provides business and consumer banking, mortgage, financial planning, trust, and investment services through 157 banking centers and 308 ATMs, helping individuals and communities go further faster to reach their goals.

Webster also provides mobile and online banking. Webster Bank owns the assetbased lending firm Webster Business Credit Corporation; the equipment finance firm Webster Capital Finance Corporation; and HSA Bank, a division of Webster Bank, which provides health savings account trustee and administrative services.

Webster Bank is a member of the FDIC and an equal housing lender. For more information about Webster, including past press releases and the latest annual report, visit the Webster website at websterbank.com.

“There were a lot of nights where I went home frustrated by what [my mentor] had to say, but it’s because he was so direct with feedback that I didn’t want to hear at the time. It made me better.”

As chief credit officer, he has had to pull himself back from the individual deal. “I really have so much perspective on the overall bank, the portfolio, and the strategy,” Soto says. And that broader scope has also meant that Soto has become a more sought-after representative for Webster Bank.

“All of the exposure I’ve had throughout my career, the different jobs, the people who have helped me take on this broader role, I find I’m asked more and more to step away from my desk and represent Webster more broadly both internally and externally.”

One of the things Soto appreciates about working at Webster is the bank’s commitment to invest in bankers both professionally and personally. “It’s part of Webster’s DNA, to give back to the communities where we live and work, and that rings true to me both in my professional life and my personal life.”

A volunteer for Junior Achievement in inner-city Bridgeport when he was based in Connecticut, Soto recently joined the board of Families First, a Watertown, Massachusetts-based nonprofit that helps single parents form relationships with their peers and become better parents. “Their mission resonated with me,” he said, adding he looks forward to working with his fellow board members and the staff to help the organization continue to grow.

Looking back on the many twists and turns in his career, Soto is clear about the power of mentors—as a boss, a peer, a parent—and the impact they have had on his life, shaping his perspective and perseverance. Soto says, “I want to help others, the same way others helped me—to see the big picture and motivate them toward making their vision a reality.”

“It’s part of Webster’s DNA to give back to the communities where we live and work, and that rings true to me both in my professional life and my personal life.”

Chrysti Ziegler’s expertise as general auditor was gained first by self-reflection, then by action

Taking Time for Internal Auditing

BY BILLY YOST

Chrysti Ziegler General Auditor Oil & Gas Refiner

Outstanding leadership. Exceptional results.

CHRYSTI ZIEGLER IS REMARKABLY honest about her journey to internal audit—especially considering that right out of college she had no idea where she’d land. “Accounting students were advised that there were three paths open: general accounting, financial audit, or you could do tax,” Ziegler remembers. “I wasn’t interested in any of those, and my grades were 100 percent representative of that.”

For every lawyer inspired to go into law after reading To Kill a Mockingbird , there are those successful and motivated people without a collective clue about which path to take. Ziegler’s initiative is not only a testament to the importance she places on self-reflection but also her unwillingness to give up on finding her own sweet spot. From a young woman who was afraid to speak up to the general auditor of an oil and gas refiner, Ziegler understands that her journey remains valuable because of what she discovered along the way.

After graduating college, Ziegler ended up in a role that would define her future by accident. She was accepted for grad school at Texas A&M Corpus Christi—where she says her grades fared far, far better—then took a day job at the university as an internal auditor. “I thought ‘staff auditor’ was just another financial audit position,” Ziegler admits. “It wasn’t until I started researching the job I had already accepted that I realized it was going to be an entirely different position.” Fortunately, the difference was crucial to its appeal.

“Internal audit is much more processbased auditing than just looking at financial statements,” Ziegler explains. “That’s the part that really made me fall in love with the job.”

Ziegler moved to Houston in 2000 after taking a job with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she accumulated eight years of extensive oil and gas industry experience before moving on to NiSource, a natural gas transportation company. Those two opportunities set Ziegler up for a position as chief internal auditor at Genesis Energy, where she encountered some unique challenges that contributed to her expertise in auditing and growth as a leader—both of which have set her apart from other candidates in the field.

