Hispanic Executive #66

For nearly twenty-five years, Palladium Equity Partners CEO Marcos Rodriguez has invested in inclusivity and broken down barriers to capital—and he isn’t close to being done P90

A look back at featured Top 10 executives from the past ten years P150

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Rising Líderes

Already known for their impact, these up-and-coming leaders have the potential to make a far greater mark on their industries and communities

Contents

“THE FUTURE IS HERE”

Ultrafast wireless internet creates a world of opportunity. Rudy Reyes is creating the partnerships that will help Verizon bring 5G to communities across the nation.

A CURIOUS MIND

General Counsel Alberto de Cardenas says curiosity is at the heart of his drive for perpetual improvement at construction giant MasTec Inc.

A TECH CENTER IN THE HEARTLAND

JPMorgan Chase knows that diversity drives innovation. Four tech leaders explore how that mindset manifests at the company’s corporate center in Columbus, Ohio.

MORE THAN A JOB

Marcos Marrero’s lifelong passion for technology has led him from a position at an IT helpdesk to the C-suite at H.I.G. Capital

ABOVE THE OPERA

Jose Martinez on his new, more expansive perspective as senior vice president and chief information officer at OneAmerica

COMFORTABLE WITH CHANGE

Michael Capiro has two passions: the law and cutting-edge technology. Throughout his career, he has leveraged those passions to stay ahead in an ever-evolving industry.

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

Raised in the border town of Juarez, Mexico, Sergio Urias now executes large-scale transactions and shines a light on disabilities rights at Covington & Burling

A Letter from the Publisher

WHEN WE STARTED HISPANIC EXECUTIVE BACK IN 2007, I remember sharing a fear of mine with one of our editorial researchers: that we were going to run out of Latinos to highlight in our fledgling publication. It became a cyclical fear, one that arose every year as we planned the editorial calendar—and not a completely unfounded one.

Apart from a few other publications, we felt alone in our field. LinkedIn wasn’t around, and Facebook was just starting to get off the ground, so our awareness of the Latino talent pool—and our understanding of its depth—was nothing more than a hunch. It had to be deep, we thought. Our population was too vast, too fast-growing, for that not to be the case.

As of today, we have worked with enough executives to fill more than sixty issues of this magazine. Ten of those issues focus on our Top 10 Líderes, a select group of leaders and trailblazers whose stories of impact reflect a paradigm of leadership that can serve as an inspiration for us all. As the title of the editorial section suggests, these leaders represent the best of the best in our community.

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

Suffice it to say, we never ran out of Latinos to highlight, and that fear has long since disappeared. Instead, a new challenge has appeared: how can we possibly highlight a pool of talent that is actually far deeper than we could have ever predicted? There are so many potential

líderes out there—far more than just the hundred that we have featured thus far. We could conceivably publish a Top 10 Líderes issue every single week.

Which brings me to a quote and a conundrum.

In 2015, at the Alumni Society’s inaugural Leadership Summit, I heard Robert Sanchez, the CEO of Ryder, declare that “there is no better time to be a Latino.” He was right then, and his words are clearly still true today. The demand for diverse talent has increased exponentially in the past twenty-four months—and our community has the supply.

So why is it that people “cannot find” qualified talent when we are leading in plain sight? Is it willful ignorance? Laziness? Perhaps those who cannot find the talent need to subscribe to Hispanic Executive. Apologies for the plug (and the smugness).

To be frank, I am not concerned with the perceived inability to “move the needle” of Latino talent in the leadership ranks of corporate America. As the old saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait.” And while many of the leaders in this magazine are not waiting for anyone and are doing something about the matter now—which I wholeheartedly commend—I remain patient.

And it’s not because I am OK with the status quo. I’m not. I’m patient because I know deep down in the depths of my being what every other Latino in this

country knows: there is a tsunami afoot. There is no shut-off valve for Latino talent. The ranks of that talent will continue to grow and grow until the dam breaks, and there will be no excuse for or any possibility of ignoring our impact. Our presence.

That is what I have learned through our work on this publication, and particularly through our work with our Top 10 Líderes. The world will shortly be inundated with talent that is Latino, and the full breadth of our impact will finally be felt by all.

“Suffice it to say, we never ran out of Latinos to highlight, and that fear has long since disappeared. Instead, a new challenge has appeared: how can we possibly highlight a pool of talent that is actually far deeper than we could have ever predicted?”

Masthead

Featured Contributor

Edra Soto is an interdisciplinary artist and codirector of the outdoor project space, the Franklin. Her work has been presented at the Smart Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Chicago Cultural Center, Albright-Knox Northland, and more.

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Getting Candid with Candida Alvarez

WORDS AND INTERVIEW BY EDRA SOTO

SINCE HER SURVEY EXHIBITION AT THE Chicago Cultural Center titled Candida Alvarez: Here, which focuses on the artist’s paintings from 1975 to the present, Candida Alvarez’s name has been plastered all over the art world.

Alvarez is a force to be reckoned with: she boasts an extensive studio practice, stellar teaching career, and now a magnificent position and presence in the national and international art scene. Her work is currently on view at museums, cultural institutions, and collections, and discussions about her practice (as well as critical reviews) are brimming with glory.

This dedicated artist and educator—who was also my mentor during my MFA years— has always demonstrated the tenacity and

endurance needed to become the established artist she is today. In this interview, Alvarez and I discuss her current work, recent collaborations, and a trienal named after one of her paintings.

You’ve worked as an artist for more than forty years now. What do you attribute your everlasting love for painting to? What or who inspires the work that you make?

As a material, I love what paint does. The mysteries of light and shadow, color and form—which come directly from observing living and mechanical color coexisting with human interactions—inspire me. The adventure of being on a mysterious path keeps me going.

One of my favorite aspects of your work is that you navigate a wide range of styles, from representation to abstraction. This makes me think about self-classification and the boundaries institutions and galleries place when categorizing an artist’s style. Can you expand on the notions of style and the pressure of classifying one’s work in contemporary art?

I always resisted the labels and always paid more attention to what matters in the painting or drawing space. My work generates from a relationship to ideas, not styles. My practice has grown from the permissions I have given myself to be free to choose. As I was developing as an artist in the ’80s, I saw the radical work of Joseph Beuys, Hilma af

Swarm, 2014, acrylic, enamel, walnut ink, and metal flakes on canvas, 84 x 72 in.

Klint, Gerhard Richter, George Baselitz, Romare Bearden, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Elizabeth Murray, Pina Bausch, Feliz Gonzalez Torres, Gordon Matta Clark, David Hammons, and Ana Mendieta, among so many others. They broke the rules and raised the bar—I loved witnessing it all unfold.

It is a great honor for me to exhibit work alongside yours as part of El Museo del Barrio’s first national survey exhibition of Latino contemporary art, Estamos Bien Trienal. How does it feel to have this exhibition named after one of your paintings?

Thank you, Edra! I have a relationship with El Museo that started in the ’70s, and it is a huge honor to be invited back to El Museo as an exhibiting artist with a work that has within its body of making a sound current that has affected so many lives: a repetition, over and over, of the voices of those interviewed by TV crews when asked what they wanted to say to their loved ones waiting for news after

Hurricane Maria hit [Puerto Rico] in 2017. To be in the midst of a generation of artists, a few I actually mentored, is exciting and a privilege. It is a bit like visualizing a full circle in the making.

The curatorial gesture was unique and special. So, fundamentally, I was surprised to be invited and excited that I was not the only elder in the room.

You have collaborated with other sensational artists and labels, including with Comme des Garçons on its fall 2017 collection. Can you tell us about the process of working with a fashion designer?

Working with Rei Kawakubo was a memorable experience. I loved seeing my drawings and paintings moving in space around a body.

I curated a series of paintings and drawings from which Rei chose to reproduce and use for select garments in the 2017 Homme Plus and Shirts collections. It was exciting to go with my son to Paris and see the clothes on the runway. Most memorable was seeing

Candida Alvarez

“I always resisted the labels and always paid more attention to what matters in the painting or drawing space. My work generates from a relationship to ideas, not styles. My practice has grown from the permissions I have given myself to be free to choose.”

Estoy Bien, February 1–March 21, 2020, Monique Meloche Gallery.

OF THE ARTIST AND MONIQUE MELOCHE GALLERY: CHESTER ALAMO-COSTELLO (ALVAREZ); ROBERT CHASE HEISHMAN (ART)

As an artist, I constantly think about processes and what takes me from point A to point Z. Can you tell us about your process? What sparks your creativity?

It varies, depending on where I am. If I am not traveling, I like working slowly and intentionally on large-scale paintings. I like drawing for pleasure. I use Prismacolor and Derwent watercolor pencils and an iPhone to take photos of anything interesting my eyes notice, so I have a fairly large inventory to draw from. My process is not always linear. Sometimes I have an idea that takes a long time to figure out.

You have used a wide variety of materials, from fabric and thread to collages and upcycled versions of your own work. Are there any particular moments that stand out to you from your development of an art piece or a body of work?

I remember in 1980, I was an artist in residence at the International Studio and Workspace Program PS1, Contemporary Art Center, LIC, NYC (Renamed: MOMA/ PS1). As part of my instillation in the auditorium located on the third floor, I had to climb an eighteen-foot ladder. My father was there to help and give me courage; he held the ladder while I climbed up. I was applying a black tape line around an arch opening, which would include a large, suspended piece of canvas with a painting that used a collage

Pharrell Williams in a photo by Mario Testino in the December 2017 Vogue wearing one of the prints.

Top: Licking a red rose, 2020.

Bottom: Walking in Blue, from Air Paintings (2017-2019), 2018, side A and side B.

of fabric and paint. It was my first solo installation of a painting since an earlier collaborative exhibition at El Museo del Barrio in 1977 entitled Confrontation, Ambiente y Espacio The piece at PS1 was called Red Spirit White It concluded the end of a yearlong residency there, my first studio outside my home. It was memorable.

I had the fortune of working with you as a grad student and greatly appreciate the defining moments in my own career that your advice prompted. Do you consider teaching to be a valuable influence on your own artistic practice?

I would say my artistic practice is an invaluable influence on my teaching. It has given me the wisdom and patience to understand that this is a choice I have made, and that there never was any guarantee of a financial reward from the sale of work.

Teaching has always provided me with a space for listening and providing guidance. I have valued the numerous conversations I have had with countless artists who now continue to practice and have rich, rewarding careers as well. Teaching gives back quietly, mostly. You don’t always get to know the effect you may have had on others until many years have passed. Of course, there are years of writing letters, which do get results from time to time.

Teaching was a surprise: I never thought I would be doing it for as long as I have. Edra, you were there as a student at the very beginning. What a pleasure to meet you in 1998 as a grad student advisee and share this wonderful friendship over all these years.

What is the best part of being an artist at this moment in time?

So far, I have managed to survive the pandemic, and I treasure the studio time.

Puerto Rican born, Edra Soto is an interdisciplinary artist and codirector of the outdoor project space, the Franklin.

Recent venues presenting Soto’s work include Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art’s satellite, the Momentary (Arkansas); Albright-Knox Northland (New York); Chicago Cultural Center (Illinois); Smart Museum (Illinois); and the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Illinois).

Recently, Soto completed the public art commission titled Screenhouse, which is currently at Millennium Park in Chicago. Soto has attended residency programs at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Beta-Local, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency, the Headlands Center for the Arts, Project Row Houses, and Art Omi, among others. Soto was awarded the Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, the Illinois Arts Council Agency Fellowship, the inaugural Foundwork Artist Prize, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant, among others. Between 2019 and 2020, Soto exhibited and traveled to Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Cuba as part of the MacArthur Foundation’s International Connections Fund.

Soto holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico.

Mary in the Sky with Diamonds, 2005, acrylic and enamel on canvas, 72 x 84 in.

MISSION

When one’s work makes an impact in the community, it transcends employment and becomes a calling. These executives have answered their call.

14. Janet González Tudor, HDR 18. Mauricio Romero, United Pacific 22. Teresa Palacios Smith, HomeServices of America 26. Jennifer Galiette, Eversource Energy 28. Jose Ordinas Lewis, Swiss Re Management (US) Corporation

The Bigger, CommunityFocused Picture

BY BILLY YOST

As VP and director of operational resiliency at HDR, Janet González Tudor works to make a positive impact on business operations, communities, and entire cities

JANET GONZÁLEZ TUDOR HAS WORKED for as long as she can remember. Before she was of age, the first-generation Mexican American was hustling up gardening, landscaping, and babysitting work from her neighbors.

“I’ve just always loved the idea of working and hustling,” González Tudor says. “My parents had limited funds, and they gave me what they could financially while coupling what they gave with lots of love and support. Nevertheless, I always found a way to get a little more for my piggy bank.” It’s the kind of mentality that usually lands someone in the finance or banking industry, but González Tudor had much larger plans in mind.

“When I started undergraduate classes at Arizona State, I began in architecture, but I pivoted to urban planning and design,” González Tudor explains. “I was fascinated by how communities functioned and evolved. Growing up in the Chicagoland area gave me the opportunity to see the zenith of urban planning, design, and architecture, while also seeing the clear class discrepancies in how the region was essentially segregated, and I think it really influenced my direction.”

Now at HDR, a global professional services firm that specializes in engineering, architecture, environmental, and construction services, González Tudor can realize the macro-scale change she always dreamed of. As director of transportation operational resiliency, she serves all transportation markets—leveraging her team’s strengths in economics and funding, sustainability, value engineering and risk management, strategic communications, and resiliency. She has left her imprint all the way from Phoenix to Washington, DC, and abroad.

Two of González Tudor’s most influential projects were a starter light-rail transit project in Phoenix, Arizona, a city that hadn’t seen a streetcar since Eisenhower was in office, and (slightly overlapping in schedule) a streetcar rail line in Tucson. She gained extensive experience leading community meetings with small businesses affected by the projects.

In Phoenix, she sought input, made sure those businesses were aware of the construction schedule, and worked to mitigate any potential issues. “The beauty of being in a city with weather like Phoenix is that construction was occurring almost twenty-four hours a day,” González Tudor remembers. “That felt like my pivot from community land use planning towards more holistic urban infrastructure and transport planning and implementation work.”

Community engagement is clearly both a passion and a strength for González Tudor. While on a streetcar construction project in Tucson, she interfaced with local businesses,

a community liaison group, a technical advisory committee, public artists, transitoriented development partners, and the station architecture team. But one community still stands out today—the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, which was going to be affected by the new construction. “The students would be housed along what was going to be the future streetcar line corridor,” González Tudor explains. “It was important for us to get together with them and everyone else and make sure we listened to their needs and understood their perspective during planning and construction.”

González Tudor was proud to be able to make a positive impact on both cities’ transportation systems as well as on segments of the population that are far too often left out of important dialogues when it comes to implementing equitable, inclusive, and community-focused infrastructure.

Involving those affected by construction is a priority across all of HDR. That listening is a critical part of the National Environmental

“You learn that in order to be successful in implementing infrastructure change, you absolutely have to engage the entire community and formalize partnerships at many levels.”

Policy Act (NEPA) process for infrastructure projects being led by HDR teams across the country. First introduced in the ’70s, the goal of NEPA, González Tudor explains, is to make sure projects have accountability for the federal funds they receive. Projects must provide a service to the communities where they are built, must represent the needs of community members, and measures must be included to provide for environmental justice-focused solutions that influence the communities positively and leave them better positioned for success.

González Tudor is passionate about inclusion. “You learn that in order to be successful in implementing infrastructure change, you absolutely have to engage the entire community and formalize partnerships at many levels. The earlier you plan for engagement, the better off you will be.” And it’s more than just her personal belief. HDR commits to working with minority-owned businesses, women-owned companies, and community-based organizations not just

to ensure equity but to further benefit the communities they’re helping to grow.

Over the last year, González Tudor says she’s also been heartened by HDR’s continuing evolution on diversity and inclusion initiatives. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, HDR hired its first diversity and inclusion director to continue to push conversations about inclusion and equity, as well as continue to build out internal employee resource groups for veterans, LGBTQ+ employees, Black colleagues, Latinx colleagues, and women.

“As a Latina, I believe the social movement that started in 2020 has essentially given underrepresented groups, such as women, people of color, and those in the LGBTQ+ communities, a platform to talk about their career experiences and weave their own personal stories into solution-oriented recommendations,” González Tudor says. “It was an important year to revisit and finesse conversations around inclusion and diversity, and the messages from our CEO and leadership-on-down make me feel proud about this organization.”

If González Tudor’s tenure at HDR isn’t proof enough of her passion for her work, one need only hear her talk about her career, community involvement, and volunteer activities. Her leadership as a mentor to many within her organization, but also within the community, is a “non-negotiable,” as is her involvement with organizations such as the Women in Transportation Seminar, Working in the Schools, Metrosquash, the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials, and her role on the board of directors for the American Public Transportation Association. She believes, with every ounce of her being, in the power of public transportation and access for all.

“Public transport is the mode that’s nearest and dearest to my heart because it’s what enables somebody to be successful and can change the trajectory of their life. It’s what gets them to school or to work; it can give a person who may not have any other way a means to connect with others,” González Tudor says. “What’s more meaningful than that?”

Janet González Tudor VP and Director of Transportation Operational Resiliency HDR

Mauricio Romero created a successful career for himself despite lacking resources early in life. Now, he wants to help young people forge their own paths.

Cultivating a Leader

BY KEITH LORIA

LIKE MANY PEOPLE, MAURICIO ROMERO FELT LOST AFTER high school and unsure of what he was going to do with his life. By that point, though, he’d already faced many life challenges that taught him valuable lessons he would use later in life.

And while today he’s vice president for retail finance at United Pacific, an owner, supplier, and operator of gas stations and convenience stores in the western United States, it hasn’t been an easy journey.

He was born in El Salvador and his parents immigrated to the US when he was two years old; his grandmother raised him in a small village until they were able to bring him along. When Romero was five years old, his father returned for him and they traveled through Mexico, eventually making it to the United States to reunite with his mother. Romero recalls the sadness he felt during the journey thinking about his grandmother.

Once in the US, Romero had to grow up quickly, taking on many responsibilities at a young age. “Being the oldest of three, I was the one who had to step in and be the parental figure for my younger brothers, because my parents both worked,” he says. “I had to feed them, clean the house, and make sure they did their homework. These responsibilities helped me develop the skill sets to take the lead and be a leader.”

Mauricio Romero VP of Retail Finance United Pacific

Since his parents couldn’t read English, Romero was also charged with handling all the bills and translating important documents— including calling the telephone company at age ten to dispute a bill—which helped him learn to communicate professionally.

Romero believes his upbringing provided much of the drive and determination he has drawn on throughout his career. “That foundation has helped me in life,” he notes. “It helped me become someone who takes initiative and helped me in my professional career and personal life.”

That turned out to be important, because his high school provided him with no guidance for pursuing a college degree or choosing a career, he says. “After I got out of school, I went to work sweeping floors at a dealership, making minimum wage.” But six months in, Romero took a look at his life and asked himself if it was really what he wanted it to be.

Wanting more, he enrolled in community college while continuing to work to pay for his education. While in college, he found an attraction to numbers, enjoying his finance and accounting classes the most. “Balancing a full-time class schedule and maintaining a job taught me time management skills that have helped me in my professional and personal life”

Romero was the first in his family to attend and graduate from college, a special moment for him and his family. This milestone helped pave the way for his younger brothers to go on and graduate from college as well. “While the journey was not easy,” he says, “dedication, determination, and believing in myself kept me motivated and focused to achieve a dream.”

Romero later went on to earn an MBA from the University of Southern California,

and spent more than fifteen years in leadership roles at TPx Communications (formerly TelePacific Communications), Unified Grocers, and SUPERVALU before being hired by United Pacific in early 2019.

“One thing that’s really important to me as a leader is investing in the growth of our employees by providing them opportunities to learn and grow in their careers, which creates a win-win situation,” Romero says. “Throughout my career, individuals gave me opportunities and invested in my professional growth, and I enjoy doing the same for others. I find that very gratifying from a career perspective.”

In his role, Romero oversees retail finance, business analytics, and pricing for United Pacific. “I provide the analytical muscle to the business,” he explains. “I look for oppor-

tunities and see what we can do to optimize the performance of the business.” Romero is currently focused on process improvement and introducing business intelligence technologies to the organization.

That involves working with the marketing team and retail operations team, bringing everyone together to develop tools and plans to grow profitability and align the business with emerging market trends. “There’s a lot of benefit to everyone coming together and identifying issues in the value chain and working together to find solutions,” he says.

Romero has a passion for giving back and helping others—especially young people who may feel the same confusion that he did at their age.

“That’s important to me, because when I reflect on my life, and my journey, if I had

known certain things, it might have been a little easier,” Romero says. “Every step is trial and error, and we walk away with lessons. There wasn’t a playbook that was handed to me. I feel I have all this knowledge that I’ve accumulated over the years and the best thing I could do is share [it].”

Some of his advice includes talking with counselors, learning about financial aid, and finding out about college applications—all the things Romero didn’t do because no one ever told him about them.

“If I talk to fifty people and tell them my story and show my map to my success, it’s something I think they will park in the back of their head. One day it will just click, and hopefully it will motivate them,” he says. “My goal is to give the information and help them drive towards their goals in life.”

“If I talk to fifty people and tell them my story and show my map to my success, it’s something I think they will park in the back of their head. One day it will just click, and hopefully it will motivate them.”

This Is What Home Feels Like

BY BILLY YOST

TERESA PALACIOS SMITH COULDN’T understand why her father’s hands were shaking. Her Colombian-immigrant parents had accomplished their dream: to one day own their own home. They had finally found the Florida home that could be theirs, and as the only native English speaker in her family, the young Palacios Smith even served as translator in the transaction with the real estate agent. Palacios Smith’s father’s hands trembled as he attempted to unlock the front door; he even dropped the keys before successfully navigating them into the lock.

When they entered the small ranch home, Palacios Smith’s mother entered the modest kitchen and immediately burst into tears. Her father—who worked for Delta airlines as a baggage handler, was on the airplane cleaning crew, and also moonlighted as a waiter—wiped his own tears away from his face as his small daughters ran through what seemed like a palace. Palacios Smith would

Teresa Palacios Smith always felt like an outsider growing up. Today, she helps promote a sense of belonging for employees at HomeServices of America.

only understand the tears later. “It was pride,” Palacios Smith says. “It was really the first significant impact for me when I think about what I do today. I now have the privilege of creating opportunities for so many families to own their own homes.”

Now the chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer at HomeServices of America, Palacios Smith has the chance to operate in an organization whose literal mission is “to be a superior provider of home ownership services in every market that [they] serve,” and to do so while continuing to advance opportunities, both inside HomeServices and beyond, for women and people of color.

FROM OUTSIDER TO BELONGING

There’s far more to Palacios Smith’s trajectory that makes her a unique and rare fit for her position. The executive, who is responsible for making all HomeServices employees feel like they belong, never truly had that opportunity until much later in life. To her family back in Colombia, she was a gringa. To those in the US, she was always an outsider no matter where she lived, whether that was New York City, Florida, Mississippi, or Georgia, where she now resides with her family.

In Florida, Palacios Smith was often mistaken for a Cuban and faced bullying, discrimination, and flat-out racism. In Mississippi, she was still an outsider but, oddly enough, found the community much more welcoming. “People would confuse us as Mexicans, but I still remember that experience fondly and experienced a lot of amazing people and culture.” But to the Southerners, she was still a strange Yankee from NYC. To her family back in New York, Palacios Smith’s speech now had a new Southern twang.

Teresa Palacios Smith

Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer HomeServices of America

“I’ve never really belonged in any group,” Palacios Smith says. “So for me, my role is critical because I want everyone to feel like they belong, and that they belong at this company. I’m grateful for my experiences because it led me to where I am today. I’m a gringa Latina with a Yankee-rebel attitude.”