Part of Ziegler’s appeal is the frankness with which she talks about the oft-demonized idea of the lateral move. Coming to NiSource didn’t include a promotion, and Ziegler heard alarm bells at the prospect of having a résumé that included ownership of a new position without a promotion. “At the time, I just wasn’t getting the traction that I wanted, and as a person who is constantly looking for challenges, I ended up ultimately choosing a lateral move for the betterment of my career.”

It proved to be the right one; the experience provided Ziegler more pipeline experience that would make her the ideal candidate for the promotion she received in going to Genesis.

As Ziegler has risen in her career, she says she eventually had to confront an aspect of her upbringing that was having unintended career consequences. “Growing up in a Hispanic household and family environment, there was always the idea that I shouldn’t challenge my elders—it’s just seen as disrespectful,” Ziegler explains. “I think I really internalized that and when I began my career, it was very tough for me to chal-

KPMG congratulates Chrysti Ziegler on her recognition in Hispanic Executive magazine for her exemplary leadership and outstanding accomplishments.

A PRESIDENT’S PRIDE

Chrysti Ziegler is proud to be the president of the Houston chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)—and for good reason. The chapter has contributed over $40,000 to scholarships and won the global organization’s “Chapter of the Year” designation the last two times it was eligible for the award (once a chapter wins, there is a five-year deferment). “I really feel fortunate that I became a part of this organization and, as president, have continued the momentum of the highest level of quality and output from our chapter,” Ziegler says.

lenge the perspective of someone with more experience.”

It was only when Ziegler was able to recognize her reticence that she was able to tackle it. “You can be respectful but still speak your mind,” she says. “I won’t lie, it’s not something that comes natural to me, but it’s something I’ve overcome to reach my goals.”

Ziegler’s own leadership isn’t based on challenging, but rather enabling the effectiveness of her entire group. The internal audit team is one that performs together or not at all—and Ziegler will continue to promote that mentality as she transitions from Genesis to her new position as general auditor at a large oil and gas refiner. “Success requires constant communication with my team, and I want my people to know how valued they are. But individual success isn’t what’s necessarily important here. Our goal is to move together with a shared goal.”

Internal audit is often about having a larger perspective of more task-oriented departments, and when the audit team is able to find ways to make those tasks more streamlined and jobs prospectively a little bit easier, it equals a win for the whole company.

KPMG LLP is the independent US member firm of KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”). KPMG International’s independent member firms have 207,000 professionals in 153 countries and territories. Learn more at www.kpmg.com/us.

Protiviti congratulates Chrysti Ziegler, chief internal auditor of Genesis Energy LP, on this well-deserved recognition. Protiviti is a global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective insights, a tailored approach and unparalleled collaboration to help leaders confidently face the future. www.protiviti.com

PROTIVITI IS PROUD TO SUPPORT

CHRYSTI

ZIEGLER

CHIEF INTERNAL AUDITOR, GENESIS ENERGY, L.P.

Protiviti is a global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective insights, a tailored approach and unparalleled collaboration to help leaders confidently face the future.

Protiviti and our independently owned Member Firms provide consulting solutions in finance, technology, operations, data, analytics, governance, risk and internal audit to our clients through a network of more than 75 offices in over 20 countries.

Regina Rivera illuminates her path to becoming a director of HR at Meritage Homes and her commitment to creating an environment of support, learning, and inspiration

Home-Style Human Resources

BY SARA DEETER FINDING THE RIGHT HOME CAN BE

tricky—whether it’s a physical space or the community around you, it can take years to get a good fit. At Meritage Homes, a leader in the home-building industry, “home” is the key word. It’s what drives success for the company, and it’s what continues to attract executives like Regina Rivera, a director of Meritage’s human resources department.

At Meritage, Rivera knew she had found her place. Today, she uses her expertise in coaching, employee relations, and talent management to foster that sense of home— one of support and belonging—for everyone else at the company. “The culture here is just amazing,” Rivera says. “I’m incredibly fortunate to work with a group of HR professionals who value each other, laugh together, and poke fun at each other while still having each other’s backs.”

Even during college at St. John’s University, Rivera knew that she wanted to work

in HR. “I just fell in love with the concept of business and psychology,” Rivera remembers. “It was an opportunity for me to practice and realize my passion for working with and helping others.” Rivera’s affinity for HR was only strengthened by her experiences as an INROADS intern at AXA Financial. INROADS is a national nonprofit that helps talented minority students find paid internships in their desired fields of study. “It was an amazing experience,” Rivera says. “I just knew I wanted to continue to work in that field. Actually, my first HR job at Citigroup literally started the day after I graduated.”

In the years since, Rivera has developed a wide-ranging perspective on the HR function, landing positions at Sears, Wyndham Vacation Ownership, and PulteGroup before coming to Meritage Homes. “That’s the great thing about human resources—it transcends industries,” Rivera offers. “I’ve

been fortunate to work in five different industries across my career, and to have had leaders who have encouraged me to learn about different parts of the business. It’s not enough to be a functional expert in HR—I need to be able to support every corporate function, and work with all levels of the organization.

As Rivera sees it, being an expert on HR-related policies and procedures is just the “entry ticket to come in and play the game.” If an HR professional wants to be a true business partner, she says, they need to

understand the “business of the business.” “What’s keeping your leaders up at night? What are the roadblocks they’re facing? Whether or not you think those problems are HR issues, you have to ask yourself those questions and help the leaders strategize solutions,” she says.

About four years ago, a slightly different question was on Rivera’s mind. She was ready for a change, ready to elevate to a different kind of work, and was seeking to understand how she could work closer with professionals on their engagement and

Regina Rivera Director of Human Resources Meritage Homes

career development. When she interviewed at Meritage and the chief HR officer told her that the CEO wanted his legacy to be his people, “it just gave me goose bumps,” Rivera says, fondly. “I thought, ‘This is where I want to be.’ When you know that there is executive-level support, then there are going to be resources in place, a commitment, and an embrace of what that HR function can do.”

As a director of HR at Meritage, Rivera has worked to become a “one-stop-shopping resource” for her people. As Rivera puts it, people come for help and to bounce ideas off her because they know that she has a vested interest in their success and that her sole goal is to help them be a better version of themselves.

Regina Rivera Director of HR Meritage Homes

Meritage’s executive talent development and internship programs have become her passion, Rivera says. Such programs are a critical means of filling in the talent gap created by the fallout of the 2008 housing market crash, she explains. But more importantly, they allow Rivera to tap into the employees’ potential and follow along with their journeys as they grow and evolve.

“One of the beautiful things about HR and home building is that they’re both about relationship management,” Rivera notes. “And it’s not just about treating others the way you want to be treated, because I think at times we accept less than we should for ourselves. Rather, it’s about treating others the way you want your loved ones to be treated—your mom, spouse, or kids. Tough decisions have to be made, but you can still keep in mind that those decisions are impacting real people.” Operating this way keeps Rivera focused and grounded on what really matters.

Vanessa Diaz Head of Marketing Automation Transamerica

Vanessa Diaz on her efforts to both transform marketing into a data-driven function at Transamerica and pave new paths for the next generation entering the technology sector

No Limits to Change

BY SARA DEETER

VANESSA DIAZ KNOWS THAT TRANSFORMATION HAS to be intentional. As head of marketing automation at Transamerica—a leading provider of life insurance, retirement, and investment solutions—she has brought a sense of purpose to how the company conducts its messaging using targeted, data-driven techniques. Now, Diaz is using that sense of intentionality to change how the next generation of leaders perceive and experience the technology sector.