DRIVING FROM THE INSIDE

Palacios Smith’s work outside of her day job is essential to understanding how she came to HomeServices. Early on, she joined the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; she would eventually become chair of the organization, but a new organization called the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) soon came on the scene and changed her life. Working with Latinos and entrepreneurs for the Chamber of Commerce was rewarding, Palacios Smith explains, but it was missing a critical piece: real estate.

“NAHREP combined business entrepreneurs, wealth creation, and homeownership,” she says. “It was everything I wanted to do in life: to help increase sustainable Hispanic homeownership.”

Palacios Smith would eventually cofound and become president of the Atlanta chapter of NAHREP, then the national president in 2015, making her the first Latina from the South to occupy the position. The highprofile role eventually connected her with Gino Blefari, who at the time was CEO of HSF Affiliates and is currently the CEO of HomeServices of America. “He told me that he couldn’t believe I wasn’t in a national role, and he wanted me to do what NAHREP was doing but from within a company position,” Palacios Smith recalls.

Because diversity and inclusion efforts typically reside within a company’s human

resources department, the idea of taking on a national diversity and inclusion role was a bit overwhelming for Palacios Smith, since she had no previous HR experience. “But what I did have was the experience that a REALTOR has,” Palacios Smith says. “That everyday experience of working with leadership, our network agents, and our clients. I also understood what it was to be an employee and to work with our own people as well as with Latinos and immigrants that were buying homes and relocating here.”

In 2017, with Blefari’s influence and support, and in the newly created role,

Palacios Smith joined the franchise division (composed of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and Real Living Real Estate) of the HomeServices organization as vice president of diversity and inclusion. Together with the executive leadership team, she began building the diversity, equity, and inclusion program.

In 2020, Blefari, now CEO of HomeServices, promoted Palacios Smith to chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer, in which role she oversees and aligns all D&I efforts across the HomeServices enterprise. HomeServices, Palacios Smith explains, is

“NAHREP combined business entrepreneurs, wealth creation, and homeownership. It was everything I wanted to do in life: to help increase sustainable Hispanic homeownership.”

the nation’s largest residential real estate company based on closed transactions, and the country’s premier provider of homeownership services including real estate, mortgage, franchise, settlement, insurance and relocation companies, and more.

Along with a bimonthly Women Who Lead Facebook series (which highlights outstanding women in the industry), a slate of training programs for leadership and HomeServices employees and agents, and a new mentorship program focused on driving diversity in leadership roles, Palacios Smith’s latest victory is the 2021 Belonging Summit, which took place just days before she spoke with Hispanic Executive.

The Summit, which was a gathering of diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals from across the thirty-plus HomeServices companies, featured prestigious keynote speakers such as author and former NFL All-Pro, Johnnie Johnson; Charlie Oppler, president of the National Association of REALTORs; Rebecca Steele, president and CEO at NFCC; Darla Zink, diversity, equity, and inclusion director at Berkshire Hathaway Energy; and Gino Blefari, CEO of HomeServices, as well as president/CEO of AREAA, NAHREP, NAREB, the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance, VAREP, and more. “We had speakers who came to provide solutions,” Palacios Smith says. “I can’t stand just talking about issues; I want solutions.”

Palacios Smith has a favorite saying, one that “is perfect because of the company that I’m with and the honor that I have working for an organization that helps build wealth for everyone. It goes, ‘Not all investors will put their money in CDs, but anybody in investing today should invest in the CD that provides the greatest return, and that is cultural diversity.’”

Eversource Energy’s Jennifer Galiette looks back on how her education informed her career— and explains how an internship might completely transform someone else’s

Just One Summer

BY DAN CAFFREY

ASK ANY LAWYER WHEN THEY REALIZED what they wanted to do with their life, and chances are they’ll point to a hyperspecific moment in their past—a moment when their interest in the law developed into a full-blown passion.

For Jennifer Galiette, senior counsel at Eversource Energy, that moment arrived when she was a sophomore at Yale University. She was a psychology major and had enrolled in a course called Computers and the Law as an elective.

“This was in the early 2000s, when the internet was still this newly developing realm,” Galiette remembers. “After the professor—who was a practicing attorney— gave us a foundation of legal elements, we discussed how we could take these concepts and apply them to cyberspace. In what way should an online issue be analogized to the real world and in what ways was it different? I found the course extremely fascinating.”

After taking two additional Computers and the Law seminars taught by the same professor, Galiette decided to pursue law school after graduating from Yale—and she never looked back.

Jennifer Galiette Senior Counsel

Eversource Energy

Today at Eversource—a Fortune 500 company and the largest energy delivery system in New England—Galiette’s role as senior counsel encompasses an expansive scope of legal responsibilities, from

representing the company at proceedings before state regulators to counseling business clients within the organization on day-today legal matters and strategy. None of this has slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic—the main difference being that hearings now take place over Zoom rather than in person in a hearing room.

In addition to her legal work, one of the initiatives Galiette is proudest of at Eversource is the summer internship program. Each year, the company hires two law students from diverse backgrounds who then spend half of the season working in the legal department at Eversource. For the other half of the season, the law students work for a large law firm in the Connecticut area with whom Eversource partners on this program—thus allowing the students to gain broad exposure to what it’s like to work both in-house and in a private-practice environment.

Obviously, the 2020 incarnation of the internship program looked a little different. After much discussion, Eversource decided to move forward with the program, and Galiette was responsible for pivoting it and ensuring it could function while completely virtual.

“I think we still provided a very valuable experience for our two summer interns, even though they didn’t get to be in the office,” she says. “We made an effort to schedule and invite them to more virtual meetings so

that they could meet and talk to the other attorneys face-to-face. I also encouraged the other attorneys to bring them along to virtual meetings and hearings, in addition to including them in prep sessions.”

To keep the interns further connected, Galiette planned and invited them to virtual happy hours, coffee talks, and other events. While she knows nothing will ever fully replicate the experience of having lunch with colleagues in person, she wanted to make sure there was engagement that went beyond the interns’ daily tasks.

Part of why Galiette is so thrilled with Eversource’s decision to keep the summer internship program going when many other companies and law firms were canceling them is because a summer program played a key role in her own legal career. While she was enrolled at the UConn School of Law, she spent two summers at Day Pitney as a summer associate. It was there that she got introduced to the energy industry: she had the opportunity to work on projects with Day Pitney’s Energy & Utility Practice Group during each of her summers with the firm.

The summer associate program did more than set Galiette on the path to her current field; it eventually led her to a full-time job as an attorney with Day Pitney’s Energy and Utility Practice Group. “After the summer program, when you receive an offer to join

the firm full-time following law school, the firm would give you a list of all their practice groups and ask you to rank them,” Galiette recalls. “They would look at the rankings and what groups needed a new first-year associate starting in the fall. Then they would make the highest possible match. Based on my experiences during the summer associate program, I ranked the energy and utility group very highly. I learned everything that I know about the industry from the attorneys who I got to work with on the ground.”

Over the course of her nine years with the firm, she became increasingly focused on regulatory matters—the type of matters that comprise the bulk of her work today at Eversource.

As of April 2021, Galiette and the legal department are moving full steam ahead with 2021’s summer diversity interns. Even if it’s looking like the internship will once again be virtual, she is confident it will be an invaluable experience for the interns and Eversource.

“I see it as a pipeline program,” Galiette says. “We’re establishing relationships very early on with highly talented, diverse law students who will hopefully go on to become highly talented, diverse attorneys. I was glad we didn’t have to miss a year of doing that.”

After all, one summer could make all the difference for someone’s career.

“We’re establishing relationships very early on with highly talented, diverse law students who will hopefully go on to become highly talented, diverse attorneys.”

Inspired by his time in the Boy Scouts of America, Jose Ordinas Lewis leads with intention and forwards a passion for mentorship

Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, and Kind

BY LINDSEY LUBOWITZ

IT MAY COME AS A SURPRISE TO MANY, but the Boy Scouts of America have troops chartered far beyond the United States. There are scouting troops in Europe, Asia, Africa— everywhere one could think of. But despite the global scope of the organization, its core values remain strong and consistent, upheld by individuals like Jose Ordinas Lewis.

Ordinas Lewis, who works as senior vice president and head of the Robotic Automation Center at Swiss Re Management (US) Corporation, first joined the Boy Scouts (now known as Scouts BSA) as a young boy while living in Mallorca, a small Spanish island in the Mediterranean. His mother spoke English, and his father spoke Spanish.

Having grown up in a bilingual household, Ordinas Lewis knew he had many options when it came to his future: he decided to take the Spanish entrance exams, the A-level exams for schools in England, and also the SATs. He chose to attend the University

of Sussex in England to complete his undergraduate degree, and then earned his MBA at a business school in the United States.

Despite all his travels, Ordinas Lewis never forgot the values he learned during his time with the Boy Scouts, or the guidance he received from both the older boys in the troop and his troop’s scoutmaster. Throughout his career, Ordinas Lewis has continued to seek guidance from his mentors—and strove to be an effective mentor himself.

In business school, one of Ordinas Lewis’s mentors introduced him to ConnSTEP, a business management consultant agency based out of New Britain, Connecticut.

“My career plan involved never working for an insurance company and never working as a consultant. I have failed at both,” Ordinas Lewis says, joking.

After a few years with ConnSTEP, another opportunity rose: a position at Electronic Data Systems, a global IT services and

equipment company based in Texas. Loyalty to the company, which had given Ordinas Lewis his first professional opportunity, meant he was not looking for a change. But a close mentor encouraged him to take on a role where he could make a bigger difference by delivering a wider range of projects for insurers and global asset protection services.

At Electronic Data Systems, Ordinas Lewis gained a better understanding of what he wanted to pursue in the future. “I was very interested in understanding how to not just build a system for the sake of building a system but to understand how people use the system in order to make it easier to use and

best fit for its purpose by supporting these processes,” he explains.

With support from another of his mentors while at EDS, Ordinas Lewis successfully applied for a role in GE’s prestigious Six Sigma Black Belt program at GE Insurance Solutions. As a Black Belt, Ordinas Lewis managed projects and mentored Green Belts, and eventually became a Master Black Belt, a role in which he guided others in the Black Belt program.

Through an acquisition, Ordinas Lewis moved to a leading reinsurance provider, Swiss Re, where he remains today. Ordinas Lewis is particularly proud of his work

Jose Ordinas Lewis

SVP and Head of Robotic Automation Center

Swiss Re Management (US) Corporation

establishing the Robotic Automation Center of Excellence, which he built from the ground up. He worked with internal stakeholders as well as external partners to ensure that the initiative would align with industry regulations, internal operational goals, and Swiss Re’s business aims.

Those partners are quick to recognize Ordinas Lewis’s talent. “Jose is a leader who inspires his teams and uplifts everyone around him. He embodies the values from his time in the Boy Scouts. We see this reflected in how he operates the Automation Program at Swiss Re: he combines ‘forward thinking’ that enables him to be prepared and run a strong, results-oriented program with a focus on doing good that ensures a positive impact and experience for his team, partners, and customers,” says Mariesa Coughanour, head of automation advisory at Cognizant.

Now, the Robotic Automation Center comprises a global team that supports the business in a variety of different ways. The goal of the department, Ordinas Lewis explains, is to automate processes to increase their ease and efficiency, allowing Swiss Re’s teams to better serve its clients. For example,

instead of manually inputting data from customers, Swiss Re employees can use robots to automatically add data to their systems thanks to Robotic Automation. But Ordinas Lewis discourages others from thinking of the program as a purely technological valueadd. “I want to focus more on the outcomes, on the business results, and on helping our teams become more efficient and more effective,” he says.

Beyond his work with the Robotic Automation Center, Ordinas Lewis enjoys taking the time to mentor others. “I realized quite early on that even if I have people on my team that can do certain things better than me, they still benefit from mentoring to grow beyond their current role,” he says.

Outside of his work at Swiss Re, Ordinas Lewis serves as scoutmaster for his town’s Scouts BSA troop, which his son is a member of, as well as a den leader (along with his wife) for a den in the Cub Scout pack that his two daughters are members of. He hopes that he can put all that he’s learned to good use and help guide this group of young men and women to success—however they choose to define it.

“I was very interested in understanding how to not just build a system for the sake of building a system but to understand how people use the system in order to make it easier to use and best fit for its purpose by supporting these processes.”

STRATEGY

What is your secret to successful leadership?

The impressive executives featured here share theirs, and they are strategies that engage both the mind and the heart.

32. Rudy Reyes, Verizon 40. Alexander Bermudez, Panasonic Corporation of North America 44. Alberto de Cardenas, MasTec Inc. 51. David Segura, VisionIT 54. Rick Galvan, Greenbrier Rail Services (part of The Greenbrier Companies)

The Future Is Here

BY ZACH BALIVA PORTRAITS BY GABRIELA HASBUN

Ultrafast wireless internet creates a world of opportunity. Rudy Reyes is creating the partnerships that will help Verizon bring 5G to communities across the nation.

That future all depends on providers who can develop and deploy the 5G broadband cellular networks that will power these innovations. Self-driving cars alone would produce up to thirty terabytes of daily data. That massive sum equals the output of three thousand average users; it would overwhelm the current infrastructure and slow even the most sophisticated system. Yet industry insiders say automakers will put 125 million connected cars on the road by 2022, meaning that high-latency cell networks could result in road hazards, congestion, and collision.

Rudy Reyes has been with Verizon for nearly two decades: he has been leading the charge to bring 5G to cities, first responders, small business, and consumers since 2015, and now serves as vice president and associate general counsel for public policy and legal affairs in the West Region. “We are working with communities and partners to build the digital future,” he says, “and our goal is to make sure that nobody is left behind.”

When Hispanic Executive last spoke to Reyes in 2018, he was working behind the scenes to launch 5G home internet service in Sacramento. It was a big endeavor. Unlike 4G LTE networks, which use a few massive cell towers, 5G technology requires many small cells, antennae, and remote units on street lights and other structures owned by local governments.

Reyes and his team built strong partnerships in Sacramento, completed the 5G home rollout, and later expanded deployment to other cities like Los Angeles, Indianapolis, and Houston. In 2019, Verizon introduced 5G mobile service in Chicago and Minneapolis. Today, 5G Ultra Wideband is in more than sixty cities nationwide. The Ultra Wideband network brings ultrafast speeds, massive capacity, and near zero lag to multiple simultaneous users.

Deploying this technology required Verizon to solve what Reyes calls “the last mile problem.”

Picture a future in which firefighters use augmented reality helmets to locate trapped victims, drones deliver vaccines to rural populations, and traffic signals change based on how many autonomous cars are approaching.

Rudy Reyes VP and Associate General Counsel for Public Policy & Legal Affairs –West Region Verizon

“We are working with communities and partners to build the digital future, and our goal is to make sure that nobody is left behind.”

“The last mile of Verizon 5G home is wireless, and that is a game-changer. We’re not digging up streets and driveways up to a customer’s premise, and that means more people can have affordable and reliable high-speed internet,” he explains. Now, customers who once relied on incumbent TV or cable companies for all telecommunications services have the power of choice.

The development also brings something else— equity. “We can deploy across cities and not just in downtown corridors or high-rent districts,” Reyes says. “We are deploying where the people are and where the density is.” San Francisco has 5G not just in its ritzy Union Square but also in the disadvantaged Tenderloin neighborhood. Atlantans have access in Buckhead as well as Ashview Heights and Vine City.

Now, Reyes is focused on expanding 5G’s footprint where it already exists, and expanding coverage to more cities. To do so, he’s collaborating with government officials, chambers of commerce, nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, and leadership councils. A typical day is nearly impossible to describe. Reyes usually starts his morning discussing public policy, legal matters, and project management issues with his team. Then, he might testify before a government agency on digital equity, take a conference call with a regulator to get a transaction approved, discuss installation with a public works crew, answer constituent questions at a public hearing, take lunch with a mayor, or discuss educational opportunities with a local chapter of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Although Reyes is busier than he’s ever been, he’s also more content. “This has been the work of my life, and I’ve never been happier,” he says. “What we are doing together with these partners will impact schools, businesses, economies, and lives. I feel like I have a sense of purpose.”

That sense of purpose extends to Reyes’s team, which has grown from six to about twenty since 2018. Verizon, of course, has a business interest in a successful 5G rollout, but those working with Reyes know they are helping to build partnerships that will also improve communities.

As a self-identified “scholarship kid” who attended a boarding school before going to Harvard University,

Fernández Cervantes Government

airs congratulates Rudy Reyes for his recognition by Hispanic Executive and grateful for his leadership at Verizon on telecommunication issues.

Reyes is committed to diversity and inclusion. “I want to extend the same opportunity I had to other people of color and those from less privileged backgrounds,” he says. “As we do this work, my team needs to reflect the communities we are in.”

To Reyes’s mind, a truly diverse team is one whose members have diverse professional backgrounds. Some in his role might have filled their team with lawyers and lobbyists. Reyes complemented his team of attorneys and government affairs professionals with marketers and engineers. Having those other disciplines on board, he explains, allows his team to bring a different level of credibility and authenticity as they discuss the challenges, solutions, and potential of 5G with enterprises and stakeholders that depend on connectivity.

Where Ideas Create Impact

And that need for connectivity is greater than ever. In many ways, the need for 5G became easier to explain in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to work remotely and schools to shift to at-home learning. Any parent who has ever attempted a video conference while one child does remote learning and another watches Netflix understands the need for speed.

Reyes is excited about what Verizon 5G home internet means for those consumers, but he calls the enterprise-level applications of the technology “mind blowing.” “We’re talking 360-degree virtual reality retail shopping, holograms, remote surgery, drone technology, next-level telehealth, autonomous fleet management—and other uses we haven’t even thought of yet,” he says. “The future is here.”

“What we are doing together with these partners will impact schools, businesses, economies, and lives. I feel like I have a sense of purpose.”

Panasonic’s Alexander Bermudez reflects on the ever-changing world of cybersecurity and how he has built a team that values the greater good over the individual

A Dynamic Domain

BY DAN CAFFREY

WHEN ASSESSING THE CURRENT STATE of cybersecurity, Panasonic Corporation of North America’s Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer Alexander Bermudez turns to a surprising metaphor.

“It’s like a large amusement park,” Bermudez says. “We’re chartered with protecting all entryways and the assets that allow a park to operate and make money. But at the end of the day, we have to assume the park has been compromised and that threats exist inside and outside the park, from a disgruntled employee and rule breaker who opens up the back door to allow family and friends because he/she feels entitled to a new a new supplier that’s hell bent on making a political statement against a corporate conglomerate by installing bad software onto the automated turnstiles.

“As CISO,” he continues, “I have to worry about every known potential gate, opening, supplier, employee, and asset. The bad guy has to just find just one weakness to exploit and make his or her way in. You have to constantly adapt to an ever-evolving world of cyberthreats and global regulations to add value and enable the business. Understanding and aligning a cybersecurity and risk management program requires the team to view security through a business lens to ensure our initiatives our focused in areas that will have the greatest impact in the most efficient way possible.”

It’s a sobering way to view an amusement park, or, in Bermudez’s case, the world as a whole. It’s no longer about trusting then verifying—the paradigm now requires technology experts to distrust everything and verify all. As a leading manufacturing and technology partner to businesses and governments, Panasonic’s integrated solutions cover a wide range of industries, from automotive to avion-

ics, energy, utilities, food services, hospitality, retail, government and public safety, logistics, manufacturing, and sports entertainment.

It’s a tall order, and it’s up to Bermudez and his regional team of cybersecurity experts to protect the enterprise and its operations from cybersecurity threats while ensuring they remain compliant with global security regulations. The paradox is that, while their mission is unchanging, the threats they face never stop changing.

“We’ve had to evolve in terms of how we’re securing the enterprise,” Bermudez explains. “Years ago, we were really focused on securing the crunchy, tangible exterior. But now, the boundaries of computing are nonexistent. People are everywhere. Data is everywhere. It’s not just about preventing the wrong people from entering the organization and walking away with our sensitive data and/or intellectual property. It’s about securing

something that’s ephemeral.” That ephemerality became even more complicated in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced so many people around the world to begin working from home, resulting in an increased reliance on VPNs, the cloud, and third-party proxy systems.

While much of Bermudez’s role at Panasonic deals with building out processes and solutions that can protect the organization in that kind of complex and challenging environment, the most crucial component comes not from the technology itself but the people who are analyzing, creating, and operating it.

“I look for smart people with an aptitude for learning and a passion for adding value,” Bermudez says. “And they don’t necessarily have to have security expertise, either. While some of my people have been in the tech space for a very long time and are deep technical thinkers, I also have folks who were

“You have to constantly adapt to an ever-evolving world of cyberthreats and global regulations to add value and enable the business.”

music and art majors and can think outside of the box. They don’t mind looking at the screen for long hours trying to find that golden nugget that’s of concern to escalate to the person above them.”

The VP also collaborates with outside partners such as Attack Research to ensure his team’s success. As Tadeusz Raven, partner and CEO at Attack Research, explains, “Attack Research operates as an extension of Alex’s team. As consultants, we add value to his organization by augmenting his defensive capabilities and facilitating a rapid response to the ever-changing security landscape.”

At Panasonic, Bermudez’s team consists of security data scientists, business analysts, and hardcore engineers. Some of the team members are new hires, and some were inherited by Bermudez when he transferred to his current position from the company’s avionics division in October 2020. Together, they’re building out a US regional security operations center for Panasonic to serve the needs of the business units in the Americas.

During Bermudez’s five-year stint at Panasonic Avionics, he oversaw cybersecurity programs for the enterprise and the company’s product portfolio, including in-flight entertainment systems, payment systems, and the security infrastructure supporting satellite communications for commercial aircraft with Panasonic product. Because such technology is passenger facing—especially on long-haul flights—it’s an area that often gets a significant amount of attention from airplane manufacturers, airline operators, and information-sharing associations whose members make up, as Bermudez describes it, “various pieces of the aviation ecosystem. People can be on a flight for twenty-one

hours tinkering with your system and trying to find flaws in it.”

Today, at the division’s parent company, avionics remains a partial focus, but it’s only one of twenty-one different business units that Bermudez oversees across the entire company.

“I have more macro-level, regional responsibilities,” he says, noting that he’s still somewhat in awe of the scope of the work he gets to do. When he first entered the cybersecurity realm more than twenty years ago, it

was just as a security administrator. “I never thought I’d get to the point where I’d run cybersecurity as CISO for a globally recognized brand like Panasonic.”

When asked what advice he would offer to his younger self, Bermudez explains that he would stress the importance of viewing one’s self as being part of something bigger. Always look to add value and strive to look at the problem from a business lens first, as opposed to just looking out for number one.

“That’s an inexperienced mindset,” he says of the latter. “When you’re younger, it’s easy to think selfishly and be more concerned with getting credit for spinning up a new piece of security technology: ‘Look at me. I did this.’ But ultimately, you’re a consultant to business leaders, who have to make informed decisions about risk. You have to be a partner and provide timely and relevant decision support. You have to provide that risk analysis. And you have to learn to adapt your models of protection and align them to the strategic business imperatives.”

Today, as CISO, Bermudez recognizes that that same outlook applies to his leadership of the department. He constantly asks himself how he can enable the business to embark into new business models of digital transformation while balancing the need for security control, how he can optimize existing technical investments in what has been a difficult year, and how he can ensure that the various pillars of the cybersecurity program align with the business mission and risk appetite of the enterprise rather than any one person.

It’s the only way to keep the metaphorical amusement park and its business critical assets protected.

“It’s not just about preventing the wrong people from entering the organization. It’s about securing something that’s ephemeral.”

Attack Research is a boutique security firm specializing in advanced information security. AR works with our clients to understand their mission and business needs and then tailor our o erings to those specific needs.

We specialize in full scope red teaming of infrastructure, hardware products and software applications. Our team's decades of experiences in all facets of technology enable us to take companies often esoteric, custom or proprietary technologies, learn them, reverse them and utilize them and help to secure them in alignment of the company's mission and business needs.