A FOUNDATION OF FAMILIA

“Growing up in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, our concept of familia was strong,” Diaz says. “Familia wasn’t just my parents, siblings, and many aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. It was our friends and the many people

that formed the canvas of our daily lives—from employees on my dad’s cattle ranch to my mom’s many entrepreneurial endeavors.”

According to Diaz, it was that foundation that gave her both strength and a moral compass. “I went from only having to think about college to working two jobs while studying engineering (where I was often the only woman in the class). It was that extended familia, who showed up in so many ways, that drove me to action, creative thinking, adapting, and keeping my values in check.”

TECH-CENTERED AT TRANSAMERICA

Diaz brings that sense of familia to her to work every day at Transamerica, she says. “Transamerica is my familia , my team is my familia ,” Diaz says. “And even though my

team will be the first to attest that I am tough, direct, and hold high standards, I do it as a way to empower them to achieve things they may not have yet thought they could accomplish.”

And Diaz and her team at Transamerica have been able to accomplish a great deal. Because her marketing automation team works within a B2B market, they have to be “highly purposeful” in terms of both the message itself and how the message is being transmitted, Diaz explains.

To her mind, any leader in the marketing automation space has to be asking a few key questions: How did we know something worked? How are we measuring this? How are we optimizing what we’re spending? And after we’re done spending, how do we learn so that the next time around we’re more successful? As head of marketing automation, Diaz has dramatically improved Transamerica’s marketing function by using technology to answer those questions.

“My team was not only responsible for executing on this technology,” she says, “but also for leveraging those technologies for the optimization of learning as well as the ability to tell stories and broadcast messages.”

THE NEXT GENERATION

But despite Diaz’s many successes over the years, she is the first to point out that her time in the technology space has not been completely smooth sailing. “I’ve had

“Transamerica is my familia,

my team is my familia.”

We would like to extend our appreciation for Vanessa Diaz and commend her on the work she does to mentor students of all ages and backgrounds who are interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We cheer her on in her endeavors to promote technology and lift up groups from diverse backgrounds.

“I want to congratulate Vanessa for all the work she does helping students in pursuing careers in STEM. Transamerica strives to push technology forward with digital platforms that simplify the client experience, data and analytics that provide meaningful insights, and using cloud computing for more agility and quality of service. Vanessa is a prime example of how a senior leader executes on our strategy and demonstrates selfless dedication to bringing young minds up into the field. I wish her continued success!”

George Vega, Chief Technology Officer

“I want to recognize Vanessa for the technology focus she brought as leader of our marketing automation team but also the time, energy, and experience she gives in supporting student groups in STEM learning and leadership. The work she does to educate and empower students interested in STEM and selfless dedication to bringing young minds up into the field is exemplary.”

Frank Sottosanti, Chief Marketing Officer

We are proud to be your marketing technology partner.

merkleinc.com

to stay ‘hidden’ in plain sight,” she says, “trying not to attract much attention to my accomplishments and driving transformation by being leaner and working harder, with smaller teams, almost nonexistent budgets, and very little help.”

For years, Diaz has been on a quest to remove those roadblocks for the next generation. “Schools, universities, afterschool programs, and efforts to drive more women and minorities into STEM abound,” Diaz says. She herself has been encouraged to participate in conference panels and workshops, as a keynote speaker, and in various events intended to interest students in STEM careers. And those efforts are, in part, successful.

“We have more women graduating in technology and STEM fields,” Diaz confirms. But despite this, few women actually take on leadership roles—indicating that the problem is not recruitment but rather retainment. “We are successfully bringing more women and Hispanics up to the door and getting them hired at companies, but once they enter that door, there

are things that still permeate our culture and our understanding of both leaders and technology that prevent them from being successful,” Diaz says.