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505.672.6416

A Curious Mind

BY BILLY YOST

General Counsel Alberto de Cardenas says curiosity is at the heart of his drive for perpetual improvement at MasTec

Alberto de Cardenas EVP and General Counsel MasTec Inc.

Alberto de Cardenas awakes every morning at 4:45.

He works out early so he can fulfill all his daily commitments with enough time so that he can spend time with his wife and four daughters in the evening hours. The executive vice president and general counsel at MasTec Inc., a Florida-based infrastructure construction company, just doesn’t need much sleep, and his energy seems to be in endless supply.

In his early years, that energy was spent doing mission work in the Dominican Republic, an experience de Cardenas says provided him a foundational perspective on what really matters in life. The experience is likely why de Cardenas’s CV is packed full of board seats and volunteerism. And for the past fifteen years, it’s motivated de Cardenas to lead and strengthen the legal department at MasTec.

The length of de Cardenas’s tenure may seem significant to those outside of the familybuilt business, but at MasTec, fifteen years is closer to the average tenure of an employee. The company was built by Cuban exile Jorge Mas Canosa and is currently run by his sons, Jorge Mas, chairman, and Jose Mas, CEO. It’s in that family DNA, de Cardenas says, where you can find all of the reasons the teammates at MasTec seem to stay so long.

“It’s the family culture that sets us apart and keeps people here,” the GC explains.

“Our CEO is a visionary—brilliant, charismatic—and epitomizes what our culture is: loyal, entrepreneurial, innovative, hardworking, passionate, and fast paced. We have tried to make our legal department a reflection of what makes MasTec such a great place to be.”

It’s the MasTec culture that has enabled it to become an $8 billion Fortune 500 company, as well as one of the largest Hispaniccontrolled companies in the United States. It’s also that culture that has enabled MasTec to be on Fortune’s list of the World’s Most Admired Companies.

De Cardenas tries to explain what makes MasTec’s culture so unique. Each time, he provides a different example. “Everyone here seems to get along really really well,” the GC will start before turning on a dime. “But we expect discussion and debate. We’re expected to voice our opinions. That’s how the best decisions are made, and that ethos is built into this company.”

SOME SOUND ADVICE

De Cardenas’s efforts to synthesize MasTec’s broader culture within the legal department are grounded in a mindset of curiosity and self-improvement. Google’s two-year study of 180 teams (code named “Project Aristotle”)

“A group of very talented individuals will always be trumped by a group of perhaps less talented individuals if the culture and norms of the latter group are stronger.”

Fried Frank salutes our friend, Alberto de Cardenas, along with his team at MasTec. Alberto’s talent, leadership, and dedication inspires us all.

Fried Frank advises the world’s leading corporations and financial institutions on their most critical legal needs and business opportunities. The Firm’s approximately 500 lawyers are based in North America and Europe. Learn more at friedfrank.com.

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

validates the importance of building a great culture and why de Cardenas and his team emphasize it so much.

“The basic concept is that a group of very talented individuals will always be trumped by a group of perhaps less talented individuals if the culture and norms of the latter group are stronger,” the GC explains. “People on a team with a strong spirit of collaboration, who are comfortable in that environment and feel like they can express themselves, are almost always going to win out. Google spent millions on that study; we’ve just always been that way.”

The second cornerstone of de Cardenas’s leadership style comes from a few pieces of advice provided to him early in his career by Cesar Alvarez, the former CEO of Greenberg Traurig. “Mr. Alvarez said if you really want to be an excellent lawyer, make an effort to understand your client’s business and provide practical advice based on that knowledge,” de Cardenas remembers. “He also said, ‘Always try to meet in your client’s office.’ I’ve always tried to follow Cesar’s excellent advice.”

If members of the legal team were cold called and asked about the team mantra, de Cardenas says, they would know it by heart: “perpetual improvement.” De Cardenas says MasTec’s entrepreneurial mindset and attitude requires the legal team to constantly improve and push the bounds of what they think is possible.

The legal team has instituted a slate of initiatives to promote that way of thinking. An annual self-improvement plan brings the legal team together to brainstorm about how both individuals and teams can improve. There are always new ways to grow and improve, the GC notes, because MasTec is so dynamic.

The legal department also ensures it has technology on hand to help advance its goals. “We have in-house resources that keep our technology on the cutting-edge and are always looking for new ways to improve what we do,” de Cardenas says. In fact, it’s pushed MasTec’s in-house e-discovery program to become best-in-class.

At present, the legal team is examining ways to further the use of artificial

“Our CEO is a visionary—brilliant, charismatic—and epitomizes what our culture is: loyal, entrepreneurial, innovative, hardworking, passionate, and fast paced.”

intelligence to help them work more efficiently and effectively. Other innovations include building a bench of experienced ex-general counsels and senior lawyers to aid with the overflow work and provide certain expertise, a well-developed legal intern program, annual quantification of the legal department’s operational metrics and achievements, and the use of contract lawyers from specialized vendors to significantly reduce the cost of discovery.

The general counsel also took inspiration from an iconic company with the creation of an initiative called “Winter Reprieve.” This initiative is an opportunity for the legal department to attend a high-quality legal seminar hosted by experts.

“We want to be up-to-date as far as the law, but we also discuss what these experts are seeing as far as best practices at other companies,” de Cardenas explains. “We want to know how we can improve; it’s an open forum to discuss ideas and issues and then, ultimately, speak more broadly about best practices and implementing them. Sometimes we get really great ideas, and other times we just wind up feeling very confident about what our team is doing.”

De Cardenas’s peers in the field have taken note of the impact of this approach. “Alberto’s leadership provides a strong foundation for curiosity and discourse across his team that leads to creative solutions to complex problems. It’s an honor to work with him,” says Joshua Wechsler, a partner at Fried Frank.

CURIOUS BY NATURE

Maintaining and nurturing the MasTec culture comes with some added responsibilities. Though turnover is rare, the occasional open position is not taken lightly. “We spend

Holland & Knight is proud of our longstanding relationship with MasTec. We look forward to many more years of assisting in the legal needs of this industry leader in complex infrastructure projects, communications, oil and natural gas pipelines, power generation and delivery, renewable energy and technology deployment, as well as other solutions that help to improve and develop our communities.

Reaching new heights.

a lot of time on recruitment,” the GC says. “We hire people that fit MasTec’s culture, that fit our ethos, and that are intelligent, proactive, collaborative, team players, problem-solvers, curious, and good people.” De Cardenas says they spend more time vetting references than most precisely because they want to be sure they have the right person.

De Cardenas again looked to Google (more specifically, Work Rules!, the book that details the tech giant’s talent management and recruiting process) for inspiration. The lawyer says their success rate on candidates has been excellent, but in the spirit of perpetual improvement, they still tweaked the recruitment process last year, taking into account the learnings from Work Rules! to further improve the program.

De Cardenas’s perpetual search for improvement is, at the root of it, a testament to his own curiosity. He’s always reading. A Harvard Business Review article about talent spotting (and the essential quality of curiosity, coincidentally or not) by Claudio FernándezAráoz is a favorite. De Cardenas wants to see the best his team can do, but he is not an overbearing leader demanding unattainable perfection. Rather, he’s a curious general counsel who wants to do his part to foster an incredible company culture, help his team members continue to learn and grow as professionals, and see what possibilities the future holds.

Troutman

Pepper is an entrepreneurial, fullservice law firm that provides legal services to clients across the US, with twenty-three offices nationwide. Our construction practice combines capital projects finance and project development with large, complex litigation experience to serve owners/developers and contractors. For more information, visit troutman.com.

© Hogan Lovells 2021. All rights reserved.

Helping solve your toughest and most complex legal issues. Wherever you are.

We proudly support the entire MasTec team, including its innovative and dynamic leader of the legal department, Alberto de Cardenas, for his many accomplishments at MasTec Together, we are honored to provide legal solutions that help MasTec continue to lead the way in infrastructure construction.

Troutman

Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP

A Vision for the Future

From an incubator in Detroit to an international network with close to ten thousand employees, David Segura reflects on the ascent of his technology services company VisionIT and its acquisition by Softtek

BY DAN CAFFREY

EVEN AS A KID, DAVID SEGURA UNDERSTOOD the magic of technology.

Growing up in the Detroit area, he thought he might have a career in sports—until he got to high school and suddenly found himself looking up at newly taller classmates. In search of other interests, he started hanging out in the computer lab of his Catholic school.

“I was learning how to code by then,” Segura remembers. “Then one day, [I heard] a nun say, ‘David. David.’ I look around me, and all the other students are gone. I look outside, and the whole parking lot is empty. School had been dismissed for more than an hour. I realized in that moment how energized I was by technology—by building and controlling data through a computer interface. I knew there was a big future ahead that would impact every business—including businesses not even yet thought of.”

For Segura, that future included founding the technology services company VisionIT in 1997. At the time, Segura was a few years out of school, having earned a bachelor’s in computer science at the University of Michigan. He had decided to volunteer and teach coding and technology to local students, and he sought a way to make an even bigger impact. Segura soon realized that a tech company was the best way to help the Hispanic community, affording members of that community with job opportunities, internships, educational programs, and more. With this vision, VisionIT was born.

Early on, VisionIT focused on building transactional websites and web-based applications, catering to large corporations that were looking to connect with minority-owned businesses. And since this was all during the Internet boom, the company also helped many Hispanic-owned businesses build their first online presence.

“We learned to ride specific tech trends and understand them—how to smartly invest in people and tool sets to give us a strategic advantage,” the CEO says of his company’s growth. “We’ve done everything from in-vehicle software in the automotive industry to rollouts of enterprise software for major corporations.” Over the past twenty-three years, VisionIT has expanded to over twenty US markets and become one of the largest Hispanic-owned businesses in the tech industry.

While Segura attributes much of that success to tangible action and precise tactics, he also says the company’s expansion relied on something more intangible—the “vision” part of the equation. When VisionIT first started, he told his team that his goal for the company was to eventually hire ten thousand employees. At that point, only five people worked there, with some of the developers operating out of a storage room that had been modified into a development area. “It was a big storage room, but it was still a storage room,” Segura jokes.

Segura landed on the admittedly audacious number of ten thousand after reading Jim Collins and Jerry Porras’s influential corporate strategy book Built

David Segura Founder and CEO VisionIT

to

Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.

“The book was about companies that stood the test of time one hundred years into their existence,” Segura says. “Those companies had certain principles and a clear vision that

they defined very early on in their journeys. For me, that big, audacious goal was having ten thousand employees. I think that number shocked everyone. But it also got everyone around me to say, ‘Ah, David is thinking a lot bigger.’ After that, we coined the acronym FAST (focused, agile, streamlined, talented) as a philosophy for the company that would help us begin scaling.”

VisionIT was close to reaching its goal number of employees hired when it caught the eye of Softtek, the largest IT outsourcing provider based in Latin America.

“We grew out of that small-business stage and had scaled to a mid-market company,” Segura recalls. “But we were getting more and more customers who were asking for a global-enterprise scale that we simply didn’t have. I remember hosting visits at our headquarters for major Fortune 500 companies. They would say, ‘We love you guys. What you’re doing is great, but the next piece of work we have requires 24/7 operations. And why aren’t you in Asia? Where are you in Europe?’ I would tell them that we were in Mexico and all across the US, but they needed that next level of scale. That’s where Softtek comes in. They have that global footprint with fifteen thousand employees.”

Today, VisionIT has increased its scale and capability through offshore and nearshore operations, leveraging Softtek’s global delivery centers. But although Segura has come a long way, his mission largely remains the same. In addition to his work with VisionIT, he sits on the Alumni Association Board at his alma mater, where he’s working to increase the number of minority students through scholarship programs. He was also a founder of Hispanic Executive IT Council (HITEC) along with several other leaders in his industry, which today is chaired by the former CIO of Cisco, Guillermo Diaz. To Segura, this was a way to expand the number of Latinos serving in executive positions within the tech industry.

“You can see how all of my work over the years ties together,” Segura says. “It’s about tech, the Latino community, education— especially at the university level—professional organizations, and investing in and seeding the next high-growth companies.”

Through this work, Segura’s hope is to have created more pathways for the next generation of CEOs to realize their visions.

VisionIT is now a subsidiary of Sof ttek, a global company and the largest provider of IT services from Latin America with a solid two-decade reputation serving the U.S. market.

We offer the following suite of IT Managed Services from our 15 Global Delivery Centers in North America, Latin America, Europe & Asia.

• Technology Strategy & Governance (Digital & Cloud Strategy, PMO, Risk Mitigation)

• Application Development & Maintenance (Digital, Agile, QA, DevOps)

• IT Infrastructure Services (Network, Cloud, Security, Telecom, Help Desk)

• Business Process Outsourcing (Customer Experience, Enterprise IoT, Robotic Process Automation)

• Information (Business & Operational Intelligence, AI, Machine Learning) www.visionit.com

“You can see how all of my work over the years ties together. It’s about tech, the Latino community, education— especially at the university level— professional organizations, and investing in and seeding the next high-growth companies.”

Culture Makes the Company

RICK GALVAN

IS A PEOPLE-MADE LEADER.

BY ANDREW TAMARKIN

In the office, at manufacturing facilities, during town halls, and overseas, Galvan’s focus has always been on people. He pulls from his life experiences to motivate and inspire his teams, and his authentic and transparent approach to leadership keeps him grounded and relatable. To Galvan, the truth is clear: when you treat people right and foster a positive workplace culture and environment, the business metrics will follow.

Galvan’s untraditional climb up the corporate ladder started when he was just twelve years old. His uncle hired him at a grocery store in Chicago’s inner city, and it quickly became evident that Galvan was anxious to do “hands-on work.” By the time he was a teenager, he had dropped out of school to work full-time for a gas station.

SVP Rick Galvan understands that transparent, authentic leadership is the best way to empower and influence others

Rick Galvan

SVP

Greenbrier Rail Services (part of The Greenbrier Companies)

“Back then, we had a full-service operation. You’d go out there, pump gas, blow up tires,” Galvan remembers. “A crew from the railroad would stop there often . . . we just formed a relationship. They said, ‘Kid, you got good work ethic. When you turn eighteen, we’ll get you out at the railroad.’”

The railroad crew was true to their word: in 1990, Galvan was hired as a mechanic’s apprentice, launching his railroad career.

Eventually, Galvan went back to earn his GED, completed a two-year degree at Joliet Community College, received a bachelor’s at the University of Phoenix in 2006, and completed the Executive MBA program at the University of Missouri–Kansas City in 2014. He advanced through positions at Class I railroads, including BNSF, Kansas City Southern, and CN. He found that the more people he met, the more they would help him reach his goals.

Those individuals remember Galvan just as fondly. “Rick has been a great example of how leading from the heart overcomes any adversity, inspires others, and influences positive behaviors such as the determination to never give up,” says Jim Sokol, vice president for mechanical at CN.

Over the years, Galvan’s work took him across the United States, to Canada, down to Panama, and through Mexico—which was an honor, says the American-born Galvan, whose heritage is Mexican. Traveling to Mexico provided him opportunities to connect with people there on a deeper cultural level than his predecessors could. Before blinking twice, Galvan had about three thousand employees under his supervision.

“I never thought I would get to a leadership position,” Galvan admits. “And I never forgot where I came from. When I go out to the shops, to the yards, to the plants, I always see myself in that crowd.”

For that reason, when Galvan joined railcar manufacturer the Greenbrier Companies as senior vice president of rail services operations, developing the company’s culture became his most fundamental task. He brought siloed business units to work as one. He outlined leadership profiles and mapped out a succession plan for his team.

“Greenbrier should never have to go outside the company to bring in a senior leader again,” says Galvan, who has since been promoted to senior vice president of Greenbrier Rail Services, a part of the Greenbrier Companies. “As a leader, you should be able

to develop most leadership positions from within your organization.”

For Galvan, good leadership is the ability to authentically connect with people, know when to listen, and to understand what to listen for. Often, solutions are right there on the floor; all it takes is boots on the ground and an open mind. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the janitor or the plant manager; they can tell in a second whether you’re being authentic,” he says. “And they have the answers because they know the business.”

Sometimes, Galvan says, connecting with people can be as simple as presenting in Spanish during a meeting. Recently, an employee approached Galvan after one such meeting and thanked him. In twenty years, it was the first time an executive had connected with him on such a personal level.

“One thing is for certain: you need someone to pull you along, to help you advance through professional life.”

Galvan understands how to develop an organization’s culture from the ground up. He doesn’t tolerate disrespect, dishonesty, or selfishness. As he sees it, healthy company culture can be tracked by a decrease in the number of injuries and lower absenteeism. People will look out for each other. They stay focused. They have a reason to show up for work in the morning.

As Galvan emphasizes, a healthy company culture is also inclusive and empowers everyone at the organization. Local talent recruitment can foster a more inclusive workplace, but Galvan says business leaders do not always take advantage of this approach. “Some companies are better than others, but I don’t think we, as an industry, do a good job promoting careers within the neighborhoods and communities we serve,” the SVP admits. “We should go into these communities, tell community members about our operations, take a chance, bring them in to join us, and develop them to advance through the ranks.”

Galvan is developing a strategy to engage the communities that surround Greenbrier facilities once the economy opens back up. He asserts that providing jobs in this way will organically diversify the industry. With the right training and mentorship opportunities, these new hires will enjoy fulfilling careers.

Indeed, mentorship has been critical to Galvan’s own success. Several mentors have helped him cultivate ambition over the years. “Some folks have it easier than others, but one thing is for certain: you need someone to pull you along, to help you advance through professional life,” Galvan says.

As an SVP, Galvan says it’s only fair that he pass the torch to the next generation. He mentors many—formally and informally. In November 2020, he signed up for the Big Brother volunteering program through Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

“I think it’s twofold,” Galvan says of the importance of mentorship. “You help someone, and you end up helping yourself.”

Chuck Coyle, Director of Rail Services at New York Air Brake, congratulates Ricardo Galvan on this important recognition and his twenty-five-plus years of dedication to the rail industry. NYAB is honored to continue our successful relationship with Mr. Galvan and the Greenbrier Companies. New York Air Brake LLC NYAB.com

“I never forgot where I came from. When I go out to the shops, to the yards, to the plants, I always see myself in that crowd.”

At New York Air Brake, everything we do is engineered to outperform and we take every opportunity to recognize and celebrate remarkable performance.

Congratulations to Mr. Ricardo Galvan on your achievements and leadership.

ALREADY KNOWN FOR THEIR IMPACT, THESE UP-AND-COMING LEADERS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO MAKE A FAR GREATER MARK ON THEIR INDUSTRIES AND COMMUNITIES

60 Isabel Fermoso Thompson of Uber 65 Rosani Hernandez, Jimmy Rivera, and Liliana Canedo of New York Life

70 Jackie Velez of Xero 75 Diana M. Martinez of CreditNinja 80 Alejandra Velázquez of Oportun Inc.

DRIVEN T O SUCCEED

Having made it to the top of a field she was discouraged from even entering, Isabel Fermoso Thompson now spearheads global workplace design initiatives at Uber

BY ZACH BALIVA

ISABEL FERMOSO THOMPSON

Workplace and Real Estate, Global Program Manager of Space & Design, Uber

With two bell towers and sixteen chapels, the landmark is an architectural marvel. Most tourists remember gilded altars and ornate sculptures. Isabel Fermoso Thompson remembers smaller details: the feel of a cool limestone wall and the contrast of crimson and oak.

As a young girl, Fermoso Thompson attended mass at the Cathedral and spent many afternoons wandering through ancient buildings nearby. When her family relocated to Northern California, a growing interest in art and architecture took her to places like San Francisco’s de Young Museum. “I grew up in beautiful cities full of amazing spaces to discover,” she says. “I not only saw remarkable buildings but also noticed how each detail made me feel.”

Today, Fermoso Thompson unites those experiences in her efforts to create modern workspaces for her colleagues at Uber. In many ways, the role as a global program manager of space and design is a dream job that fuses her passion and personality—but landing the influential position at America’s top rideshare company took drive and perseverance.

Art classes gave the young Fermoso Thompson an outlet and helped her bridge a language gap after her family returned to the United States in her adolescent years. Her talent grew, and by the time she was entering her senior year at an all-girls school, she wanted to study design and architecture. There was just one problem—traditional gender roles stood in her way.

“Everyone told me that architecture was for boys and interior design was for girls,” says Fermoso Thompson, who notes that, even today, studies such as the CREW Network Benchmark Study have found that women comprise less than 37 percent of the workforce in the commercial real estate industry.

That’s when she made an important discovery. The local all-boys school offered architecture courses and accepted female students through a tri-school program. She enrolled without telling her parents.

Heads turned as the budding architect, a tall volleyball player, entered the school in her uniform skirt and took her place as one of two girls in a class of thirty-five. Despite the looks she received, she remained undeterred.

La Catedral Metropolitana is a masterpiece. Built over a period of about 250 years, the church towers over the Plaza del Zócalo in Mexico City.

“I realized then that sometimes, women working in a man’s world just have to block out the noise and keep moving forward,” she says.

As Fermoso Thompson continued to pursue her interest, social pressures and a lack of mentors threatened to deter her. She took the “safe” route and entered UC Santa Barbara as a business major before making the late switch to art history and architecture, with a minor in communications, during her junior year. She needed to catch up and build experience in her field quickly, so she printed a stack of résumés and visited local firms to ask for a job in person. “Most of the receptionists and directors, if I even got a chance to meet with them, didn’t exactly laugh, but nobody wanted to hire me without any experience,” she recalls.

Fermoso Thompson had resigned herself to working for an on-campus catering and food service company when her phone rang. One of the firms she visited offered her a summer internship. She ultimately stayed on to work full-time with one of the firm’s top designers and gained invaluable experience with well-known hospitality clients.

Life and work took off from there. The young professional graduated, kept her job at the firm, and started a master’s program. Soon, at just twenty-four years old, she was coordinating with vendors and municipalities to manage $5 million budgets as a project manager for a Bay Area construction company, gaining great insight into the architecture and construction industry as a whole

“After the year we have all had, we need connection more than ever, and I want to give my colleagues spaces they are going to feel safe in—but also experiences that they will remember.”

Today, the world recognizes Teknion as a thought leader and innovator, o ering an integrated portfolio of furniture for the modern o ce.

We have nurtured an internal team of talented designers and engineers, and reached out to an international roster of designers who work with us to push the boundaries of design. As a result, Teknion can work with you to fit your unique work culture and workspace.

Teknion has a history of imagining what’s possible. In 2013, Teknion acted upon our vision to grow as a family of brands, embarking on a bold initiative to expand our capabilities by establishing Studio TK and Luum textiles.

STUDIO TK

Responding to the advent of the social workplace, Teknion created Studio TK as a distinct brand that supports the dynamics of social connection and collaboration.

and making a name for herself in a field where only 27 percent of workers are women and 8.7 percent are Latino, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

She then spent a year gaining retail experience as a global store designer for Levi Strauss & Co. There, Fermoso Thompson developed furniture standards, revised floor plans, and helped create designs to standardize retail stores. Next, she decided to become fully licensed as an architect. As she did back in college, Fermoso Thompson printed out her résumé to drop off in person. This time, however, she approached companies armed with deep experience and a broad portfolio. A firm in the East Bay hired her on the spot.

When the young executive eventually joined Uber in 2016, the red-hot company was struggling to accommodate its rapidly growing workforce. Annual revenues were up from $1.5 billion to $6.5 billion. In just one quarter, gross bookings skyrocketed 28 percent. With office space at a premium, some employees were sitting on folding chairs and working out of hastily rented space in local strip malls. Uber needed a new and cohesive employee experience.

Previous work in commercial, real estate, and retail projects—combined with a minor in communications—helped the global program manager hit the ground running. She stepped into the Workplace Design and Experience team to establish global build standards for all corporate and public-facing spaces.

LUUM TEXTILES

Addressing a need for innovative textiles in the work setting, Luum combines creativity with clear performance intent. Luum fabrics animate the workplace with color and texture, adding comfort and a distinct character that captures the personality of the culture.