A key part of this problem lies in the expectation gap. “We’re bringing those audiences up to the door with the assumption that when they actually make it into a company, they will have the same hand-holding they had in school or afterschool programs, and that is not happening,” Diaz says. To combat that problem, Diaz is working on a strategy for developing the next generation of diverse leaders in technology—without creating misleading expectations of what it will be like once they actually enter the industry.

And they should enter the industry. “The one thing that I want Hispanics and women to not just believe but embody is that there are no limits to the change we can bring,” she says. “It doesn’t mean it becomes easier, or that the negative voices will fade. It simply means we will be better prepared to choose how we let it affect us.”

“The one thing that I want Hispanics and women to not just believe but embody is that there are no limits to the change we can bring.”

The VP of creative at TiVo, Miguel Sanchez Lascurain got into multimedia before anyone knew what it was—and he’s been drawn to its innovation ever since

Fusing Art and Technology, from Hollywood to Home

BY JULIA THIEL

MIGUEL SANCHEZ LASCURAIN IS A STORYTELLER AT heart. He’s been one as a designer, as an art director, and as a creative director—and he’s been awarded two Emmys for those efforts. Even as he’s taken on the role of vice president of creative for TiVo, Sanchez believes storytelling is more important than ever—and it all began with his love for movies.

Growing up in Spain’s Basque Country, Sanchez says, there were only two channels on TV: one for soccer, the other for old movies—and he had no interest in soccer. “Some people learn art by going to museums,” he says. “I think I learned lighting and color from watching old Hollywood movies from the ’40s and ’50s, seeing Technicolor.”

After getting his undergraduate degree in Madrid, Sanchez spent a few years working on documentaries for Iberia Airlines and projects for Spanish television, where he developed an interest in creating video graphics and animation. At the time, the only place that offered the training he wanted was the American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles—but Sanchez didn’t speak any English. Undeterred, he decided to move to the US for a couple of years to learn English before attending the AFI.

In 1992, he moved to San Francisco, where he joined the growing community of QuickTime user groups. There, he learned to create and edit thumbnail-size videos—which, at the time, was the cutting edge of technology. “Now we’re used to seeing video in full screen,” he says. “At the time, computers didn’t have that power [to render larger images] . . . we were seeing movies, basically the size of a stamp. Apple revolutionized the movie industry.”

Sanchez didn’t end up getting into the AFI, so he switched gears and did a multimedia program at UCLA from 1994 to 1996. Nobody knew what multimedia was back then, he says, but he had a feeling there was a future in it. It was a good hunch: before Sanchez even finished his program, he was getting job offers. Before learning about multimedia, he says, he saw storytelling through the lens of film. “As I went to this program, I understood that you can tell stories in many different ways,” he says. “A logo can tell a story; a design can tell a story. And you could create a story that would be interactive and nonlinear. That was something totally new.”

One of Sanchez’s first projects after graduating was creating interactive CD-ROMs for music labels— including one for a new and then-unknown group called

Miguel Sanchez Lascurain VP of Creative TiVo

No Doubt. He’d design interactive components to pop up on the computer when the CD was inserted (in the case of No Doubt, it was the story of how the band formed). Then in the late ’90s, he got a job as an interactive designer redoing the Disneyland website, which up to that point had essentially been a print brochure posted online.

The four years he spent at Disney would be some of the most formative of his career, and Sanchez credits his experience there with making him the leader he is today. It also taught him the importance of branding and creating brand recognition among customers, which he’s taken with him to every job since. “Clearly I was touched by the magic of Disney,” he says.

After leaving Disney, Sanchez went on to become art director of Univision, where he won an Emmy for Best Art Direction of a TV Network—the first in the network’s history in that category. Technology is part of the reason he won that award, he says. When he first arrived, he insisted on replacing all the outdated equipment with new Mac computers and hiring designers who knew how to use them, which put the network ahead of others in terms of innovation.

Technology also played a part in Sanchez’s second Emmy, he says (for Best Promo in 2007). He was senior manager of creative services at DirecTV, which was suffering heavily from movie piracy. The company shifted its focus to live sports, which couldn’t be pirated. Sanchez had to create the ad campaign, despite knowing nothing about sports. As it turned out, he says, his lack of knowledge gave him a fresh perspective on the subject. “My concept was that every time they did promos about sports, it needed to be all about testosterone. I was going to talk about emotions . . . What is the feeling of winning? What is the feeling of fighting?”

At TiVo, Sanchez is combining lessons learned over the course of his career; his responsibilities include not only design but also brand strategy. In leading his creative talent team, he says he seeks to hire people who are smarter than him and whose strengths are his weaknesses. Keeping up with ever-evolving technology is an ongoing challenge, but also one that Sanchez is well suited for. “I’ve been at the edge of technology my entire professional life,” he says. “It’s easy for me to understand it; it’s easy for me to translate that into design.” He’s especially excited to put that to work in his current role. “We are living in a different reality of how we watch television,” he says. “I’m telling that story.”

Working with the largest brands in the world to have our voices heard

“We are living in a different reality of how we watch television.

I’m telling that story.”

GLO BAL Global

International businesses present unique challenges— and opportunities—for corporate citizenship in multiple countries. The executives featured here thrive in navigating cultural shifts worldwide.

204 Martin Escutia, Infinera

208 Dumitrache Martinez, Essity

The Personto-Person Perk

BY WILL GRANT

At Infinera, Martin Escutia is a passionate services leader who remains real to his culture to improve customer experience

Martin Escutia VP of Services for Mexico, Central America & Caribbean Infinera

As the second oldest of nine children, Escutia grew up helping his parents— in particular his mother, who had her own home clothing business. He used the massive handlebars on his bicycle to carry clothes he would sell on weekends, while also collecting the money to help support his family. Looking back, Escutia believes those early experiences helped him develop skills for positive client interactions. “I truly know those experiences served me well in my professional career. Most importantly, I’ve received an understanding and support from my wife, Carolina, who knows that this type of job is not eight to five,” Escutia says.

Escutia’s philosophy with his customers is to always be connected regard-

Born in Michoacán, Mexico, Martin Escutia came to Chicago at the age of eleven. Raised in Pilsen, a large Hispanic community on Chicago’s west side that’s known for its rich culture and colorful murals, Escutia today remembers the core values his parents instilled in him: respect people, be humble but honest, commit to a good work ethic, and show passion with perseverance. He’s since treasured and carried those same values into his professional life by doing what’s best for his employees, his customers, and his company.

less of any issue. His focus is to build high-performance cross-cultural teams that present the best customer experience to any client. “The best time to call a customer is when there are no issues,” Escutia explains. “This reminds any customer they are always top priority.”

The approach has helped Martin gain trust and confidence, while building strong relationships with customers and partners, like Mexico City-based telecommunications service provider Maple Diseño y Desarrollo. Referred to as “Mr. E”—which he says stands for Mr. Execution because he is available 24/7—Escutia is ready to engage at any capacity to provide excellent customer service. Hearing this from his peers and customers is rewarding for Escutia as he re-engages

with many of his previous customers as vice president of services for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean at Infinera.

For Escutia, doing business and working in the Latin American market requires personal commitment, discipline, connection, and communication—and not necessarily via technology. He reaches out to customers regardless of location because spending face-to-face time is imperative to winning their confidence. That personal touch, he explains, is critical in the Hispanic culture. Escutia says that it can be a big change of discipline for any company or team to get used to his style. But in order to build trust, he’s flexible and adaptive to cultures and requirements (thanks in part to his bilingualism). One of Escutia’s favorite anecdotes to his team is “Be brief, be bright, and be gone.” He says that it’s important to keep it simple for your audience, especially when presenting a topic about which it might not be educated.

One of the key drivers for Infinera’s winning strategy is to ensure the company is structured with an organization and operating model to sustain and grow bottom-line business goals. Over the course of his career, Escutia has matured from positions in technical roles to business development to selling services. “I believe I can bring a lot of business potential to our company because of the trust I’ve built over many years with all my customers,” he says.