Brandon Maddox Regional Vice President, Northern California 415.999.2395

brandon.maddox@teknion.com

Five years later, the team at Uber has developed a 150-page document to guide its global space and design program. The executive and her team are hard at work figuring out how to transition Uber back to the workplace after the COVID-19 pandemic. Some insiders think the corporate workplace is dead. Modern workers accustomed to working from home are too scared to return, they say. Fermoso Thompson disagrees. Workers will come back if designers provide the right space.

“After the year we have all had, we need connection more than ever, and I want to give my colleagues spaces they are going to feel safe in—but also experiences that they will remember,” she says. Memorable spaces are full of small, interesting details, the Uber executive explains. Details that linger in the mind—like the feel of a cool limestone wall—and details that promise a different future in the years to come.

“Sometimes, women working in a man’s world just have to block out the noise and keep moving forward.”

HELPING LATINOS TO RISE

Rosani Hernandez, Jimmy Rivera, and Liliana Canedo delve into the dynamic Latino market and leadership development opportunities at New York Life

BY WILL GRANT

In the past two decades, insurance giant New York Life has created a network of more than two thousand financial professionals, managers, and managing partners that have been empowering and educating Latinos to protect their families and businesses by creating a financial legacy. Now, they are looking for what’s next: to elevate the entire Latino community.

ROSANI HERNANDEZ Partner, New York Life

JIMMY RIVERA Managing Partner, New York Life

“It’s not enough for us to have a diverse organization; we want our financial professionals to reach new heights, inspiring growth not only within our company but also among the community. We want to ramp up our ability to create leaders that will set an example for what other Latinos can achieve,” says Liliana Canedo, corporate vice president and head of the Latino market at New York Life.

The Latino market’s Elevate campaign was born out of the realization that many Latinos have already achieved their dreams and become successful—now is the time to create what’s next. The campaign combines several strategies, including supporting agents as they grow their businesses, increasing the number of Latino managers in the company, and empowering the community to build wealth.

One of the tools used to accomplish the Elevate vision is the company’s Fast Track to Management Program, which was designed to attract, develop, and nurture highpotential up-and-coming leaders who have reached a glass ceiling in their careers at other organizations and are ready to rise.

The program centers on offering professionals who are already successful at what they do—entrepreneurs, industry leaders, experienced managers, and MBAs—an opportunity to be promoted to a management role in half of the time they normally would. New York Life recognizes the time and effort these professionals have put into achieving success in other industries and companies and gives them the opportunity to change careers without having to start again.

LILIANA CANEDO

Corporate VP and Head of Latino Market, New York Life

“I am very proud of the work I do to help identify and develop future Latino leaders that will grow within our organization and change not only the future of our company but the future of our community. I want to give people the same opportunity I had.”

“I came to New York Life for three reasons: the diversity, the opportunity to reach my highest potential, and to serve my community.”

—LILIANA CANEDO

—ROSANI HERNANDEZ

Partner Rosani Hernandez joined the company through the program after four years in banking, when she realized there were no opportunities for her to grow at her company. And she wanted more than a job; she wanted a purpose. “I came to New York Life for three reasons: the diversity, the opportunity to reach my highest potential, and to serve my community,” she explains.

The El Salvador-born Hernandez knew New York Life had spent years developing its Latino market, as well as various other cultural markets, and that they were always trying to innovate and foster a strong Latino community both in and outside the company.

Hernandez knew she wanted to grow as fast as she would be allowed. Despite her ambition, she still needed some direction. Hernandez’s mother, a successful New York Life agent in her own right, asked Hernandez to speak with Canedo about the company’s Fast Track Program. “Liliana was the reason I decided to become a partner,” Hernandez says. “She came to my office and spoke about her own experience, and I could just see myself following the same path. Her story was such an inspiration to me.”

Both Canedo and Managing Partner Jimmy Rivera say that New York Life’s focus on building diverse leaders makes their employer a truly unique place to be. Brazilian-born Canedo was asked to take on the national strategy for all Latino markets three years ago.

“Her new role wasn’t just important for Canedo—it was important for any Latina who wants to lead someday,” Rivera says. “Other organizations, associations, and publications

recognized our strong focus on evolving and innovating the Latino market internally and externally.” Indeed, in 2020, New York Life was recognized as the third-highest-ranked company on LATINA Style’s 50 Best Companies for Latinas to Work For list.

The Fast Track Program is by no means a free pass to a management career. Candidates need to have previous managerial experience and meet the eligibility requirements. “This program didn’t exist when either Liliana or I joined, and it would have been perfect for me and many others that I knew. However, it requires dedication and effort,” Rivera says. “We’re looking for that ideal person—someone like Rosani—who has been in a numbertwo position for a long time and wants to rise.

“Twenty years ago, there were not many Latinos in the industry,” Rivera continues. “I joined the company at a time when I was one of only five Latino partners. New York Life knew that cultural markets, especially the Latino market, would not only provide opportunities that could position us well into the future but help shape our community by educating Latinos about the importance of building a financial legacy.”

Canedo concurs about the sense of support at the company. “We talk about this huge corporation feeling like a family, and that is exactly what it is. We all take care of each other,” she says. “I am very proud of the work I do to help identify and develop future Latino leaders that will grow within our organization and change not only the future of our company but the future of our community. I want to give people the same opportunity I had.”

JACKIE VELEZ Director, US Hispanic, Xero

OPPORTUNITY IS EVERYWHERE

As a director at cloud accounting software company Xero, Jackie Velez is partnering with the Latino community to help take Hispanic businesses into the future

BY ZACH BALIVA

The fact that it’s written in Spanish speaks volumes, and as do the sentences that follow. The copy continues:

“Obtén una visión general de cómo Xero puede ayudarte a mejorar tu productividad y crecer las relaciones con sus clientes. Aprenderás acerca de Xero como plataforma y los beneficios que trae a los contadores.”

The text is from an invitation to a webinar called “Getting to Know Xero,” one of several events designed to help the Hispanic community become acquainted with the company’s cloud accounting platform. Spanish-speaking accountants and business owners often struggle to find culturally relevant accounting services provided in their preferred language.

When that happens, their accounting firms or businesses suffer as important, everyday tasks grind to a halt. Xero’s robust system is built to automate those tasks and simplify how customers pay bills, claim expenses, accept payments, send invoices, and prepare tax returns. Automating these timeconsuming tasks helps Hispanic professionals

and businesses operate more efficiently to bring scale to their organizations.

According to the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, 4.4 million Latino-owned businesses add more than $700 billion to the economy each year. Xero is stepping up to provide training, resources, and services in Spanish to Hispanic professionals so they can bring the full benefits of cloud accounting to the businesses they serve—and, in turn, help empower the US economy.

Jackie Velez joined Xero in 2016 and now works to continue driving growth within the US Hispanic market. She was born in Houston to parents from Mexico and Bolivia, and says her experience as a Latina helps her understand and partner with the Latino community.

“I was raised between two cultures and never felt like I was fully understood or accepted in either one,” Velez explains. “I can relate to the many people who feel the same in today’s business world.” She felt insecure speaking Spanish, felt pressured to hide

“¿Qué es Xero?” That simple question greets every bookkeeper, accountant, and small business owner that Xero is looking to partner with.

FINDING HER VOICE

Jackie Velez’s first decade in accounting took a toll as she sacrificed healthy habits to deal with the stresses of working in a competitive field. In 2015, she gave up alcohol, adopted healthy eating patterns, picked up a daily yoga practice, and started to focus on mental health and wellness. The changes restored her body, mind, and soul and helped Velez rediscover her long-dormant creative side. She started singing, collaborated with a songwriter, regained her confidence, and found her voice through creative expression.

“When I’m singing, the stress and anxiety go away—I’m in a different place,” Velez says. In 2020, she uploaded some of her original songs to Spotify for her Xero colleagues to enjoy. her Hispanic heritage and to fit in, and was encouraged to pursue an education above all.

Growing up, Velez loved singing, and she developed a passion for musical theater. Eventually, she joined choir and learned to read music, and for the first time in her life, she felt a sense of belonging. But when it came time to choose a career path, she opted for the “more realistic world” of accounting.

Accounting was a natural fit for Velez. Working at a small restaurant in high school gave her the chance to learn the inner workings of a small business. As a manager, she helped streamline operations and manage other employees. She also read business books like The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

She completed undergraduate and master’s degrees, started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and spent the next ten years as an auditor in the public accounting industry.

However, Velez soon realized she wasn’t totally fulfilled. “An auditor’s job is to show up and tell people everything they’ve been doing wrong. I was always giving recommendations on the past,” she says. “I realized I wanted to empower people instead.”

Velez was considering leaving the industry altogether, and that’s when she saw a video for Xero. “Xero is a different type of accounting company; we’re leveraging technology to help customers find success so their businesses can thrive,” she explains. Instead of looking backwards, Velez is helping Xero’s customers look forward.

Hispanic Executive

Xero is more than accounting software, it is a community powered by people. With the Hispanic and Spanish-speaking populations growing rapidly in the US, we believe their entrepreneurial spirit is a perfect cultural fit. We will continue to empower our Hispanic community with resources and tools to help their businesses thrive.

Visit xero.com/hispanic and check out our webinars on getting started with Xero.

When Velez first came to Xero, the company didn’t have a specific strategy to reach the US Hispanic market. She was one of a few Spanish-speaking employees at the company, and there was a clear demand for someone to work with Hispanic communities. Velez volunteered for these assignments and immediately appreciated the need for a dedicated vertical. “The Hispanic community is not using legacy accounting software, so something intuitive like Xero is perfect for them,” she says. “I knew there was a massive market just waiting for us to tap into it.”

Velez created a pitch deck, won approval to move more directly into the market, and became Xero’s director of the US Hispanic market in July 2020. As she recruits accountants who serve Hispanic businesses onto the Xero platform, she continues to see dramatic results. Customers who were reluctant to try English-only solutions are now using Xero to help their clients expand service lines and open new locations. It’s clear to all that the vertical’s launch has been an overwhelming success, but Velez knows it’s just a beginning.

“The US Hispanic channel is exemplifying one of Xero’s core principles—#human—by providing a very human touch through our cultural expertise and the extra service that we are providing to this community. We’re going to keep this momentum going by expanding across the country,” she says. “I see opportunity everywhere I look.”

“I was raised between two cultures and never felt like I was fully understood or accepted in either one. I can relate to the many people who feel the same in today’s business world.”

DIANA M. MARTINEZ Corporate Counsel, CreditNinja

IN THE BUSINESS OF BOLD

Diana M. Martinez has moved undaunted through one of the most competitive industries in the world. She hopes her experiences inspire the next generation.

BY NATALIE KOCHANOV

Diana M. Martinez has always been bold.

“For better or worse, I’m naturally a bit fearless,” she says. It’s this fearlessness that led Martinez to pursue an in-house role directly out of law school instead of a traditional law firm position. The same sense of daring propelled her just one year later into her current role as corporate counsel at the Chicago-based online lending start-up CreditNinja, where she’s embracing her ability to exercise discretion and effect change.

“I love my role. If I have an idea about how to improve a process, I can act on it,” Martinez explains. “And that’s the benefit of being part of a smaller legal team at a start-up company.”

There’s a clear passion underlying Martinez’s approach to her work. Perhaps surprisingly, that passion is for business, not law. Martinez was originally planning to pursue an MBA until an undergraduate internship at a business services law firm opened her eyes to the many avenues available to lawyers, including specializing in business. The internship also opened her eyes to the glaring lack of Hispanic representation—especially Latina representation—in law. But the statistics didn’t scare her.

Committed to law and driven by her love of business, Martinez focused her coursework on corporate law during her time at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. This coursework cemented her interest in working in-house, as did her experience as an in-house legal extern at WEC Energy Group (NYSE: WEC) in 2016.

In-house legal internships are rare, and her experience at WEC gave Martinez a leg up when searching for in-house positions after law school. Although most companies don’t offer in-house opportunities to recent graduates, Martinez joined the legal team of roughly one hundred attorneys at Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) in 2017. She spent a year in the transactional group, reviewing and negotiating procurement and vendor agreements.

Her role at Discover equipped Martinez with sufficient expertise to make the jump to CreditNinja in 2018, reporting directly to the general counsel. Despite the fact that she was still at a relatively early stage in her career, the insight that she had acquired into the operations of an established company in

A Community of Counsel

When not occupied by in-house duties, Diana M. Martinez finds time to connect with legal professionals through the Association of Corporate Counsel and the Chicago Bar Association. She serves as cochair for the latter’s Young Lawyers Section In-House Counsel Committee, and her event programming for the committee targets existing corporate lawyers as well as newcomers considering in-house practice. “I love the fact that it gives me a chance to network and be a resource to others,” Martinez says.

the financial services industry gave Martinez a valuable perspective on how to help set up CreditNinja’s legal and compliance functions.

“The only thing differentiating me from my counterparts at other companies or firms is the fact that I haven’t been doing this for twenty or thirty years; otherwise, we all possess the same fundamental legal analysis skills, and I feel comfortable collaborating with them as industry peers. I get creative with ways to gain industry knowledge quickly, and I feel perfectly competent in my ability to give internal advice at CreditNinja,” Martinez says.

Indeed, Martinez has helped institute both a vendor management program and a consumer complaints management procedure since arriving at CreditNinja. In addition, she reviews and negotiates third-party contracts, oversees licensing and regulatory examinations, helps advise various departments, and manages outside counsel for the company as needed.

As Martinez sees it, one of her greatest achievements is the role she played in a recent partnership the company established with a federally insured bank, known within the

industry as a highly valuable “bank-fintech partnership,” which permitted CreditNinja to arrange loans on the bank’s behalf. Martinez was part of the core team responsible for elevating CreditNinja’s standards across the board as necessitated by the partnership.

Martinez also serves as the face of CreditNinja in the Online Lenders Alliance (OLA), a leading industry trade association that works to promote a responsible marketplace for the online consumer financial services sector. She represents the company at OLA conferences and attends congressional meetings with the association when member support is needed. Notably, Martinez has begun to participate as a panelist at OLA conferences alongside seasoned industry professionals. It’s a unique opportunity for Martinez to gain exposure to the industry at large.

“I don’t know where else I’d be able to do this,” she says. “My company’s founders and management team are so supportive of me getting out there and becoming a thought leader.”

Martinez intends to continue learning what she can from OLA’s broader initiatives moving forward. At CreditNinja itself, her

“I’m a big believer in ‘You can only become what you see.’ I take the fact that I don’t get intimidated as motivation to make headway for those who do.”

future goals include ensuring that the legal department grows and evolves in parallel to the business. She is especially determined to take a greater hand in the department’s hiring processes by continuing to offer legal internships to law students. “As someone who went in-house straight out of law school, I’m all for giving young lawyers a chance,” she explains. “I’m looking forward to bringing more diversity to legal in-house work.”

Through ongoing volunteer work with local high schools, universities, and law schools, Martinez also hopes to increase awareness of the possibilities inherent in a career as corporate counsel. Many young people, she notes, including those in Hispanic communities and those without direct legal industry connections, can benefit from seeing and hearing from a corporate attorney with whom they can identify culturally. She’s ready to set an example for those individuals and use her daring for the greater good.

“I’m a big believer in ‘You can only become what you see,’” Martinez says. “I take the fact that I don’t get intimidated as motivation to make headway for those who do. My hope is to make the path less daunting for others.”

Rocio Baeza,

ALEJANDRA VELÁZQUEZ

Senior Director of Public Affairs, Oportun Inc.

ACCESS GRANTED

Oportun’s Alejandra Velázquez believes access to capital is one of the last great inhibitors to financial inclusion, and she’s working to change it

BY BILLY YOST

In

Oportun was created with the goal of serving the one hundred million Americans with little or no credit history that have been excluded from the financial mainstream.

Since opening in 2005, Oportun has helped more than 890,000 customers establish a credit score, disbursing more than $9.8 billion in loans to hardworking people for everything from medical bills to home improvements and car repairs. Oportun is an affordable alternative to the predatory payday loan companies that seem to appear on every street corner in disadvantaged communities. Velázquez, Oportun’s senior director of public affairs, is from one of those communities.

The eldest of five children born to immigrant parents from Mexico, Velázquez grew up in a low-income home in east Los Angeles. “I experienced the full array of challenges that most poor families do,” she reflects, “including watching my parents toil away in low-wage jobs, knowing that they were living paycheck to paycheck.”

As is the case for many immigrant families, Velázquez’s parents always emphasized the importance of education. They encouraged her to find a way to work smarter, not harder. To Velázquez, that meant getting into the best college possible. She had big

dreams for herself, and in the seventh grade, she announced to her teacher and class that she would be attending Yale. Her teacher’s response: “Young lady, sit down.”

“This man was a great teacher, and in retrospect, I realize it must have been really hard for him, at that moment, to respond to a smart but poor kid from east LA,” Velázquez explains. “He didn’t want to discourage me, but he also probably didn’t want to give me false hope knowing very well the odds were stacked against me.”

But Velázquez achieved her dream. She explains that her experiences at Yale were just as instructive as her upbringing when it comes to her present role. “I always knew I had been poor, but I had never been in the presence of so much wealth to actually compare my experience,” Velázquez says. “You don’t know what you don’t know. All of these disparities became more and more apparent, and that helped shape my public consciousness.”

In fact, after graduating, Velázquez went to work in public service; she cut her teeth working on behalf of former California State Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez. “That’s where I really learned to listen to the needs of the community,” she says. “I was a representative for someone who was making impactful policy decisions, and it was imperative for me to interact with constituents, community advocates, grassroots organizations, business leaders, and local policy makers.”

Soon, Velázquez’s résumé reflected her extensive work in policy, legislation, and coalition-building. She was the first education policy manager for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, and after graduating from the UCLA School of Law, she went on to lead external and government affairs at other organizations. Coming in-house to work for a

many ways, Alejandra Velázquez’s journey to Oportun Inc. mirrors the often difficult paths tread by the people she serves.

corporation, she admits, was never something she envisioned for herself. But as she learned more about Oportun, she recognized that the organization was a place where her personal values aligned with the company’s goal to help improve the lives of hardworking people.

“I realized that in my role at Oportun, I would be serving as a liaison and representative to elected officials, policy makers, and community partners who are all working for similar objectives,” Velázquez says. “I had a unique opportunity to bring my diverse personal and professional experiences to the private sector to genuinely help people achieve their American Dream.”

Most important, Velázquez says, was the trust she knew she could place in Oportun. Before deciding to come on board, she asked herself, “Would I be okay with my mom taking out a loan with this company?”

“I think that’s an important question anyone in this space should ask,” she says, “and that has been my North Star since I joined.”

Since 2016, Velázquez has helped Oportun expand its footprint into new states, open new retail locations in traditionally underserved markets, pass consumer friendly legislation, and become a publicly traded company. She is also part of the team supporting an application for a national bank charter which would allow Oportun to service customers across the country.

She also amplifies Oportun’s community outreach via grants for nonprofit organizations working at the neighborhood level. One of those organizations, DIY Girls, engages young women of color in technology, coding, and college and STEM career readiness.

Velázquez also manages Oportun’s partnership with AltaMed, a Los Angeles-based healthcare provider, to help address the

connection between financial distress and health. “The communities that we serve are also more likely to be under- or uninsured,” she says. “Being able to partner with an organization that provides services to people without these options is important for us.” The organization also works to provide opportunities for voter registration, civic engagement, and preparation for those hoping to become US citizens.

As Oportun continues to grow—as an organization as well as a community partner—Velázquez is able to execute strategies that deliver capital to families that remind her of her own. The senior director also sits on several nonprofit boards outside of work, furthering her personal reach into communities in need, and strives to provide mentorship to potential college and law school students who share similar backgrounds and stories.

Velázquez may have had to blaze her own path, but she’s reaching back now to pull along the next generation of great leaders.

“I always knew I had been poor, but I had never been in the presence of so much wealth to actually compare my experience. All of these disparities became more and more apparent, and that helped shape my public consciousness.”

CELEBRATING TEN YEARS

TOP 10 L Í DERES

The innovators, entrepreneurs, and visionaries selected as líderes represent the very best of their fields. Our honorees for 2021 have proven themselves throughout their careers but particularly in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, driving their teams and companies to effect change both within their industries and

PLUS: A look back at featured Top 10 executives from the past ten years P150

EMBRACE THE TRANSFORMATION

Anna Maria Chávez is leaning into the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic to better enable the National School Boards Association to support student populations

BY BILLY YOST

ANNA MARIA CHÁVEZ IS TIRED OF FIRSTS, she admits. She was the first person from her high school to attend Yale. She was the first woman of color selected to lead the Girl Scouts of the USA, for which she served as CEO from 2011 to 2016. And in her current role as the executive director and CEO of the National School Boards Association (NSBA), Chávez has the honor of serving with Dr. Viola M. Garcia, the first Latina president in the organization’s eighty-year history. Chávez herself was the first person of color to lead the organization.

But Chávez believes it’s time for fewer firsts, time for society to start reflecting the realities of the US population.

“When you look at the population of the United States, it is growing more racially diverse, and these shifts are reflected in the

make-up of our public schools. Although non-Hispanic, white students comprise 46 percent of enrolled students, Hispanic students make up the second-largest group of students at 27.6 percent, and it has grown over the last decade,” she says. “In this conversation, education is one of the most crucial tools for all students, and especially for children living in poverty.”

Count Me In

Chávez came to NSBA after what was, by all accounts, a job worth hanging onto at the National Council on Aging (NCOA). She’d been there three years after being asked to come aboard in acknowledgement of her transformation leadership skills, which have also earned her spots on Fast Company ’s list of most creative people in business and Fortune ’s list

of World’s Greatest Leaders. At the NCOA, she successfully built a team around her and developed a new way forward for the seventyone-year-old organization. “I absolutely loved it there, and it was an incredible team,” Chávez admits. “But at the beginning of the pandemic, I was stunned by what was going on across the country with public schools.”

Early on, the COVID-19 pandemic was widely focused on older adults, the population most vulnerable to the virus. “I was trying to become an expert on what this virus meant to older adults who were being served by senior centers, community centers, and healthcare centers across the country,” Chávez remembers. But amidst all the chaos, the leader received a call from NSBA.

“It just hit me all at once,” Chávez says. “Fifty-one million kids. Overnight, an entire infrastructure had been shut down. People forget about the role that schools play, like how they provide meals and are hubs of services for families in their local communities. Many schools send home packaged meals with kids and, suddenly, these places were shut down.” NSBA asked Chávez if she could come to the organization to partner with their national board of directors and NSBA staff, help elevate the voices of local school board members to the national level, and illustrate the ways in which the pandemic was affecting children across the US.

It was time for a transformation expert to take on an entirely new level of complexity. “I told them to count me in,” Chávez says simply.

The CEO has loved every minute of the last year, she says, and while that may seem hard to believe, Chávez is convincing.

Along with helping shepherd NSBA through one of the most chaotic periods of modern world history, Chávez also believed

National School Boards Association

there needed to be a refresh on overall strategy that looked further ahead than just the pandemic. In partnership with the national board, Chávez has laid the groundwork for a new organizational strategy in the world as it exists after COVID, triaging lessons learned in the moment to apply in a different context down the road. Essentially, Chávez and her mission-driven team are building a more roadworthy car while changing the tire and driving down a highway.

Change Agent

The mandate for change, Chávez says, helped describe the challenge of her role. “I was brought in based on my twenty-year track record of coming into legacy organizations, evaluating their current business practices, evaluating products and services, evaluating

Anna Maria Chávez CEO

Thoughts from the Guest Editor: Find insights from Anna Maria Chávez throughout our Top 10 stories.

EDUCATIONAL ELITES

In April 2021, Dr. Viola M. Garcia was elected president of the National School Boards Association, a role to which she brings decades of experience in public education. Anna Maria Chávez spoke with Garcia about her perspective on the US education system, the COVID-19 pandemic, and her experience as a Latina leader.

What do you see as the greatest challenge facing education today?

The increasing percentage of US children who live at or below the poverty level. Poverty and the effects of poverty on the academic, social, emotional, and physical well-being of students profoundly affect students’ ability to succeed. Households of color and families with economic and other challenges are disproportionately affected. Students who do not get enough food or sleep are less likely to perform at their full potential. Education is the most important part of any functioning democracy. We must develop and sustain support systems so all young people are well prepared to succeed.

What leadership lessons have you taken from the pandemic that you plan to apply going forward?

The pandemic forced us to be more digital users than we ever imagined. We did not have a trial period to plan for the advantages and disadvantages presented. As we come out of the pandemic, will we continue to operate as we had? Or will we be stimulated by new opportunities—or even by fear of a future pandemic and the need to prepare for it while the experience is fresh? Our experience with the pandemic can guide us to more thorough, deliberate preparation, not only for another event but for the betterment of all students and all who serve them.

As a Latina leader, what would you say to the generation coming behind you?

First, I appreciate the professional educators of America for serving in one of the most noble of human endeavors. To the younger generations, I say be proud of your diverse identities. Encourage your schools to embrace, nurture, and celebrate those identities. Continue to reach across boundaries of race, ethnicity, gender, and disabling conditions and make efforts to respect each other and embrace those who are different from you. I am confident our young, future leaders will serve those who are poor and vulnerable. Our future is in good hands.

revenue models, governance systems, volunteer training systems, and then figuring out the products and services our customers expect going forward,” the CEO explains. “We are very proud of our eighty-one years, and we’re going to build on that history, bringing in new concepts and ideas and new revenue generation to ensure we’re here for our school boards associations and their ninety thousand school board members.”

Chávez’s own mandate, however, may seem strange. “I made it extremely clear that this was going to be a team effort and that this was going to be a kind organization,” she says. “In my experience, you can drive substantive

and transformational change and do it in a humanistic and empathetic way. One of the accomplishments I’m most proud of thus far is that while we’ve created new strategies, we’ve also invested in the culture of this organization. I want to invest in the team because they ultimately make it all possible.”

During the pandemic, NSBA took part in a national public education coalition that was able to bring $200 billion in federal aid to public education. Hearing the new president announce public education as the number one priority was a refreshing moment, but Chávez says there are far more systemic issues that need to be addressed.

The Economic Driver

Chávez has the numbers on lock. “I’m going to break it down for you with the data before we move ahead any further,” she says. Those numbers should be neither a surprise nor an epiphany: with more education comes lower unemployment and nearly twice as high wages. “That means the more students we put into the pipeline, the more we focus on ensuring that they get a great, not good, education; the better jobs they will be able to get; and the more dollars they will have to invest in themselves and our economy.”

This reality is not foreign to Chávez. She’s the daughter of a migrant farm worker whose education didn’t extend beyond the fourth grade: he had to teach himself to read English. But two of his three children attended Ivy League schools, and all are graduates of the public school system in Arizona.

Earlier in her career, Chávez helped oversee juvenile correction centers as well as child protective services and foster care for the state of Arizona. And there is one thing she is certain of: “Those systems are much more expensive than paying for a child’s education.”

With that in mind, NSBA recently launched the DIRE initiative: Dismantling Institutional Racism in Education. Like redlining, housing regulations, voter suppression, and a litany of other tactics, the educational system can sometimes unknowingly (or, in the worst cases, knowingly) create an infrastructure that does little to support the experiences and backgrounds of students of color. “Education, for us, is probably the biggest way to ensure families can get out of poverty and be successful,” the CEO explains. “We want to ensure that everyone starts at the same starting line.”

EDUCATION, FOR US, IS PROBABLY THE BIGGEST WAY TO ENSURE FAMILIES CAN GET OUT OF POVERTY AND BE SUCCESSFUL. WE WANT TO ENSURE THAT EVERYONE STARTS AT THE SAME STARTING LINE.”

SPREAD THE WEALTH

Private equity firm Palladium Equity Partners has been committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion since 1997. To CEO Marcos Rodriguez, that’s just the beginning of the story.

BY BILLY YOST ◊ PORTRAITS BY PAUL QUITORIANO

Marcos Rodriguez Chairman and CEO Palladium Equity Partners

NEARLY TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, MARCOS RODRIGUEZ held a conviction: that he could generate superior results and make a difference in society by hiring from a diverse talent pool and investing in underserved communities, often in minority-owned businesses that were overlooked by traditional private capital firms. It was a radical idea at a time when there wasn’t the focus on diversity and inclusion that there is today. However, Rodriguez felt so strongly that he was willing to risk his house and career to turn his vision into reality.

Today, Palladium Equity Partners, the firm Rodriguez founded in 1997, is a leading middle market private equity firm with nearly $3 billion in assets under management. It stands as a testament to his vision. Rodriguez notes, “As one of the industry’s oldest, largest, and most successful minority-owned private equity firms, we have demonstrated that intentionally working to reduce inequality and create economic opportunity is transformative and can generate outstanding outcomes for all stakeholders.” The firm’s strong performance speaks for itself, and Rodriguez’s risk twenty-five years ago has more than paid off.

As Rodriguez sees it, the presence of different backgrounds and life experiences adds tremendous value to any organization—an idea he intuitively understood and adopted both early on in his career in private equity and at Palladium. And as Palladium has continued to grow and prosper, Rodriguez’s belief in representation has become stronger.

Rodriguez explains that Palladium’s goal is to reshape the private equity industry—to break down the traditional barriers to capital for women and people of color that have existed for so long. The Palladium story is unlike any other in the private equity industry and is a beacon for the power of representation in finance.

Betting the House Rodriguez was born in Cuba and, after spending the first few years of his life there, his family moved to New York

City. His father worked as a waiter at the Plaza Hotel, and his mother worked as a pharmacist in Washington Heights. After beginning his career in business operations and manufacturing at General Electric in the US, Mexico, and France, Rodriguez eventually made his way back to NYC and to private equity. “I thought there was a better way to do it,” Rodriguez remembers. “I saw an exciting opportunity to start a firm that did things differently in how it built businesses, how it partnered with founders and entrepreneurs, and how it cared about its employees and the employees of the companies that it was looking to invest in.”

Rodriguez’s parents thought he was nuts. “My mom and dad had seen me achieve a measure of success,” the CEO says. “I was a partner in a private equity firm at thirty-five. I was making a lot of money and had a lot of responsibility. I’m now sixty, and I think I would have also told a thirty-fiveyear-old me that I was out of my mind.”

Fortunately, Rodriguez’s temerity won the day. He started Palladium with $1.5 million, the bulk of his investment made from remortgaging his family’s home. “Our kids were in public school, and I had enough money to try this for two years,” Rodriguez recalls.

Rodriguez’s risk paid off. By the year 2000, Palladium had raised and invested $100 million. Today, that number is near $3 billion of assets under management. Over the years, Palladium has made 36 platform investments and 140 add-on acquisitions.

A Rarity in Representation

Palladium’s investments are typically made in family- and minority-owned companies otherwise overlooked by mainstream private equity firms.

This includes a company called Del Real Foods. “We love working with entrepreneurs like Jose and Chuy Cardenas in California,” Rodriguez enthuses. “They started their company in a small warehouse and bought pots and furnaces to start making tamales. It’s just a tremendous product. They were

able to open another facility in Oklahoma, but they still walk the floor tasting the product. They know the people working the line and their families. Today, Del Real Foods sells over seventy million tamales a year.”

Rodriguez points to Del Real as a great example of a successful Palladium investment—a company whose commitment to its employees and community mirrors that of Palladium. Del Real’s leadership also feels connected to Palladium’s diverse makeup, something that many of Palladium’s portfolio companies can relate to. “They can look at Palladium’s board and ownership and see people who look like their employees. I think it makes a very serious difference,” Rodriguez explains.

Palladium takes board diversity among its portfolio companies very seriously. The firm is a member of the Thirty Percent Coalition, an organization whose goal it is to ensure that 30 percent of corporate boards are female or diverse. At the time of speaking, Rodriguez said Palladium’s portfolio companies were close to meeting that goal. In fact, of the 106 board seats across Palladium’s 14 portfolio companies, approximately

20 percent are held by women, 26 percent by diverse professionals, and, overall, approximately 42 percent are held by diverse and/or female executives. Rodriguez believes strongly that Palladium’s diversity, and that of its portfolio companies, most accurately reflects the people of the country.

In terms of Palladium itself, approximately three-quarters of all the firm’s employees are diverse or female, ranking it among the most diverse in

I SAW AN EXCITING OPPORTUNITY TO START A FIRM THAT DID THINGS DIFFERENTLY IN HOW IT BUILT BUSINESSES, HOW IT PARTNERED WITH FOUNDERS AND ENTREPRENEURS, AND HOW IT CARED ABOUT ITS EMPLOYEES AND THE EMPLOYEES OF THE COMPANIES THAT IT WAS LOOKING TO INVEST IN.”

the private equity industry. Palladium also prides itself on the tenure of its employees. The eleven partners who own the firm have an average tenure of fourteen years at Palladium. Three of those partners are women, and Rodriguez says more hiring is on the way. Additionally, the next level of senior professionals at the firm have been working together for ten years on average.

“If you look at any private equity firm across the country, and you look at who owns the firm, I think you’ll find that Palladium is rare in its representation,” Rodriguez says. “We’ve been a minority-owned firm since we started in 1997, which makes us one of the oldest and most successful minority-owned private equity firms in the country.”

Making the Choice

Palladium’s commitment to representation is not always the convenient choice, Rodriguez admits. “We focus on having a broad pool of candidates to interview, so it’s not the same people from the same Northeast schools that are the primary feeders for finance in New York City,” Rodriguez says. “It’s not always easy, and I’ll be the first to say it—it’s easier to default to the path that results in a team that looks like the ones that you see in the rest of the industry.”

Palladium’s investment choices can also be more difficult to come by. “We often are in business with private companies with a very private connection,” Rodriguez notes. “Usually, founders have 90 percent of their net worth tied up with the business they own, and they are working very hard to ensure they’re successful for

the families who depend on the jobs they provide.”

It’s that spirit found in their portfolio companies that motivates Palladium’s investments. And, in turn, it’s Palladium’s commitment to their investments that gives business owners comfort in turning over their businesses to the firm. “We have found that people care deeply about who they sell to,” Rodriguez says. “It’s not just hiring a banker and getting the top price. People care about how their employees are going to be treated and how the business will be managed.”

That is one reason why Palladium became a signatory to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the world’s leading guidelines for responsible investment. The PRI guidelines factor in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns and aim to support an international network of

HIS GREATEST JOY

Marcos Rodriguez has achieved a miracle with Palladium Equity Partners. After his family, he says his greatest joy is being able to give back to the communities he loves: Rodriguez has served as the chairman of the Robert Toigo Foundation, whose goal is to foster career advancement and increased leadership presence for underrepresented talent in the financial space. Other Palladium partners serve on the boards of the New America Alliance, the National Association of Investment Companies, and the Association of Asian American Investment Managers. The passion for involvement and giving back has spread throughout Palladium.

AS ONE OF THE INDUSTRY’S OLDEST, LARGEST, AND MOST SUCCESSFUL MINORITYOWNED PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS, WE HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT INTENTIONALLY WORKING TO REDUCE INEQUALITY AND CREATE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY IS TRANSFORMATIVE AND CAN GENERATE OUTSTANDING OUTCOMES FOR ALL STAKEHOLDERS.”

signatories in incorporating those issues into investment and ownership decisions. Palladium works with two ESG consulting firms to better adopt and implement these guidelines.

“Being a signatory of the PRI is important to us. We represent global pension funds and they, like us, care about these important issues. They ask companies and asset managers, with whom they invest, to report on their ESG metrics on an annual basis,” Rodriguez explains. “We ourselves can’t solve world hunger, but we do a few things really well. We know how to achieve strong outcomes and how to invest in our communities in a way that improves equality, justice, and opportunities for employees in those communities.”

The PRI makes sense for Palladium, the CEO says, because whether the firm is investing in healthcare, education, or another industry, Palladium knows how to create jobs the right way. “The metrics have been a godsend for us because it’s an international standard that brings these issues to the forefront,” Rodriguez says. “Like anything in life, you have to focus on what you want to actually accomplish. Creating good jobs for Latinos, women, and communities of color across the US while generating great results for our stakeholders is something we’ve been doing for a quarter century. The DNA of our firm was made for these metrics.”

The Fun(d) Never Stops

Rodriguez’s commitment to and excitement for his work is stronger today than it was twenty-five years ago. “I’ve been blessed to have done a lot of different things, but I’m more fired up about the future of this firm than I was in 1997. We have a spectacular group of people here, and it’s only going to get better,” he says.

Over the past twenty years, Palladium has increased the assets under its management thirty-fold. Palladium has set its sight

THOUGHTS FROM GUEST EDITOR

ANNA MARIA CHÁVEZ

“Palladium Equity Partners believes in making the right bets in the marketplace, and they have turned this expertise into a thriving business. But Marcos and his partners are not stopping there. They are ensuring that their financial success is tied to the success of underrepresented communities and are setting new private equity industry standards by ensuring that their own leadership ranks are diverse. This bold commitment to breaking down barriers for women and people of color will ensure that Palladium Equity Partners is ready to capture new markets and will show other companies that there are serious returns to be had with a strong commitment to inclusion in the workplace.”

on growing its partnership in the next decade, with an explicit goal of making sure that half of those new partners are women or people of color. “Private equity firms owned and managed by women or people of color are less than 3 percent of the industry,” Rodriguez remarks. “If that number remains static, you’re going to see significant headwinds from those looking for more representative leadership.”

In all of its efforts, Palladium seems to be paving the way in the industry by attracting and retaining employees with diverse backgrounds. However, Rodriguez is far from satisfied. “It’s not good enough,” Rodriguez says, bluntly. “I want to know what we’re not doing well. What can we do to improve in our

businesses and across our portfolio companies? It comes back to that intentionality. If you want to make a difference, you have got to pay attention.”

But even if his eyes are fixed on what’s ahead, the chairman and CEO can take a second to be grateful and thank those who believed in him. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that more than 80 percent of our champions among our investors—private or public—continue to be women or people of color,” Rodriguez says. “We’ve built long and established relationships with our investors, and we’ve been able to do all of this with a different approach to the business . . . and it’s working. I can’t wait for what’s next.”

Palladium is a middle market private equity firm with nearly $3 billion of assets under management.

Since its founding in 1997, Palladium has invested over $2.5 billion of capital in 36 platform investments and 140 add-on acquisitions. The firm focuses primarily on buyout equity investments in the range of $50 million to $150 million. The principals of the firm have significant experience in consumer, services, industrials, and healthcare businesses, with a special focus on companies they believe will benefit from the growth in the U.S. Hispanic population. Palladium is based in New York City.

The firm seeks to acquire and grow companies in partnership with founders and experienced management teams by providing capital, strategic guidance and operational oversight.

LEAD ROC NATION, CHANGE THE WORLD

Offering a rare look inside her work at Roc Nation, Desiree Perez reflects on translating the company’s power into positive change

BY NATALIE KOCHANOV

Desiree Perez CEO Roc Nation

IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE ROC NATION AS anything less than the hugely influential entertainment company that it is today: a household name as famous as the celebrity recording artists and professional athletes that it represents. But ask Desiree Perez what the company looked like back in 2008, and she’ll describe a business with only five employees.

“It really happened fast,” Perez says of the company’s evolution. “I remember putting my head down and learning different aspects of the business, and when I looked up, I realized that we had a hundred people working here.”

As one of Roc Nation’s five founders, Perez has shaped the company’s course at every step of the way. When hip-hop-artistturned-business-mogul Jay-Z—a fellow Roc Nation founder—appointed her as CEO in 2019, Perez gained the designation to match her level of impact. Perez, however, places little emphasis on the change in her title. Her focus remains the same: do what’s right, for the company and for the world.

Launching Roc Nation was in many ways a natural extension of Perez’s early career. She had spent more than fifteen years managing and operating nightclubs, including one that she helped to pull out of bankruptcy. “My experience in live entertainment and in micromanaging all aspects of a business—every dollar that comes in and out— translates to a lot of what touring entails,” she explains. “Touring is basically a nightclub on wheels.”

Still, it took time for Perez to figure out how to apply her knowledge base to other areas of the entertainment industry during her early days as Roc Nation’s chief operating officer. She put in years of hard work to cultivate the broader expertise that she now possesses. Her laser focus paid off, fueling expansion into new sectors and carrying the company from negative to positive revenue.

Perez became CEO after working as COO for more than ten years. Although her day-to-day duties didn’t change significantly, she appreciated the recognition and increase in responsibility. “It meant a lot to me because it was an acknowledgement from people that I love and respect. And that’s more important than a title,” she says.

For Perez, running Roc Nation comes down to setting appropriate short- and longterm strategies for the company. In considering the business’s finances and next steps, she weighs the establishment of new projects or verticals against the refinement of existing ones.

Like many business leaders, Perez has factored the COVID-19 pandemic into her

I’M ALWAYS TRYING TO HELP PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THE POWER THAT THEY HAVE. THE WORST THING THAT YOU’VE DONE OR THE WORST EXPERIENCE THAT YOU’VE HAD IS NOTHING BUT A TOOL TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE.”

recent planning. “With COVID, it became more about finding new ways to create and to come out and support artists,” she explains. Amid uncertain times, she had to adapt her thinking around executing business deals and producing major events such as the Super Bowl halftime show and the Made in America music festival.

In addition to supporting Roc Nation’s artists and employees, Perez has concentrated on maintaining one of the company’s longtime priorities: social justice. “Social justice has always been in our DNA,” she confirms. “For over ten years, we’ve worked with the families of victims of police brutality. As another example, we have a scholarship fund for Black and brown kids who want to go to college but who experience mitigating circumstances.”

Perez uses the social justice arm of Roc Nation, Team ROC, to leverage the company’s cultural capital for good. “Because we’re Roc Nation, we know that we have global reach, we have social reach, we have voices. It’s a combination of power with all of our athletes and artists, and it’s respected,” she notes.

Perez never hesitates to make a phone call that might make a difference in someone’s life. In one instance, she and Team ROC intervened in the arrest of a young man who was racially profiled when he entered a mall wearing a hoodie. “He was stopped by security and arrested because he had a hoodie on. We reached out to the owner of the mall to get the mall policy changed and provided legal support to the young man to help get the case dismissed,” Perez says. “That was a great day.”

Perez’s own experiences as a Latina motivate her to effect change within Roc Nation and beyond. “I know where I came from,” she says. “When I walk into a room, people think all sorts of things about me, and those things

THOUGHTS FROM GUEST EDITOR ANNA MARIA CHÁVEZ

“Desiree Perez’s superpower is her commitment to social justice and her ability to mobilize thousands of superstars to address the root causes of discrimination and inequities in our society. She’s proud of her accomplishments but remains humble about her amazing career and the impact she is making on millions of people through her social justice arm—Team ROC. She’s determined to make a difference and, knowing her passion for communities of color, she is just getting started.”

aren’t necessarily good. But I’m setting an example so that when others walk into the room moving forward, people will think of business and opportunities and social justice instead of something negative.”

As she steers Roc Nation toward future growth, Perez is determined to lift up other women and people of color and to open doors for the next generation. She might accomplish those goals by building out the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at Long Island University in Brooklyn, or by deepening the company’s impact on the television, film, and publishing industries, or by sharing wisdom and words of encouragement with new female music executives.

More likely, Perez will do all of the above—her own personal take on disrupting the status quo. “I’m always trying to help people understand the power that they have. The worst thing that you’ve done or the worst experience that you’ve had is nothing but a tool to transform your life,” she says. “We have to support each other and help each other advance. If we come together, we can’t be stopped.”

Perez would know. She’s already unstoppable.

HOW DAVID CHAVEZ IS DRIVING CHANGE BEYOND FINANCE

For David Chavez of Marathon Petroleum Corporation, the constant evolution of his role means greater opportunity to empower local communities

BY NATALIE KOCHANOV

David Chavez VP and CFO, Latin America Marathon Petroleum Corporation

IN THE BORDER CITY OF JUAREZ, Mexico, it is all too common for students not to continue their education beyond middle school. Because of that harsh reality, David Chavez’s middle and high schools offered technical programs to equip students early on with sufficient knowledge to succeed in the workforce.

“Before even going to college, I had the equivalent of two associate’s degrees,” explains Chavez, who was able to pursue his bachelor’s degree and begin working for Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY) concurrently. “By the time that I graduated, I had not only gained four years of experience in public accounting but had also already moved up the ranks within the firm.”

Chavez’s profile has only grown since then. Today, he serves as vice president and chief financial officer for Latin America at Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC), the largest oil refinery in the United States. He brings decades of experience to the role, which requires him to exercise a uniquely nimble brand of finance leadership as the company expands into new communities. His leadership also manifests as a personal commitment to giving back to those communities and to inspiring and creating space for the next generation of Hispanic business leaders.

Cross-Border Business

While at EY, Chavez learned to look at the market from a US perspective through his work with clients in the manufacturing and oil and gas industries. The relationships that he built led to his next two roles: corporate controller positions, first at

an oil and gas operation in California and then at American multinational company General Electric (GE).

At GE, Chavez reported to the CFO of a subdivision in charge of local outsourcing services. He stayed on with the group when it spun off to form outsourcing firm Genpact in 2005. “That’s where I started to get significantly more hands-on exposure to the finance and accounting world,” he says.

From Genpact, Chavez moved to computer technology company Dell. Unintimidated by the challenges of a new role, he proceeded to revamp the company’s Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance program. In addition, he oversaw compliance and operational risk management matters, ultimately earning the title of head of enterprise risk management.

FOR US TO HAVE GROWN SO QUICKLY BOTH FROM A BRAND PERSPECTIVE AND IN TERMS OF WHAT WE’RE DOING FOR THE COMMUNITIES IN WHICH WE’RE OPERATING—THAT’S REALLY INCREDIBLE.”

Following a period when he codeveloped a governance, risk management, and compliance practice for EY competitor Deloitte, Chavez became chief audit executive and CRO at animation studio DreamWorks Animation. He subsequently accepted another joint CAE and CRO role at Tesoro Corporation, a top oil refiner that merged with MPC a few years later.

Thanks to this experience, Chavez was able to travel the world and visit more than fifteen countries, as well as dozens of cities located across different continents, where he further learned the value of diversity in the workforce.

Chavez assumed his current MPC role at the time of the merger. At the time, he explains, “We were just starting to grow out our presence in Mexico for the purposes of distributing and selling gasolines.”

Since coming on board in the preliminary stages of that expansion, Chavez has played a critical part in implementing the processes and structure necessary to propel growth. Indeed, MPC’s presence in Mexico has increased from a single gas station to more than three hundred under his watch. To facilitate their product acceptance, the Latin America team embraced his in-depth understanding of Mexico’s business climate.

“It’s been a phenomenal ride for me to support a company of our size as it starts exploring other countries,” Chavez says. “And then for us to have grown so quickly, both from a brand perspective and in terms of what we’re doing for the communities in which we’re operating—that’s really incredible.”

THOUGHTS FROM GUEST EDITOR ANNA

MARIA CHÁVEZ

“David’s career was driven by challenges and his selfdetermination to make things happen. Raised by a single mother in Juarez, Mexico, he was exposed to two very different cultures but saw it as an opportunity to bridge two countries. He thrives on leading massive corporate changes even when the risks are high. With humility and focus, his goal has always been to do his best work and find ways to get the toughest assignments done.”

Let there be change

AT MPC, DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION ARE IMPORTANT TO OUR CULTURE. WE CELEBRATE OUR DIFFERENCES, PROVIDE FAIR OPPORTUNITIES TO OUR EMPLOYEES BASED ON THEIR UNIQUE NEEDS, AND CREATE A WELCOMING WORKPLACE FOR ALL.”

Chavez emphasizes the importance of doing right by the people of Mexico. “We want to provide value to the country and to the population by giving them a high-quality product and the best customer service experience,” he says. Chavez is grateful that MPC provides the opportunity to create shared value with local communities in other ways as well, including the donation of $3.8 million pesos worth of personal protective equipment across seven states in Mexico to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the region.