Escutia led numerous projects in Europe before committing to deep dives

in the Mexico/Latin America telecom market. The projects lasted years, not months. The companies Escutia worked for brought him in during difficult situations in which customer relationships were broken or needed to be enhanced. His confidence and know-how not only got him cited in The Cisco Way by Dushyant Sukhija, but also garnered him awards from Megacable and Telmex for excellence in customer support and impact.

He believes Infinera is uniquely poised for success in the region in part because of its acquisition of his previous employer Coriant, thus offering far more customer coverage and new E2E (end to end) solutions than before. Infinera is an industry leader and on its way to delivering data speeds up to eight hundred gigabytes per second from their new Infinite Network. “Millennials are doing so much more on their handheld devices. It requires intensive data and a backbone ready to support it,” he says.

Escutia explains that when you have a customer that is unsatisfied it’s imperative not to overpromise. “If you overcommit, you will under deliver and lose trust with a customer” he says. When identifying a customer’s pain points, Escutia devises strategies and action to take immediately, in six months, and in a year. And as Infinera looks to further expand, the company recognizes it can trust in Escutia as someone who not only knows his market but has built trust with his customers over many years.

“The best time to call a customer is when there are no issues.”

Player-Coach Position

BY PAUL SNYDER

Dumitrache Martinez VP of Finance Essity

WHEN DUMITRACHE MARTINEZ JOINED ESSITY as finance director for Central America thirteen years ago, his itinerary of immediate duties was a little packed for a first day on the job.

“On day one they said, ‘We need you to move to Costa Rica to support the transformation of the organization by shutting down a factory, changing our distribution model in some countries, revamping our operations, migrating all back-office functions from Central America to Mexico, and by the way, at the end of the assignment, your role needs to disappear,’” he recalls. “That can be intimidating to anyone joining an organization—but I saw it as a challenge and opportunity to grow.”

More than a decade later, Martinez has achieved just that. In his current role as vice president of finance, Martinez oversees both finances and strategy for the Tork-branded professional hygiene business unit of Essity, a $3 billion unit of the leading global hygiene and health company that does business in 150 countries, counts roughly 47,000 employees, and brought in an

As the VP of finance for Essity’s professional hygiene business, Dumitrache Martinez takes the mental moves he learned on the basketball court and applies them so that he’s able to ready his team for global wins

estimated $13 billion in revenue in 2018. The company also makes leading brands of consumer tissue, feminine, baby and incontinence care products; and compression, wound, and orthopedic care products used in healthcare.

“As a strategist, Dumi has the ability to see around corners and plan accordingly,” explains Don Lewis, Essity’s president of professional hygiene. “From the finance side he is results-oriented with excellent execution. I value and rely on his strategic input and trust and respect his ability to drive financial performance.”

Prior to assuming his current position, Martinez was CFO for the company’s Americas business unit. Throughout his time with Essity, he has worked with the company’s business in Latin America, for the commercial businesses in North America, and supported M&A activities.

A native of Mexico, Martinez started his career with global companies that helped him gain a deep understanding of Latin American markets, which helped not only cement his knowledge of the region but also proved valu-

able when he landed his role with Essity. Now also working with Essity’s businesses in Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa, he’s following the same pattern in terms of learning about regions while bringing with him a strong knowledge of the North American market.

“Eventually the learning curve becomes a ramp,” he explains. “You learn the way to capture and absorb knowledge from different geographies. You learn the local markets, customs, culture—and it becomes an exercise that has some familiarity to it.”