Humbled and Proud

With goals that exceed pure business objectives, Chavez collaborates closely with MPC’s executive management to evolve his role, and approaches his work with the same mix of pragmatism, accountability, and fearlessness.

Chavez is a person of focus and determination, and he’s fearless in everything he does—especially when it comes to advocating for the empowerment of minorities and the Hispanic community. “At MPC, diversity, equity, and inclusion are important to our culture. We celebrate our differences, provide fair opportunities to our employees based on their unique needs, and create a welcoming workplace for all,” he says. “Hispanic executives need to continue to open those doors of opportunity so that other folks in the community can succeed.”

To that end, Chavez is a champion for MPC’s inclusive and equitable hiring and compensation practices. And, as the company expands further, he will continue to rely on his own diverse experiences to offer guidance on topics ranging from new business ventures to risk and compliance.

Even as a trusted advisor within a major company, Chavez still feels most fulfilled when he sees the results of all the hard work and brand recognition. “I’m very humbled by that type of recognition,” he says. “And very proud.”

KNOWING WHEN TO SAY YES—AND NO

David Chavez is always ready to take on new challenges, even if it means stepping outside his comfort zone. “I’m not afraid to walk into a room where I might be the person with the least knowledge or experience,” he says. That same confidence allows him to stay true to himself and to push back when necessary—just like he encourages up-and-coming finance leaders to do.

How do you prep are for w hat ’s ne x t w hen s o much t ime is sp ent mak ing s ens e of w hat ’s happ ening r ig ht now? In a t a x env ironment of compe t ing and

D eloi t te deli ver s g reater clar i t y. Toge t her, we ’ ll create a ro admap t hat is s t r uc t ure d enoug h to g uide

enoug h to addre s s an uncer t ain tomor row We help you t ake measure d s teps towards t he obje c t i ve s t hat mat ter mos t to you and your or ganiz at ion.

Balancing today ’s demands with tomorrow ’s oppor tunities.

REPRESENTATION FOR ALL

As president and CEO of Latino Victory, Nathalie Rayes works to change the face of American politics

BY NATALIE KOCHANOV

Nathalie Rayes President and CEO Latino Victory

NATHALIE RAYES IS THE FIRST TO ADMIT THAT THE trajectory of her life and career hasn’t been a straight line. Since her immigration to the United States from a small town in Venezuela at the age of nine and the death of her father a year later, Rayes has found herself time and again at a crossroads. She reached another one in early 2020. The country’s political future was on the line, and Rayes knew that she needed to increase her stake in the fight.

“I decided to change career paths, moving from the private sector into the nonprofit world,” Rayes explains. Specifically, she joined Latino Victory, an organization dedicated to mobilizing Latino voters and increasing Latino representation at all levels of government. “As president and CEO, I get to leverage my position to ensure that we are uplifting Latina and Latino leaders throughout the country.”

As of April 2021, just shy of a year into the role, Rayes has already accomplished tremendous things. She brings a wealth of leadership and political experience to the organization, which she has helped to steer through the COVID19 pandemic. Most essential to her success, however, is her strong belief in the organization’s mission—a belief that drives her to keep pushing for change across the country.

Although she didn’t come on board as an employee until 2020, Rayes has deep ties to Latino Victory. “I was at the forefront of helping to create Latino Victory in the first place,” the CEO explains. “I continued to support the organization from the outside after its inception, and then I joined the board three years ago.”

As Rayes tells it, Latino Victory took off in the aftermath of former President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. Politically minded Latinos, including Rayes and Latino Victory Founders Eva Longoria and Henry R. Muñoz III, had raised tens of millions of dollars for the campaign, and they saw an opportunity to do even more.

With an extensive history of political leadership and board participation, Rayes felt right at home on the board of directors at Latino Victory. Yet, as the 2020 election cycle ramped up, she wanted to have a greater impact on the orga-

nization and its efforts to both drive Latino voter turnout and sway critical races. “I put my name in there so that I would be able to work more closely with an organization that I cared deeply about,” she says.

Since her appointment as president and CEO, Rayes has achieved a number of the goals that she had set for Latino Victory: the organization played a critical part in not only securing the victory of President Joe Biden through the Latino vote but also doubling the number of progressive Latinos in the US Senate from two to four.

Even the obstacles presented by COVID, which shook up the traditionally hands-on nature of electoral politics, couldn’t slow down Rayes or Latino Victory. “COVID has been challenging, no question about it,” Rayes admits. “But people still want to participate, so we turned that challenge into opportunities for our organization and for our community.”

For much of 2020, Rayes spearheaded efforts to organize phone banks and candidate fundraisers. As a self-proclaimed optimist, she has even discovered an advantage to the organization’s virtual operations: with zero travel time, she can attend events in multiple locations nationwide in a single day. That means more chances to influence more races.

From a leadership perspective, Rayes has encouraged her team to get creative during the pandemic. By encouraging outside-the-box thinking and trusting her team members to execute, she has created a welcoming environment devoid of micromanagement. “We’ve hired the best and the brightest in all different fields, and we let those folks shine,” she emphasizes.

As much as she has accomplished inside and outside Latino Victory, Rayes isn’t resting on her laurels. “There’s still so much to do,” she stresses. “Latinos make up 18 percent of the country’s population, yet only 1 percent of its political power across all levels of government. That’s simply unacceptable.”

Rayes uses the power of Latino Victory to endorse Latino candidates in local, state, and federal races. But she also spends time recruiting qualified Latinos to run for office and

then supporting them at every step of the way. “What this organization does—and I think it’s so powerful—is legitimize people’s candidacies. We believe in them, and we’re willing to bring in our resources and nationalize the race,” she says.

Rayes also makes a point of bringing her fellow Latinas to the table. Beyond convincing Latinas to run for office, she focuses on hiring women—as she has done throughout her career. She was once the only woman on Latino Victory’s five-member board, but the now twelve-member board has a female majority as a result of her decision to expand it.

The expanded board serves as a valuable resource to Rayes, who understands that no one can tackle a mission the magnitude of Latino Victory’s alone. Instead, she believes in coming together to advance a common agenda. “As a community, Latinos need to keep our eyes on the goal of achieving that representation,” she says.

For Rayes, that goal and her own future ambitions are one and the same. Fortunately, she’s at exactly the right organization to transform a dream into reality. “There is no other organization doing the political work that Latino Victory is doing,” she says. “I’m passionate about our mission, and I will continue working diligently to advance it.”

THOUGHTS FROM GUEST EDITOR ANNA MARIA

“Nathalie understands power, or more importantly, she understands that power can advance the dreams of an entire generation. She emigrated from Venezuela at a very young age but was taught that the future of the United States and the world lies in our ability to galvanize diverse voices around any political process. She is now blazing the trail for all Latinos to see themselves in our democratic process but, more importantly, for Latinos to see their own names on a ballot.”

CHÁVEZ

AS PRESIDENT AND CEO, I GET TO LEVERAGE MY POSITION TO ENSURE THAT WE ARE UPLIFTING LATINA AND LATINO LEADERS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.”

IT’S TIME FOR A NEW STORY

Steven Wolfe Pereira is disrupting one-size-fits-all learning and helping today’s children thrive through a new “storyteaching” platform called Encantos

BY ZACH BALIVA

Steven Wolfe Pereira CEO and Cofounder Encantos

LIKE MOST FATHERS, STEVEN WOLFE PEREIRA has experienced many sleepless nights. Although the birth of his son brought joy, it also brought concern. Wolfe Pereira, a Fulbright Scholar and Tufts graduate who completed an executive MBA program at MIT, had spent twenty years working at the highest levels of media, finance, marketing, and technology. He dealt with AI and data. In college, he studied international relations with a focus on developmental economics, including the gaps between the “haves” and “havenots.” As a Fulbright Scholar in Mexico, he researched the role education plays in income inequality. He knew what his son was about to experience, and he was worried. “He’ll grow up in the age of automation, which can leave Latinos behind,” Wolfe Pereira says. “Today’s kids are diverse, and how the hell are they going to learn what they really need if we don’t put the right tools in their hands?”

The thought set off a series of events that would eventually lead Wolfe Pereira to walk away from his job as chief marketing officer at an AI-driven audience measurement company.

First, Wolfe Pereira became one of the 70.3 million people to watch Sir Ken Robinson’s famous TED talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” He started wondering why consumers have personalization in advertising, commerce, and content but lack similar options in learning. He had already known that more than half of America’s kids are diverse, but then he found out just how underrepresented Latinos are in kids’ media: children are far more likely to learn from a talking animal than a Latino character. Dora from Dora the Explorer was converted from a character named Tess, and a white woman created Doc McStuffins. “Nobody was creating diverse content in a culturally authentic way, and I knew something had to change,” Wolfe Pereira says.

Wolfe Pereira was determined to realize that change, and the death of his parents hardened his resolve. His mother escaped the political turmoil of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic by coming to New York City, where she met Wolfe Pereira’s father, a former merchant marine who had served in WWII. Both had studied art but truly valued education and pushed their son to pursue his own at the highest

levels. They worked hard to help Wolfe Pereira chart his own path, and their loss got him thinking about family, life, and legacy. “More than ever, I wanted my son to grow up bilingual, bicultural, and proud,” Wolfe Pereira explains.

After a period of pondering and planning, Wolfe Pereira was ready to get started. In many ways, he was the right person at the right time. He was on the board of the Ad Council. He knew every CMO in the industry. He had worked at the Blackstone Group, traveled the world with Violy & Company, worked for Akamai Technologies, and helped employers attract suitors like Golden Gate Capital and Oracle. He formed a core team with his wife Nuria Santamaria Wolfe, their dear friend Susie Jaramillo, and her husband Carlos Hoyos, who had two young children and whose eyes had also been opened to the lack of diversity in both education and kids entertainment. Together, they started Encantos.

Encantos is a direct-to-creator platform that helps kids learn twenty-first century life skills from the world’s best “storyteachers.” And although its products blend education and entertainment, Wolfe Pereira refuses to call it

edutainment. “I hate that word,” he says. “Edutainment is lowquality cartoons with bad content nobody wants. This is storyteaching. It’s the best infusion of education, entertainment, and technology.”

The app hosts a mix of digital and physical products like books, puzzles, games, and more, which work together to bring the company’s original brands—such as Canticos and Skeletitos—to life. As Wolfe Pereira puts it, Encantos leverages advanced technology to deliver experiences that match each child’s specific pace and level.

The fast-growing company is turning heads, but it hasn’t always been easy. When Wolfe Pereira approached publishing companies, most major players told him diverse audiences weren’t worth their time and resources. But like any good tech company, Encantos was able to reverseengineer and hack the process, becoming its own publisher and pushing out more diverse content than anyone else. “Now, I don’t have to ask anyone’s permission,” Wolfe Pereira says. “When one of our storyteachers has an idea we believe in, we just do it.”

THOUGHTS FROM GUEST EDITOR

ANNA MARIA CHÁVEZ

“You only have to spend a few minutes with Steven to understand why he is so successful. He loves what he does every second of the day, and his excitement about his team’s vision and mission is contagious. They are creating a new digital teaching platform to meet the needs of our children across the globe, allowing those children to see themselves in the books they read and have pride in the impact and legacy of their own families. He’s fearless, gracious, and supportive of other Latinos and people of color. And I am so grateful for his bold leadership!”

Two children play with Canticos games and puzzles.

According to Wolfe Pereira, the adventure-based brand Tiny Travelers is his homage to growing up as “a citizen of the world,” with a bilingual/bicultural upbringing and his studies in international relations at university. The brand is designed to help families embrace diversity and celebrate culture around the world. While traditional publishers would have started with “popular” countries like France, Itay, and the USA, Encantos published books on India, Haiti, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Colombia. Wolfe Pereira says he hopes to cover every country on earth.

In March 2020, the company received an unexpected boost as parents and educators pivoted during the COVID19 pandemic. Since Encantos is a public benefit corporation, each brand champions a social cause and also hosts free online learning hubs loaded with printables, videos, and other quality content. Kids, parents, and teachers were stuck at home, and while they couldn’t travel, they were learning about the world through Tiny Travelers and other Encantos brands.

Today, Encantos is one of the hottest edtech companies around. They’ve struck several key partnerships, including a deal with Nickelodeon, and have attracted top leaders like Chairman Sol Trujillo and big-name investors like Kapor Capital. Encantos’ advisors come from companies like HBO, AMC, Discovery, LinkedIn, Morgan Stanley, Facebook, LEGO, and the NBA. Wolfe Pereira himself also sits on various boards, including the boards of Whalar, the Latino Community Foundation, and SMASH (the Summer Math and Science Honors Academy). Founded by Mitch and Freada Kapor, SMASH immerses underrepresented high school students of color in STEM programs.

In fall 2021, Encantos will officially launch its new app and establish itself as the home for learning twenty-first century skills. “We all have a story to tell, and everyone wants to help kids learn. Now they can,” Wolfe Pereira says. “We built the Encantos app for ourselves, but now it’s open to the world.” As the CEO explains, the Encantos app will have Encantos originals like Canticos, Tiny Travelers, and Skeletitos along with curated content from a select group of storyteachers from around the world.

Wolfe Pereira is excited to see what those storyteachers create. Maybe his son, who is interested in taekwondo, will learn mindfulness by watching videos on martial arts developed by someone in Korea. “I have no idea what users are going to put on our platform,” he says. “But I can’t wait to find out.”

WE ALL HAVE A STORY TO TELL, AND EVERYONE WANTS TO HELP KIDS LEARN. NOW THEY CAN.”

ADVOCACY IN ACTION

Ann Anaya pushes for demonstrable change inside and outside 3M

BY NATALIE KOCHANOV

ANN ANAYA KNOWS HOW TO INFLUENCE people. In her two decades as a government trial attorney, she exercised that power to achieve just results. Now, as chief diversity officer (CDO) at innovative multinational corporation 3M, she applies the same skill set to influence company culture.

Anaya accepted the role as CDO in 2017, but the ease of that transition was a surprise even to her. “My legal background and experience advocating for the fair application of processes was much more conducive to the role than even I expected,” she admits.

Beyond her knowledge base, Anaya came to the role equipped with the emotional toolkit needed to make an impact. Throughout her life, she has believed in and strived for equity, often in the face of great adversity. As CDO, she has brought her passion to bear in a new way: by advancing 3M—and all the communities where they do business—toward a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future.

A Lifelong Commitment

Anaya’s earliest encounters with inequality occurred within her own Mexican American household in Minnesota. The family’s machismo culture meant that her older brothers received freedoms that she, as a young girl, did not.

Motivated to make a difference, Anaya studied political science at the undergraduate level before enrolling in law school. But even as she gained a better footing on which to fight for fairness and civil rights, Anaya

became aware of new disparities—including the underrepresentation of Latinos in both her law school class and the field of law as a whole. She decided to get involved in the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association and the Hispanic National Bar Association, organizations to which she still maintains strong ties.

“The Hispanic bar associations are spaces where I can find people with similar experiences who share my passion for equity,” Anaya explains. “Today, I’m working with the Hispanic bars to raise awareness and inspire a call to action that addresses disparities in representation inside law firms, corporations, and in leadership positions.”

Anaya started out as a defense attorney, providing representation to members of Minnesota’s Hispanic community who could not afford legal services. She later shifted to prosecution in order to hone her in-court discretion as an advocate for justice. That discretion served her well at the US Attorney’s Office, where her high-profile prosecutions of organized white-collar crime led to a bank regulations detail with the Inspector General for the US Department of the Treasury following the 2008 banking industry bust.

Back in Minnesota after her Treasury assignment, Anaya realized that it was the perfect time to move in-house. “3M was looking for an attorney with a federal prosecution background as part of an effort to strengthen their compliance and ethics department,” she says. She applied and got the job, joining the company’s legal affairs team.

Ann Anaya Chief Diversity Officer and VP of Global Diversity & Inclusion

THOUGHTS FROM GUEST EDITOR ANNA MARIA CHÁVEZ

“Ann’s legal training and education set her up to sharply see the need for fairness and equity in a corporate environment. And now her successful professional career is allowing her to advocate for social justice at one of the largest US companies, a company that is on the battle lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. As 3M continues to manufacture ninety-five million N95 respirators every month, we can rest assured that she will make sure her company remains focused on bringing that same innovative thinking to their workplace DEI practices.”

From compliance and ethics, Anaya transitioned to litigation and preventive law before taking up her current role four years ago. It was Anaya’s first time stepping out of the practice of law—and 3M’s first time treating the CDO position as a full-time job.

A Promise Not Yet Realized

Since day one, Anaya has brought a fresh perspective to DEI initiatives at 3M. She pushed hard for transparency about workforce demographics and DEI progress. After four years of advocacy, the company released its inaugural DEI report in the first quarter of 2021.

In addition, Anaya opened new lines of communication to offer 3M’s “inclusion champions” and employee resource network

leaders a chance to endorse company-wide DEI projects. “Their voices weren’t being heard at the top echelon of the company,” she elaborates. “We launched the CEO Inclusion Council as a platform to raise those voices directly to the CEO.”

Anaya saw the CEO Inclusion Council take on newfound significance as social justice movements rose up across the country in 2020. “Unaddressed police brutality, a rise in hate crimes, amplified disparities, and heightened societal divisiveness require targeted strategic change.” More than just talking about the importance of DEI, she feels that corporations must now heed an urgent call to action.

“We made a commitment from the CEO on down to address and dismantle disparities

inside 3M and in our communities,” Anaya says. “We are pushing further and further toward a sense of belonging within the company, and I’m really proud of the fact that our inclusion index score has improved by six points in the past year.”

By sharing metrics that evaluate DEI, expanding parameters for inclusivity, and introducing spaces for employees to talk about race and other critical topics, Anaya is achieving measurable change inside 3M. Externally, her recent advocacy has included pro bono work and intentional, equity-oriented board participation.

Anaya also fostered a relationship with minority-owned law firm Blackwell Burke and trial attorney Gerardo Alcazar, a member of 3M’s preferred outside counsel network.

I AM VERY PROUD TO LIVE IN A COUNTRY WHERE WE ARE BORN EQUAL, WITH THE RIGHT TO ENJOY EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES. DELIVERING ON THAT PROMISE—A PROMISE NOT YET REALIZED—IS EVERY CITIZEN’S DUTY.”

“Beyond partnering with Blackwell Burke on a number of legal matters, our general counsel and I worked with Jerry Blackwell and other legal changemakers to create a transparent representation of lawyer demographics at some of Minnesota’s largest companies and law firms,” she says. The project mirrors Anaya’s internal efforts at 3M to leverage transparency to achieve her goals.

Meanwhile, a second project with Blackwell—resurrecting an umbrella group of racial and ethnic affinity bar associations—speaks to Anaya’s community-driven leadership and the importance of working in solidarity toward a more equitable legal profession and, ultimately, a more equitable justice system.

“I love the idea that, in the face of adversity, great leaders set great examples,” she says. “The adversity that I have faced as a Latina has allowed me to develop the courage and resilience to meet and exceed the expectations I set for myself.” Anaya will need every ounce of that courage and resilience to follow through on 3M’s DEI commitments, but she understands why her advocacy as CDO must continue.

“I am very proud to live in a country where we are born equal, with the right to enjoy equal opportunities. Delivering on that promise—a promise not yet realized—is every citizen’s duty,” Anaya says. “At 3M, we’re very transparent and humble about all the progress that we still need to make, and I am honored to lead a team that welcomes the challenge.”

Blackwell

and Law360.

Burke P.A. is a certified minorityowned litigation firm committed to the relentless pursuit of excellence on behalf of numerous Fortune 500 clients. We represent clients in complex litigation and have been named one of the top litigation defense firms in the country by BTI, Chambers, Best Lawyers and others.

Cesar Ruiz Founder, President, and CEO Golden Years Home Care

CESAR RUIZ’S GOLDEN HOUR

Cesar Ruiz and Golden Years Home Care are poised to transform the healthcare industry’s approach to elder care

BY BILLY YOST ◊ PORTRAITS BY TONY LUONG

IT’S A CONVERSATION THAT NO ONE ever looks forward to. The decision to transition the care of a loved one into the hands of someone outside their family is one that requires painful conversations, difficult realizations, and—for the loved one in question—the relinquishment of a life defined by self-reliance.

Senior citizens in the United States are living longer and longer lives, and elder care is becoming an ever more essential and critical concern. Unfortunately, the topic is still a taboo to many people.

Cesar Ruiz, however, is intimately familiar with conversations about elder care, and has them on a regular basis. The founder, president, and CEO of Golden Years Home Care was an active caretaker for both his grandmother and his father, both of whom suffered strokes in their later years.

“I remember my mother having to tend to my grandmother like she was an infant,” Ruiz says. “I watched my father, the patriarch of our family—who worked three jobs to put us through school—having to suffer through this. He was able to regain his strength, and I was able to see that man again, who was able to get himself out of bed, pull himself into his chair, and wheel himself to the library. I hope that same willpower is now with me.”

While caring for Ruiz’s father and grandmother, Ruiz’s family struggled with the fact that the home care for their family members wasn’t of the same quality with which they themselves tended to their loved ones. Ruiz started compiling a business plan, which wouldn’t manifest for another decade, to address what he saw as a desperately needed transformation for elder care. The philosophy of that business would be simple: “All

ALL OF MY CLIENTS ARE MY MOTHER AND MY FATHER. THAT IS SOMETHING I TAKE VERY, VERY SERIOUSLY.”

of my clients are my mother and my father,” Ruiz says. “That is something I take very, very seriously.”

In just five years of operation, Golden Years Home Care Services has earned the coveted Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2020 from Business West, a business staple of western Massachusetts, where Ruiz and his family grew up. Its client list, which began with just ten, has ballooned to more than five hundred. These past few years have been a whirlwind of progress for both Ruiz and Golden Years, all built on the philosophy of service that Ruiz emphasizes for his clients and employees alike.

Compassion, Inside and Out

Ruiz is incredibly proud of the care providers he works with every day. “I can think of no better role than the service of one person caring for another human being,” the CEO explains. “Anyone who thinks this is an easy job has no idea what this is all about. It takes patience. It takes understanding. It takes love and compassion.”

Unfortunately, Ruiz says, those same caregivers are not often taken care of by their employers. The low pay and lack of benefits for caregivers is a fairly open secret in the healthcare industry, but Ruiz is confronting that reality head-on at Golden Years. “I want to elevate the status of this role to what our people deserve,” he says. “Our caregivers should never feel less than any other profession. To me, they are up there with the best of them.”

In an effort to recruit the best talent available, Golden Years started paying a $15 minimum wage—far before that discussion was taken up by Congress—and initiated an

A KNOWN QUANTITY

Part of the success of Golden Years lies in Cesar Ruiz’s long history with his community. He was the first Latino (as well as the youngest person) to be elected to the Springfield School Committee in 1980. Even after Ruiz left his home state to live in Florida, his legacy remained—as he saw upon his return. “When I walked into Baystate Medical Center to explain our mission, they knew me,” Ruiz says. “Those early years helped define what would become my future.”

TO THOSE WHO WAIT

For those who have seen the fast success of Golden Years, Cesar Ruiz may seem like an overnight success. But his planned transformation of home care took time. Ruiz focused on his career in finance for thirty years, and even after he drew up the plans for the initial Golden Years model, it took ten years to put it in action.

educational program that helps employees attain their home health aide certification. Another of its programs aims to help active seniors and veterans learn to provide care as well. “We want to work smart,” Ruiz says. “Education has always been an important part of my life, and bettering the lives of the people that work here is a priority for me.”

Golden Years offers life insurance to all employees and is in the process of creating a 401(k) program. Ruiz says it’s the first life insurance policy many of his employees have ever been able to partake of, and that has motivated him to see how else he can be of service.

A Special Breed

Because so many caregivers on the Golden Years staff are single mothers, the CEO says providing outreach and resources for counseling, financial planning, daycare, and even housing are essential for him to feel like he is providing the support that his staff need to in turn provide the necessary care and compassion for their clients. “These are areas I never expected to be delving into,” Ruiz admits. “But our people are a special breed that we think deserve this additional support.”

The company’s benefits, Ruiz says, are part of the transformation the CEO wants to see in the larger caregiving space. “Part of what we offer our employees is obviously about attracting talent,” Ruiz says. “But this is an industry known for high turnover, and I refuse to be part of a system that recycles bad behavior.”

Within the company, Ruiz also works to create a healthy working culture. Employees at Golden Years have more than likely communicated with the company founder directly. “I’m hands-on because I never want to be far removed from the real work that we do,” Ruiz explains. “At the beginning, I was HR; I was payroll. And even though I now

THOUGHTS FROM GUEST EDITOR

ANNA MARIA CHÁVEZ

“With ten thousand people turning sixty-five every day in the US, Cesar Ruiz is clearly sitting in a growth market. But that’s not why he started his company. He started Golden Years Home Care based on his experience caring for his own family members; he wanted to ensure that other families received the same care and love that he was brought up to provide to his elders. His company will officially turn five years old this year, but Cesar isn’t stopping to celebrate. Instead, he is busy launching two offshoot companies to provide behavioral health services to older adults and to train more professional caregivers. And if that wasn’t enough to keep him busy, he is exploring a potential political run in his home state of Massachusetts. Good luck, Cesar!”

have the luxury to do more strategic planning, it’s still important for me to see our clients and their caregivers.”

That may be an increasingly tough goal to achieve, given the continued expansion of Golden Years into behavioral health. For Ruiz, the company’s growth means more employees to meet, more caregivers to visit, and more planning. But however large and complex the company becomes in future, Ruiz emphasizes, it will stay true to one simple aim: to care for those who need it, with the dignity and compassion one would want for their own family.

Esther Aguilera President and CEO

Latino Corporate Directors Association

METRICS AND MESSAGING

Esther Aguilera’s effectiveness as CEO stems from her ability to build allies, connect leaders, and execute a comprehensive, impact-driven approach

BY BILLY YOST

RESULTS

DRIVEN, STRATEGIC, AND innovative. Time and again, that is what has made Esther Aguilera’s thirty-year career stand out. She excels at building relationships and executing business plans to drive both growth and impact.

When Hispanic Executive last spoke with Esther in her role as president and CEO of a new nonprofit venture—the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA)—she communicated an ambitious plan: to put LCDA on the map to change the corporate governance landscape for the better. The last four years have presented plenty of obstacles capable of derailing these plans, from a pandemic and an economic downturn to social unrest and political strife, but Aguilera’s immigrant roots prepared her to persevere, be resilient, and be resourceful. After she and her family immigrated to the US from Mexico when she was a child, it took them years to gain citizenship despite a legal claim.

Even before she joined the LCDA, Aguilera had an impressive career filled with accomplishments. In addition to spending eleven years as president and CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, she’s served as executive and legislative director of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and as senior advisor to the Secretary of the US Department of Energy. All in all, she brings nearly three decades of experience to an organization

focused on gaining recognition for the growing Hispanic population of the United States and ensuring that members of that population attain positions of leadership.

A consistent thread to Aquilera’s own personal and professional pursuits has been her commitment to elevating Latinos to positions of power and helping them claim their seats at the decision-making table.

“The number of Latinos on boards is so small, and we keep hearing that organizations can’t find qualified Latinos,” Aguilera says. “With our growing LCDA network, we’ve proven there is an ample supply, and that excuse no longer applies.”

Expanding the pipeline of Hispanic leaders was one of the major initiatives Aguilera undertook after assuming her current role in 2016. “We’ve continued to grow our membership of experienced directors and have also been identifying C-level executives who are clearly qualified for the boardroom,” she says. “We can position and prepare them on their journey. Everything we do is comprehensive, because we can’t leave a stone unturned in advancing such an important mission.”

In a short period of time, Aguilera says, the LCDA has become a leader when it comes to advocating for, growing, and opening up opportunities and demand for Latinos in positions of leadership, executing heavily on matters of board governance and diversity.

THOUGHTS FROM GUEST EDITOR ANNA MARIA CHÁVEZ

“Esther doesn’t mince words about the mission of her organization. She makes it clear that Latinos are huge consumers of products and services and if companies want to be successful in the future, their governance leaders must reflect our community. Let’s hope more corporations heed her warning and see that diverse boards of directors produce better bottom-line results—which ultimately are good for everyone.”

“This is as a result of the deep relationships we have cultivated with board practice search firms and private equity firms like Carlyle, KKR, Blackstone, and TPG Global, as well as investors, pension funds, and shareholders, among others,” Aguilera says.

The LCDA’s partners and allies underline the importance of Aguilera’s efforts. “Esther’s passion and tireless commitment to strong corporate governance and boardroom diversity is inspirational and impactful,” says Jose R. Rodriguez, a senior partner of the KPMG Board Leadership Center, as well as a board member and the treasurer of LCDA. “KPMG is proud to partner with Esther and to support LCDA’s mission of increasing Latino representation in corporate boardrooms to better reflect the US population and key stakeholder sentiment.”

In addition to finding external partners, Aguilera has been focused on internal growth at the organization. LCDA’s membership has grown exponentially in the last two years, she says, providing a network of accomplished

business leaders and speakers for the organization’s mission. According to Aguilera, it’s the first time the large (and growing) membership of Latinos at the highest levels of corporate leadership and governance has been able to come together as a united front.

“I always say that these are some of the most accomplished and respected leaders in business that happen to be Latino,” Aguilera remarks. “It’s a peer network of top executives and corporate leaders that is committed to paying it forward, and that’s what makes it so unique.”

The LCDA has recently engaged with Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, and leading investors to promote diversity on corporate boards. It’s a deep dive that Aguilera is excited about, because it’s never been done before with leaders who are capable of creating so much change.

Aguilera’s success comes largely from her ability to find allies and execute a comprehensive approach to advancing every facet of the organization’s mission. As she explains,

LATINOS ARE YOUR CURRENT AND FUTURE CUSTOMERS AS WELL AS THE EMPLOYEES DRIVING YOUR BUSINESS SUCCESS, AND THOSE NUMBERS ARE ONLY GROWING. IF YOU’RE NOT CONNECTED, YOU’RE LOSING MARKET SHARE. IF YOU WANT TO COMPETE, YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO.”

pushing for diversity from a moral stance can only change so many minds. Making the business case for diversity, on the other hand, yields strong results.

“Diversity at your table leads to better decisions, better results, and better shareholder value,” she explains. “We function like a business network for this reason. Latinos are 20 percent of the population, we command $2.6 in GDP, and we contribute 83 percent of new entrants into the workforce. Corporate boards and companies remain agile when they reflect the diverse workforce and market. That is why no company can be effectively governed without Latinos at the decision-making table.”

This is the core of Aguilera’s leadership; she’s a social entrepreneur who weaves together a comprehensive approach, leveraging data-driven metrics, social media and communications amplification, and a powerful convening of business leaders. As she says, “There are so many important stories to tell; telling those stories and raising the profile of our membership is built into our mission.”

The LCDA is finding other powerful ways to tell those stories by doubling down on its research and analytics capabilities. In late 2020, the organization launched the California Board Equity Scorecard, which tracks every appointment made within the state to chart the progress of Latino leadership. “We found that Latinas, despite being 40 percent of the population, are being left behind,” Aguilera reports. “We have to be calling out these numbers, because they are research and evidence based and showing where the most missed opportunities lie.”

Aguilera says the LCDA will be issuing quarterly reports and scorecards that detail companies’ progress. The effort will also expand to other states as the program continues to evolve.

The LCDA is also tracking the largest thousand companies in the US and will be expanding that to the Russell 3000 Index, a financial index that tracks the performance of the largest publicly traded US firms. “The time is right because of the forces that have come to bear this past year,” Aguilera says of the heightened focus on equality in 2020. “Institutional investors, shareholders, and our network of leaders are all calling for this change. A company that is forwardthinking recognizes that their business should reflect the marketplace, their customers, and their employees.”

It’s a message that bears repeating, and Aguilera ends her interview by making sure there’s no ambiguity.

“I say this crisp and clear because I do not want to muddle our message,” she says. “Latinos are your current and future customers as well as the employees driving your business success, and those numbers are only growing. If you’re not connected, you’re losing market share. If you want to compete, you know what to do.”

Latino Corporate Directors Association and Esther Aguilera — We’re proud to support you

We are committed to investing in our Hispanic-Latino communities by being a great place to work for our employees, supporting our clients and being proactive in our neighborhoods where we live and work.

Visit us at bankofamerica.com/ inclusion

BANKABLE LEADERSHIP

Bank of America’s Raul Anaya is determined to leave both the bank and the Los Angeles area better than he found them

BY NATALIE KOCHANOV

Raul Anaya Head of Business Banking and President for Greater Los Angeles Bank of America

FOR RAUL ANAYA, BUSINESS AND banking intertwined long ago. Anaya grew up watching his father, an immigrant from Mexico, run his own auto body repair shop in Brownsville, Texas. When Anaya later began working as a commercial bank teller, the conversations between bank loan officers and local business owners like his father fascinated him.

“That exchange and the ways in which the bank was helping small and large businesses in Brownsville really got me interested in banking,” Anaya confirms.

Now the head of business banking and president for Greater Los Angeles at multinational financial services company Bank of America, Anaya has come a long way since his days as a teller. However, he remains just as interested in the possibilities of supporting business growth through banking. Beyond serving his clients on a daily basis, he fully embraces his role as a leader within the bank and out in the community.

Anaya first joined Bank of America (then NationsBank) back in 1989, after graduating with a BBA in finance from the University of Texas at Brownsville. He completed a formal credit training program in Houston, where he spent the next ten years in the bank’s Commercial Banking Group developing successful relationships with local companies and growing his finance expertise.

“Early on, I learned a lot from my various mentors. They had a huge impact on my career,” Anaya says. With his mentors’ support, he climbed to a team leader role in Houston before being promoted to a market executive role, leading the San Antonio and then Phoenix markets. In 2005, Anaya moved to Los Angeles to run the bank’s Commercial Banking Group for Greater LA. He was promoted to market president in 2012, to Pacific Southwest Region executive in 2015, and to head of business banking— one of Bank of America’s eight major lines of business—in July 2020.

As his role at the bank became more prominent, Anaya gained experience assisting a wide range of businesses. “I started dealing with larger and more complex companies over time,” he says. “Working at Bank of America has exposed me to so many companies of different sizes and across different industries.”

Today, Anaya focuses on companies with annual revenues of $5 million to $50 million. “I like to call it Main Street because we’re working with companies that are generally family-owned and that were started by an entrepreneur,” he explains. “That’s what I love about leading business banking.”

Anaya’s love for his work shines through in his personalized and genuine approach to helping clients. He believes strongly in building relationships with business owners and their families and in taking the time to learn about their individual wants and needs. “I’m always asking questions and listening to my clients to get an understanding of how the owners want to grow their businesses,” he says.

Once he has earned a client’s trust, Anaya draws on his in-depth knowledge of finance to offer advice and solutions. Having weathered the storm of two previous economic downturns over the course of his career—he joined the bank at the depths of the Texas real estate depression in the early 1990s and led his team through the great financial recession of 2008—he’s ready to share best practices with business owners who may be facing their first period of economic stress amid the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.

Anaya extends the benefits of his expertise to junior members of his team as well, carrying on the tradition of mentorship that catalyzed his own career at Bank of America. Furthermore, as a member of the bank’s executive management team, he weighs in on the bank’s overall strategic direction, including on topics such as growth initiatives, new technology investments, and environmental, social, and corporate governance policies.

THOUGHTS FROM GUEST

EDITOR ANNA MARIA CHÁVEZ

“Raul’s career has taken him across many states, and his network has allowed him to make a tremendous impact on the Latino community. Bank of America is well positioned to help small and medium businesses come out of the pandemic and provide stability to our global financial situation. Raul’s leadership and ability to prioritize the needs of underserved populations will also provide dividends not only to Bank of America but to the communities hardest hit by this his toric pandemic.”

I’M ALWAYS ASKING QUESTIONS AND LISTENING TO MY CLIENTS TO GET AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE OWNERS WANT TO GROW THEIR BUSINESSES.”

A BROADER COMMITMENT TO GREATER LA

To deepen his community ties, Raul Anaya cofounded a local networking group for Latino finance professionals called Latino Deal Makers. Throughout his career, he has also regularly served as a board member (generally in a board leadership capacity) for various nonprofit organizations, including healthcare- and science-oriented organizations such as the AltaMed Health Services Foundation and the California Science Center Foundation. Now, as the first Latino board chair for the LA Area Chamber of Commerce, he is reimagining regional economic recovery through a lens of equity and inclusivity.

Anaya plays a similar role at the regional level as president for Greater LA. In addition, he leverages the bank’s brand to effect positive change across the local community.

“We help deliver local philanthropic dollars,” he elaborates. “In 2020, we delivered over $10 million in philanthropic support to over two hundred different nonprofits around our foundation priority, which right now is principally focused on economic recovery.”

Just as he does outside of the bank with his work at the LA Area Chamber of Commerce, Anaya prioritizes inclusivity in Bank of America’s local outreach efforts. That means intentionally directing resources to people of color and other historically underserved communities. In parallel, Anaya executes internal initiatives designed to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion at the bank itself. “We were one of the first companies in corporate America to come out and address the racial disparities that were exposed by the pandemic with a $1.25 billion commitment to help address economic mobility and racial inequality,” he notes.

Anaya personally serves on Bank of America’s Global Diversity & Inclusion Council and, as the bank’s highest-ranking Latino, cochairs the Hispanic-Latino Executive Council (which consists of the bank’s most senior Hispanic-Latino executives in the United States). The aims of both councils complement Anaya’s own attitude toward diversity, which he has always viewed as a competitive advantage.

As he looks to the future at Bank of America and beyond, Anaya feels optimistic. He knows that he will continue to combine leadership, service, and authenticity to give back to both his clients and his community inside and outside the bank, no matter what.

“I always remember my roots as the son of immigrant parents,” Anaya says. “I view my success as an opportunity to pay it forward and to help others around me become better bankers, better leaders, and better individuals.”

WE WERE ONE OF THE FIRST COMPANIES IN CORPORATE AMERICA TO COME OUT AND ADDRESS THE RACIAL DISPARITIES THAT WERE EXPOSED BY THE PANDEMIC WITH A $1.25 BILLION COMMITMENT TO HELP ADDRESS ECONOMIC MOBILITY AND RACIAL INEQUALITY.”

AGAINST THE CURRENT

After changing careers and mastering the world of marketing, Isis Ruiz has positioned Norwegian Cruise Line for post-pandemic success

BY ZACH BROWN

Isis Ruiz Chief Marketing Officer and SVP

Norwegian Cruise Line

ISIS RUIZ’S UNCONVENTIONAL THINKING and entrepreneurial spirit have shaped her to be a multifaceted marketing leader at one of the top global cruise companies in the world.

As a young woman growing up in New York, Ruiz was always enthralled by the power of words, so much so that at some point she even considered a career as a linguist. Her passion for communication, her resilience, and her “never settle” mentality have served her well, preparing her to lead the powerhouse marketing team at Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) during one of the most challenging times in the history of the company and cruise industry.

While other companies remained silent during the pandemic, Ruiz empowered her team to tap into consumer sentiment to deliver meaningful marketing campaigns focused on uplifting messages and content that inspired a sense of community, optimism for the future, and confidence that cruising would be back.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s entertainment agency partners celebrate Ruiz’s efforts. “Throughout the past two years, Isis and the NCL team have leveraged entertainment to spark emotional connections with consumers. As things start to open back up, her team is focused on inspiring optimism through the power of music and travel,” says Jeremy Holley, cofounder of FlyteVu.

A career track that spanned industries from legal to leisure provided her a foundation that helped her to stand out as a well-rounded candidate for her first marketing role. In search for her next big adventure, and a change of both scenery and profession, Ruiz had made the move to Miami. While she enjoyed the challenges and global experience that came with working with a large legal firm in New York, she quickly learned her passion did not lie there.

THOUGHTS FROM GUEST EDITOR ANNA MARIA CHÁVEZ

“Isis Ruiz has been able to make wonderful things happen at Norwegian Cruise Line, but she is not stopping there. In fact, she is leading a team that is relaunching NCL’s award-winning campaign, Giving Joy. Through this program, NCL is celebrating schoolteachers by giving away one hundred free cruises to one hundred teachers—as well as the chance for the top three educators to win up to $25,000 for their schools. I can’t think of a better way to show our appreciation to our amazing schoolteachers who inspire our students every day.”

“There are things that happen by chance and things that happen by design. Even the things that happen by chance play a role in shaping your life and career,” she reflects.

Ruiz gravitated toward communication functions, even in the legal field, so when she landed a travel industry marketing role in Miami, she knew within weeks she had found her calling. Having realized her professional passion, she was fully invested in gaining as much hands-on experience as she could to propel her forward in this newfound career journey. Determined to refine her marketing foundation, albeit five months pregnant with her first child and working full-time, she went back to university to gain the academic principles and theories of the work she was already doing day-to-day.

Now, twenty years and three kids later, Ruiz is a leading marketing executive for one of the world’s most recognizable cruise lines: Norwegian Cruise Line, an industryleading brand visiting three hundred destinations and welcoming more than two million guests per year. As chief marketing officer and senior vice president, Ruiz leads a small but mighty marketing communications team. She also helps drive the messaging behind what will be the company’s biggest comeback yet—a resumption of operations after a yearlong pause.

Several key stops in the industry prepared Ruiz for the challenge. She started with another cruise line in 2004, where she developed campaigns and implemented strategies for small travel agencies and other corporate partners. As online travel agencies grew in scale and popularity, Ruiz worked behind the scenes to make sure they had the information, tools, and incentives to position and sell cruise products.

Several years later, Ruiz had cultivated an understanding of both consumer behavior and the inner workings of travel agencies— she was ready for another test. She applied for a position with Norwegian and drove across town to her first interview.

NCL started in 1966 and has enjoyed steady growth over the past fifty-five years. Known for achieving many firsts (it was the first cruise company with a private island experience, the first to offer multistory race tracks at sea, and the first to offer branded and Broadwaycaliber entertainment productions), the company is one of the top three in its space.

These facts resonated with Ruiz. “We have to be more nimble and quick to pivot given the size of our company,” she says. “My inner New Yorker was ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work.” And that’s exactly what Ruiz has done. She’s spent the past eleven years developing top-performing teams, implementing effective marketing strategies, and helping Norwegian meet and exceed its goals.

Other leaders in the space have recognized Ruiz’s forward-thinking leadership. “Working with Isis, together, we have transformed how we deliver smarter, more agile solutions expected of a modern media partnership,” says John Osborn, CEO of OMD. “As someone who never settles, who’s always looking to the future and working to optimize our business impact, Isis is an exemplary partner who treats the agency as a true extension of her team.”

In 2015, after she implemented new marketing communications strategies, delivered an improved user experience, and launched a new gift card as director of onboard revenue and loyalty marketing, leaders tapped Ruiz to lead the domestic marketing team. A year later, she moved into an international role to export best practices from North America within the company’s offices around the globe.

Over the next four years, Ruiz’s team at the Miami headquarters expanded, providing more centralized support for NCL’s teams

WE HAVE TO BE MORE NIMBLE AND QUICK TO PIVOT GIVEN THE SIZE OF OUR COMPANY. MY INNER NEW YORKER WAS READY TO ROLL UP MY SLEEVES AND GET TO WORK.”

OMD is proud to recognize Isis Ruiz for being honored by Hispanic Executive as a Top 10 Líder. A true leader of her fleet.

THERE ARE THINGS THAT HAPPEN BY CHANCE AND THINGS THAT HAPPEN BY DESIGN. EVEN THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN BY CHANCE PLAY A ROLE IN SHAPING YOUR LIFE AND CAREER.”

around the world and creating a more well-connected global organization. “We’ve taken down traditional walls so people in our corporate headquarters can tap into expertise we have in other parts of the world,” she explains. The marketing executive also developed “centers of excellence” in emerging global markets, including Latin America, Europe, and Australia. The results were dramatic: Norwegian saw 40 percent growth over the following three-year period.

By the end of 2019, Norwegian was “firing on all cylinders” and had just introduced the last of six in its new Breakaway and Breakaway Plus class of ships. In early 2020, Superbowl LIV was coming to Miami, NCL’s hometown, and the company had developed some creative ads designed to capitalize on that national attention. Weeks later, COVID-19 gripped the nation and world, and the entire cruise industry ground to a halt.

Although Norwegian’s seventeen ships were anchored in place, its marketing teams continued at full sail. Ruiz launched a new series of monthly consumer studies, and the company partnered with Royal Caribbean Group to put together a panel of globally recognized experts in medical practice and research, public health, infectious diseases, biosecurity, hospitality, and maritime operations to help guide science-backed decisions as health and safety (a long-established priority at NCL) took centerstage in all marketing materials.

After the studies revealed a consumer desire for flexibility, Norwegian responded in real time by launching and enhancing its new

“Peace of Mind” policy, which allows guests to enjoy flexible booking and generous cancellation policies during a time when there has been so much uncertainty in the travel space.

The pandemic has also changed the way Ruiz and her team interact with their colleagues. “We’re collaborating with every single department in a whole new way; we have to understand every detail about their work so we can communicate that information to guests who have questions about resuming travel,” the CMO says.

All departments have had to become more selfreliant. When it came time for the company to launch a new marketing campaign, they leaned into their own creative powerhouse to develop the company’s first global campaign in-house. While other big brands remained silent on the airwaves, Norwegian embraced the universal sentiment felt around the world at that time as everyone was navigating through the pandemic and launched the Break Free campaign, set to Queen’s iconic song “I Want to Break Free,” on Black Friday.

As COVID-19 vaccines increase and the global outlook improves, Ruiz says her whole industry is set for a big year. In April, NCL announced its return to service, with the first ships ready to carry guests to new destinations in Europe and the Caribbean beginning summer 2021. Ruiz remains determined to ensure that every guest feels safe and comfortable in this reimagined cruise experience, providing reassurance about the extensive protocols NCL has put in place as well as information about the exceptional experiences they can expect to find at their destination.

This is an incredible moment for the company and industry at large, and Norwegian has something special planned to celebrate. Project Leonardo, a new class of ships first announced in 2017, is getting ready to hit the sea. The first of six ships will set sail in 2022, including modern touches and tech-laden features. They’ll set course for new destinations designed to further enhance and elevate the guest experience and brand.

After a year of not sailing, Norwegian Cruise Line is ready to break free.

CONGRATULATIONS ISIS RUIZ

www.mccannworldgroup.com

For this well-deserved tribute. And thank you for being such an inspiring, collaborative partner. Here’s to a long voyage together, with calm seas, sunny skies, and a Mojito or two.

At McCann, we help brands like Norwegian Cruise Line earn a meaningful role in people’s lives. As the world’s leading ad agency network, we deliver an unmatched combination of award-winning creativity, strategic insight and innovation globally, regionally and locally within each of the one hundred-plus countries in which we operate.

A LOOK BACK AT OUR TOP 10 L Í DERES

As we enter the tenth year of our annual Top 10 LÍderes issue, we honor all of the executives who have made the list in previous years.

*Companies listed may not be current, as they reflect the company executives were with the year they were featured.

2013

Eva Longoria of the Eva Longoria Foundation

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Jacqueline Rosa of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

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Rodrigo Sierra of the American Medical Association

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Andrea Bazán of United Way of Metro Chicago

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Maria Sastre of Signature Flight Support

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Ricardo Anzaldua of MetLife

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Jorge Perez of Manpower

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Robert Sanchez of Ryder Systems Inc.

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The late Lisa Garcia Quiroz of Time Warner Inc.

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Jorge Mas of MasTec

Robert Chavez of Hermès of Paris Inc.