He oversees an international team that includes fifteen directors comprising twelve different nationalities, so Martinez says the constant challenge of his job is to find ways to keep his team consistently motivated and ensure that everyone has an equal chance to bolster their talents and careers. Diversity is an important part of the makeup of Essity. “We want to become champions of equality because our culture depends on progressive thinking,” he notes. Plus, Martinez says he makes it his personal charge

Dumitrache Martinez (third from left) with other Hispanic members of his team: Duncan Chilet (Peru), Finance Director Manufacturing, Professional Hygiene NA; Alex Romantchik (Mexico), Finance Director, Professional Hygiene NA; and Ruben Carbajo (Spain), Revenue Management Director, Professional Hygiene BU

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to make his team talented enough to succeed him.

“I think some managers might feel uncomfortable being surrounded by so much talent, but I see it as an opportunity,” he says. “A great leader not only delivers on the business front but also ensures that the human capital stays motivated and keeps developing to improve the entire organization. I would never feel threatened that someone on my team could take my job—in fact, I like to think that there are two or three members of my team that could take my job tomorrow if it was time.”

That kind of drive and push for others to succeed is deeply rooted in his own family history. Martinez’s father served in the Mexican Army and as an international diplomat, and his maternal grandfather was also a general in the Mexican Army—so he notes that discipline was core to his early development. Nevertheless, several of his relatives also played basketball, and Martinez says the lessons and skills he learned on the court might be the best asset to the career he forged in the years since.

“I got a college basketball scholarship and I was able to be part of a team that became five-time national champions in Mexico,” he says. “It gives you the discipline, commitment, day-in and day-out work, and overall team spirit. Contrary to individual sports, basketball requires a lot of coordination so all the different players on the team are able to perform and deliver points every thirty seconds. Even if you don’t have the ball, you need to move and play a role to help your team score.”

Though his hardwood days have passed, Martinez today plays on a court that spans the globe and he still rolls through the game mentally—thinking several steps ahead, moving, screening, and figuring out ways for Essity to run point.

“One of the best parts of my job is coming in every day and facing a new challenge,” he explains. “It fills me with adrenaline to get the best out of me and the team. The reality is that as much as you can prepare, business dynamics change every day and we have to be on our toes, always ready for the next chapter.”

“Eventually the learning curve becomes a ramp. You learn the way to capture and absorb knowledge from different markets. You learn the local markets, customs, culture—and it becomes an exercise that has some familiarity to it.”

THE LAST WORD

Our Favorite

L’ATTITUDE Moments

“The next president needs to be a welcoming president. One that is in the business of welcoming people from around the world. If we don’t harness the value and potential of immigrants, we’re going to fall further behind on a labor force needed to support the future.”

—JULIÁN CASTRO, US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

The first entrepreneurial Match-Up session invests approximately $2 million in Latino-led start-ups.

“We’ve talked about the emergence of the new mainstream economy. It’s about not just the purchasing power, it’s about the potential to create the innovation we’re going to need to amplify this power and to create the technologies for tomorrow.”

—THADDEUS ARROYO, CEO, AT&T CONSUMER, AT&T COMMUNICATIONS LLC

—MARÍA TERESA KUMAR, FOUNDING PRESIDENT AND CEO, VOTO LATINO

“My aunt came into this country when she was twenty-seven years old, and she said,

‘I may speak with an accent, but I don’t think with an accent.’”

Read María Teresa Kumar’s Leading Latinas feature on p.98.

Juanes shifts from speaking about the rising influence of Latin music in the US to showing the audience the power of his music—and the ballroom transforms from a seated conference into a cultural celebration with singing and dancing.

“There is a new kind of intelligence. It’s not artificial. It’s one that each of us has: human and cultural intelligence. Those of us with a bicultural advantage have a leg up.”

—LILIANA GIL VALLETTA, CEO, CIEN+

“Workforce growth. That is our secret sauce for continuing the economic growth that [the US] has had. And the key drivers of that secret sauce are Latino postmillennials.”

—DAVID HAYES-BAUTISTA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND FORECASTING, CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY

We are pleased to support the in-house leaders featured by Hispanic Executive with whom we are honored to work.