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Jorge Ramos of Univision + Fusion

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Luella Chavez D’Angelo of Western Union

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Tim Campos of Facebook

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Bea Perez of Coca-Cola

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General Josue Robles of USAA

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Antonio Gracias of Valor Equity Partners

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Monica Diaz of ESPN

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Mariano Legaz of Verizon

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Maria Teresa Kumar of Voto Latino

Arturo Barquet of Universal Pictures

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Ernest Cordova of Accenture

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Grace Lieblein of General Motors

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Maria Martinez of Salesforce

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Gerardo Rodriguez of Chicago Area

Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce

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Javier Rodriguez of DaVita HealthCare Partners

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Miguel Santana of City of Los Angeles

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Lucino Sotelo of BMO Harris

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Cynthia Telles of UCLA

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Peter Villegas of Coca-Cola

Monica Caldas of GE Transportation

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Guillermo Diaz Jr. of Cisco Systems

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J.C. Gonzalez-Mendez of GM Integritas

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Virginia Lazala of Novartis Oncology

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Natalie Morales of Access Hollywood and The Today Show

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Adolfo Perez of Carnival Cruise Line

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Julio Portalatin of Mercer

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Jose Luis Prado of Evans Food Group

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David Rodriguez of Marriott International

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Yasmine Winkler of UnitedHealthcare Community & State

2020 2019 2018 2017

Xavi Cortadellas of Gatorade

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Jorge Gonzalez of City National Bank of Florida ◊

Karl G. Gouverneur of Northwestern Mutual ◊

Aleida Rios of BP

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Rudy Rodriguez Jr. of CEC Entertainment ◊

Carlos Sabater of Deloitte

The late Thomas Santiago of Time Warner

Bob Unanue of Goya Foods

Nina Vaca of Pinnacle Group

Magda Yrizarry of Verizon Communications

Beatriz Acevedo of MiTú

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Ted Acosta of EY

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Linda Alvarado of Alvarado Construction

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Patty Arvielo of New America Funding

◊ Roel Campos of Hughes Hubbard & Reed ◊

Dorene Dominguez of Vanir Group of Companies

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Tony Jimenez of MicroTech

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Luis Patiño of Univision

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Angelique Salazar Moyer of Central Street Capital Inc.

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Ana Valdez of Latino Donor Collaborative Inc.

Sandra Campos of Diane von Furstenberg

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Julián Castro Democratic Candidate 2020 US Presidential Election

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Enrique Conterno of Eli Lilly and Company

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Joe Dominguez of ComEd, an Exelon Company

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Talita Erickson of Barilla

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Lisa Heritage McLin of Rackspace

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Sean Jaquez of Sony Pictures Entertainment

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Carlos Linares of Church & Dwight

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Carolina de Onis of Teachers Retirement System of Texas

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Jairo Orea of Kimberly-Clark

Daisy Auger-Dominguez of Auger-Dominguez Ventures

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Sylvia Banderas Coffinet of Hola! USA

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Gloria Calderón Kellett of Glonation Studios and One Day at a Time, Pop TV

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Steven Canals of Pose, FX

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Ramon Escobar of CNN Worldwide

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Angel Gomez + Dr. Robert Rodriguez of Latino Leadership Intensive

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Teresa Hamid of IBM

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John Leguizamo of NGL Collective

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Paola Ramos

Author, Vice News Correspondent, Latinx Advocate ◊

Tanya Saracho of Vida, Starz

INSIGHTS

The philosophies of innovative leaders have the power to inspire and spark change. Read on for the thought-provoking insights of these successful executives.

154. Angela Lopez, Fredrick A. Felter, Ana Mowles, and Oscar Paredes, JPMorgan Chase 163. Juan Moreno, Blue Diamond Growers 166. Marcos Marrero, H.I.G. Capital 170. Jose Martinez, OneAmerica 176. Michael Capiro, Technology Professional 180. Scott Cardenas, Bridge Investment Group 183. Homero Torres, SunPower Corporation 186. Anne-Marie Wieland D’Angelo, NiSource

The Heart of Tech in the Heartland

BY BILLY YOST PORTRAITS BY JEREMY KRAMER

JPMorgan Chase knows that diversity drives innovation. Four tech leaders explore how that mindset manifests at the company’s corporate center in Columbus, Ohio.

Left to right: Fredrick A. Felter, VP of Software Engineering; Larry Perez, Executive Director of WorkForce  Technology; Oscar Paredes, Executive Director of Consumer Banking Technology; Angela Lopez, VP of Innovation Strategy; Jesus Isea, VP of Project Execution for Consumer Lending Technology; Lourdes Gandy, VP of Software Engineering; Paul Buenaventura, Executive Director and Head of Innovation for Chase Consumer and Community Banking Operations

The five-year, ten-site investment and policy priorities are part of New Skills at Work, the firm’s $350 million commitment to prepare adults and kids for the future of work.

Additionally, the company committed $30 billion to advance racial equity commitments and public policy efforts that address key drivers of the racial wealth divide, reduce systemic racism against Black and Latinx people, and support employees.

One of the areas seeing the results of that commitment is the “biggest small town in America,” Columbus, Ohio. The city serves as a major hub for the bank—it is home to the McCoy Center corporate center, which is one of the largest JPMorgan Chase facilities in the world.

Columbus is a special place, with longstanding ties to both JPMorgan Chase and wider technological innovation at large. The city has been routinely touted as an ideal loca-

tion for both start-ups and tech companies, and houses Fortune 500 companies like JPMorgan Chase and Nationwide Insurance as well as a well-established start-up community.

The city may be far from both Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange, but its collective advantages—the sheer number of its cutting-edge start-ups, the big players in finance and insurance, the fact that it is home to one of the nation’s largest collegiate populations, and Columbus’s “bang for your buck” living standards—have marked it as a destination of note for professionals from around the nation. And there’s no better example of that than JPMorgan Chase.

A GLOBAL TEAM . . . IN THE MIDDLE OF OHIO

Angela Lopez is vice president of innovation strategy at JPMorgan Chase and has been a member of the Columbus technology

“There is a very active and passionate technology community in Columbus. I know a lot of people may find that hard to believe, that Ohio truly is the heart of it all.”

—ANGELA LOPEZ

Last year, JPMorgan Chase announced a global initiative to better prepare young people for the jobs of today and tomorrow by investing $75 million and advancing smarter policy solutions.

Angela Lopez VP of Innovation Strategy

JPMorgan Chase

community since 2006. She first joined Chase to work in cybersecurity and then transitioned to her current role, in which she identifies new and emerging technologies to streamline operations. Lopez draws from her vast career experience from the other side of the technology industry as a consultant and vendor across multiple industries, ranging from start-ups to IBM.

In 2016, Lopez founded getWITit.org, a nonprofit that aims to advance women in technology: the organization has now grown into multiple chapters and cities. “There is a very active and passionate technology community in Columbus,” she enthuses. “I know a lot of people may find that hard to believe, that Ohio truly is the heart of it all.”

That mindset has clearly impacted the way JPMorgan Chase operates. In the US, Chase serves nearly half of all households and has fifty-five million digitally active customers who use its website or mobile app to manage their finances.

“Technology touches everything at the bank, so there is no shortage of ways you can grow your skills as a technologist here,” says Vice President of Software Engineering Fredrick A. Felter. He started his career at the Ohio State University College of Engineering running computer labs. Seventeen years later, he now manages a team of seventy technologists at Chase.

Managing Director of Infrastructure Integration Services Ana Mowles has been with JPMorgan Chase since 2005. In her current role, she is responsible for the distributed computing environment, which is the infrastructure that powers most applications at the company. In addition, she is responsible for the firm’s technology marketplace, which is used by employees to order the tools and infrastructure they need to build products and applications, as well as products to manage the lifecycle of the application infrastructure.

The Brazil native, who has more than twenty-two years of tech experience, has lived in California, Connecticut, and Florida. But she says she has found her “forever home” in the Columbus tech community. “This company is behind you no matter where you’re from, and they are intentional when it comes to initiatives that support communities,” Mowles says. “It’s very exciting to work for a company that uses all of the latest and greatest technologies. The opportunities I have to develop new skills motivate me to grow my career at JPMorgan Chase.”

Oscar Paredes started his technology career in his native Peru but eventually came to the United States to earn his master’s degree in 1998. The executive director of core banking technology joined Chase in 2017, bringing extensive entrepreneurial and technology experience in a variety of industry

“Diversity and inclusion are part of our culture; they are ingrained into everything we do and how we develop and retain talent.”

—FREDRICK A. FELTER

Fredrick A. Felter VP of Software Engineering JPMorgan Chase

verticals including manufacturing, education, telecommunications, television broadcasting, commercial software development, and nonprofits. As a kid, Paredes would disassemble—then reassemble—fans, toasters, blenders, and televisions to learn how they worked. Today, he manages Chase’s core banking platform and oversees a team of two hundred-plus technologists.

Though he’s only been with JPMorgan Chase for three years, Paredes knows full well exactly how much his employer values diversity. One day, he found himself driving his thirteenyear-old son to a doctor’s appointment, but he had a conference call he couldn’t miss.

“There were about twenty-five people on the call, and the first thing we did was introduce ourselves and say where we were calling

Managing Director of Infrastructure Integration Services

from,” Paredes remembers. “When it was finished, my son couldn’t believe it. There were people from Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Columbus, Dallas, New York. Diversity, for us, is a day-to-day reality.”

IT’S ALL RIGHT HERE

Lopez says that all it takes is one look at JPMorgan’s corporate center to see what’s

“It’s very exciting to work for a company that uses all of the latest and greatest technologies. The opportunities I have to develop new skills motivate me to grow my career at JPMorgan Chase.”

—ANA MOWLES

Ana Mowles

JPMorgan Chase

On Community, Columbus, and the Cutting Edge

Five JPMorgan Chase leaders elaborate on the finance giant’s culture and opportunities for professional growth

Lourdes Gandy VP of Software Engineering

“JPMorgan Chase has allowed me to build my confidence and therefore have a voice that is heard and respected across the organization. I have used these skills, in addition to my technology expertise and mentoring, to be an effective leader. I take great pride in knowing that my leadership and technical expertise ensure that our customers have all of their financial needs met.”

Christina Grundy VP and Technology Program Manager

“I attribute my success at JPMC to both my approach and the opportunities provided by Chase. My motto is ‘Be here now’—both in my personal and professional life. My goal is to provide my undivided attention when at work so I can do the same for my family time. In my fourteen years with Chase, I have been afforded a myriad of opportunities to develop and grow my career. I am fortunate to be employed with a firm that supports my desire to be involved in the Columbus community as well as at work.”

Jesus Isea VP of Project Execution for Consumer Lending Technology

“Since early in my career, as an IT consultant for seven years at Cap Gemini and as a director of technology for seven years at Cardinal Health, I have learned the importance of building a diverse talent pool. For the last eighteen years at Chase, I have witnessed a relentless focus on diversity and inclusion, promoting an open culture and actively supporting not only acquisition but also development and advancement for our technical leaders.”

Larry Perez Executive Director of Workforce Technology

“Key to the success of the JPMorgan Chase team is a culture where everyone can be themselves and bring their whole selves to work. I’m fortunate to be at a company that encourages employees to speak openly, share ideas, and support each other—all of which are core to personal and professional satisfaction at work. Diversity and inclusion is deeply important to our firm, and for twenty-five years I’ve been focused on helping colleagues grow their skills, advance their careers, and make a difference in the communities in which we work and live.”

Paul Buenaventura Executive Director and Head of Innovation for Consumer & Community Banking Operations

“I’ve worked in the financial services industry for more than twenty years, the last sixteen with JP Morgan Chase, in roles focused on operations, customer experience, and now emerging technology. I appreciate that the culture of our firm encourages people to try new roles and gain diverse skills, which creates more well-rounded and engaged leaders. In my current position, I see firsthand the way technology can deliver seamless, personalized experiences to our customers. The Columbus location—with a deep talent pool in the area—is well positioned to help drive the technology agenda for the firm.”

different. “Just walk across our campus,” Lopez says. “You will see diverse people everywhere you look. It’s reflected in our leadership and our employee population. It’s all right here.”

Felter agrees that the company is far past the “talking about it” phase that many organizations have only recently entered into. “Diversity and inclusion are part of our culture; they are ingrained into everything we do and how we develop and retain talent.”

Those within the walls of JPMorgan Chase’s corporate center are obviously proud of their city. Paredes notes that SmartAsset named Columbus the number one city to work in for technology. Mowles mentions the best-in-class healthcare, the incredible

community in which one can raise a family, and the top-notch schools. Lopez talks about the ease with which tech-minded individuals can meet up any day of the week, in a matter of minutes.

“I go all over the country recruiting diverse talent, and people will seem reticent about Columbus because they don’t know anything about it,” Paredes says. “I’ll ask them if they’ve heard of Chase, Victoria’s Secret, Pink, Nationwide Insurance. They’re all here.”

Whether you’re interested in an organization like JPMorgan Chase that offers upward mobility or a three-person start-up with a big idea, these four executives all believe Columbus is the city to be in.

“Diversity, for us, is a day-to-day reality.”

—OSCAR PAREDES

Oscar Paredes

Executive Director of Core Banking Technology JPMorgan Chase

As the finance director of Blue Diamond Growers’ global consumer division, Juan Moreno takes pride in helping great ideas come to life

Engineered for Success

BY KEITH LORIA

AFTER COMPLETING A DEGREE IN industrial engineering, Colombia native Juan Moreno began working in finance. And while that may not seem like a typical course of study for a successful finance executive, Moreno explains, his education was actually an ideal fit for his chosen career path.

“It’s very common in Colombia for industrial engineers to take a lot of courses on economics, management, finance—even accounting,” he says. “It gave me a broader horizon—I could find a job in operations, a job in management, or a job in finance. Those fields require people who are strong in math, technical skills, and numbers.”

His undergraduate and graduate degrees have motivated Moreno to remain openminded about opportunities and about what his role at various companies would involve.

“And it has enabled me to adopt and sustain a personal commitment to continuous improvement and learning by integrating fairly quickly into the multiple global environments I have been exposed to,” he adds.

Moreno specializes in consumer-packaged goods (CPG)—specifically, plant-based goods. His experience has led him to Blue Diamond Growers in Sacramento, California, one of the nation’s top ten fastest growing food companies, where he currently serves as financial director for the global consumer division. In that role, he stewards multiple retail categories under the Blue Diamond brand, including crackers under the Nut-Thins brand and nondairy products under the Almond Breeze banner.

“I work very closely with the sales, marketing, operations, and innovation leadership teams in developing their strategies and

facilitating negotiations with licensing partners,” Moreno says. “We are responsible for ensuring that Blue Diamond’s three thousand growers in California see returns through their participation in the company’s co-op.

“There are multiple almond growers in the California Valley,” Moreno explains. “Blue Diamond Growers is a cooperative of more than three thousand California almond growers and 1,700 team members, and we work in unity to ensure our farms and our brands are sustainable for future generations. Our growers expect that we maximize the returns from their almonds—they are our stakeholders.”

In 1998, Moreno was living in Colombia and working at Nestle Purina as a treasurer. He moved to the US and went back to school to earn his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, after which he landed a job with General Mills in Minneapolis.

His performance at General Mills earned him a promotion to Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW), a joint venture between Nestlé and General Mills, where he shared his expertise as regional controller and then director of financial operations in Mexico.

“That was my first experience working in a global joint venture environment. Working for CPW gave me a sense of how one of the longest-lasting JVs in the food industry truly exemplifies the principle of ‘Spirit of the Small and Power of the Big,’” he remembers.

After about seven years, during which he worked in Miami and Mexico, Moreno returned to General Mills’ Minneapolis offices as senior finance manager. After more than fifteen years with General Mills and Nestle, he was invited to join Blue Diamond Growers in 2016.

“I knew very little about Blue Diamond Growers,” he recalls. “I knew something about plant-based [food], but I quickly realized the value of Blue Diamond Growers’ leadership position and the fact that they had effectively managed an ambidextrous business—a

Juan Moreno Finance Director, Global Consumer Division Blue Diamond Growers

business that is partially CPG competing in multiple categories and partially an almond ingredient business, each one serving the co-op and the co-op owners in different ways.”

While Moreno has built a superb reputation in the consumer goods industry, that wasn’t necessarily his plan.

“Early on, I didn’t see a connection,” he admits. “I didn’t say, ‘I want to work in finance and consumer goods.’ I wanted to work in finance, and I happened to start with Nestle Purina, the biggest consumer goods company.”

Soon, though, Moreno found a great passion for his work: today, he takes great pride in guiding the financial strategy that commercializes innovative products he and his family enjoy on store shelves.

“Being an engineer, it’s very easy to relate to consumer product goods,” Moreno says. “You need to understand operations, you need to understand supply chain. You see tangible products developed, and you see great market-

ing ideas get commercialized through unique strategies in the marketplace.”

Moreno has taken particular pride in his team’s accomplishments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s like any other personal or professional challenge,” he says. “I try to see beyond the pain and suffering of many during the pandemic and instead see it as a spotlight on our organizations and teams and on us as leaders—a spotlight where you can shine or be exposed. I prefer to see it as an opportunity to shine and to put a stamp on how the team reacts to challenges.”

Grateful for what he has achieved, Moreno was equally dedicated to giving back through his volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity in the Minneapolis area, where he helped build and remodel homes.

“I don’t consider myself a very handy person, but I recognized it as an opportunity where I could help and learn. I wouldn’t say I got better,” he says, laughing, “but it was a rewarding team effort.”

“I prefer to see [the pandemic] as an opportunity to shine and to put a stamp on how the team reacts to challenges.”

As a law firm, we are committed to promoting racial equity and social justice in the communities where we live and work. We are proud to partner with companies that share these same values!

As a law firm, we at Hanson Bridgett LLP recognize that our investment in promoting justice, racial equity, and diversity is more important than ever before. We take pride in our partnership with companies like Blue Diamond that value these same ideals and work towards these same goals. Continued success means hiring, promoting, and mentoring diverse leadership teams. Congratulations, Juan!

More Than a Job

Marcos Marrero’s lifelong passion for technology has led him from a position at an IT helpdesk to the C-suite at H.I.G. Capital

BY TAYLOR KARG

“I ALWAYS KNEW THAT WORKING WITH computers and technology is what I wanted to do with my life. It’s not just a career or something I have to get up and do: I do it because I have a passion for it,” says Marcos Marrero, whose passion for technology was ignited when he was just eleven years old.

While he was visiting family in the Dominican Republic, his aunt, who owns a computer institute there, introduced him to an Apple IIe computer. “I remember sitting in front of this computer just playing games and exploring for hours on end,” he says, laughing. “I was hooked. All I wanted to do was explore this new world.”

When he was fifteen years old, his parents divorced and Marrero, along with his mother and younger brother, moved to the Caribbean country permanently. To Marrero, the 1,500plus mile move away from his home in New York City meant one thing: more opportunities to explore the world of computers and technology. And that’s exactly what he did.

Marcos Marrero CISO

H.I.G. Capital

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Along with serving as H.I.G.’s chief information security officer, Marcos Marrero serves his community through volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity. In fact, he’s been a volunteer with the nonprofit organization for the last twelve years, helping to build homes for underserved communities around Miami-Dade County.

“My local church had an event where they were looking for volunteers for the organization,” Marrero explains. “It piqued my interest because my dad was a general contractor for fifty-plus years, so I’ve always had a special connection to that kind of work. I attended one of their sessions and really just fell in love with the organization and what it stands for.”

Marrero took one computer class at his aunt’s institute and, six months later, became the guy teaching the classes. “It all came very natural to me,” he recalls. “After just that one class, I was teaching adults in their thirties and forties how to use a computer.”

Today, Marrero—with twenty-plus years of experience under his belt—serves as the chief information security officer at H.I.G. Capital, a global alternative asset investment firm. He manages a team of three and together, they handle cybersecurity for the entire firm. They also serve as consultants for the firm’s investments, assessing their cybersecurity risk and ensuring the proper protection programs are in place.

Of course, Marrero says, he had a lot to learn before he could reach the C-suite.

At the age of nineteen, Marrero left the Dominican Republic and returned to the United States to pursue a career in technology. He started doing contract IT jobs for different companies around the Miami area and soon after, what started as a short-term job for Lloyd’s Banking Group (LBG) actually led to his very first corporate position. In April 2001, Marrero joined the financial services company as a helpdesk technician.

While working at the helpdesk, he was assigned an IT ticket to help the bank’s new Head of IT Risk and Information Security Ramon Iturrioz set up his computer. “When I was setting up Ramon’s computer, I asked him how I could get into information security,” Marrero recalls. “He told me he was

actually looking to hire a security analyst and asked if I had any interest in the position. I admitted that I did not have any experience in information security. Ramon responded with, ‘Doesn’t matter. I can teach you the security aspects. The important thing is that you know the company, infrastructure, and technology.’”

A few months later, Marrero transitioned to the IT and Information Security Department, thereby beginning his journey into the sector.

After twelve years with LBG, Marrero secured a variety of IT positions at notable Miami-based companies, including Greenberg Traurig, Greenspoon Marder, and Itaú International. He helped each company build their information security program from the ground up. “Each company and position was a stepping stone for the next,” Marrero explains. “I’ve been able to continuously learn and grow my expertise in ways I never thought possible.”

Although his success and career trajectory are defined by years of hard work and determination, Marrero is the first to admit that he wouldn’t be where he is today without Iturrioz’s mentorship at LBG all those years ago. “He was willing to take a chance on me; he let me go off and do my own thing,” he says.

Now, Marrero does the same with his staff at H.I.G. Capital. “I was mentored at the very beginning of my career—it’s the reason why I am where I am today, and it’s the reason why I have a passion for mentoring others,” he says.

Marrero’s leadership style, combined with his lifelong passion for technology, has led to multiple nominations in the industry. In 2015, he was a finalist for CISO of the Year, an award that recognizes an individual’s outstanding work in information security. More recently, he was nominated for two other awards: Security Leader of the Year for North America and inclusion in a list of the Top 50 Chief Security Officers.

Although appreciative of the recognition he’s received for his achievements, Marrero remains focused on the job. “It was never about the accreditation and monetary benefits that come along with the job. It’s always been—will always be—about loving the technology.”

Congratulations to our dear friend and partner –Marcos Marrero at H.I.G. Capital ¡Felicitaciones Marcos!

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“It was never about the accreditation and monetary benefits that come along with the job. It’s always been—will always be—about loving the technology.”

Above the Opera

BY DAN CAFFREY

Jose Martinez explains his new, more expansive perspective at OneAmerica as SVP and CIO

Jose Martinez

SVP and CIO

Needless to say, a lot has changed since then—both in terms of the world at large and Martinez’s role within the company. After multiple other VP positions, he now serves as the OneAmerica senior vice president and chief information officer. Despite still working heavily with technology, he explains that he’s doing so from a completely different vantage point.

“It’s pulling all facets of IT together, not just individual segments such as infrastructure or architecture,” Martinez says. “It’s like always being on a balcony, looking down at the opera house. Because you can see everything playing out in front of you, you’re able to develop a vision and a strategy for IT that drives business value for the entire company rather than just one department.”

The work itself is more expansive than in his previous roles at OneAmerica. Currently, Martinez and his team are busy modernizing the company’s data architecture from part-EDR technology to a fully operational data hub. Then there are other initiatives, such as a heavy investment in the cloud with payload migration

to Microsoft Azure, the backlogging of robotics, mobile applications, and cybersecurity programs. While some of these terms might not be familiar to someone who’s not embedded in the IT world, Martinez explains that building the perfect team isn’t solely about technological know-how. Yes, one’s tech background will obviously come up when he interviews someone. But Martinez also looks for other qualities—many of them more elastic than an expansive tech vocabulary—that shape people into what he likes to call game changers.

“Who are those high performers—the people who are just going to knock it out of the park?” Martinez says, citing curiosity as an important factor when identifying a potential new hire. “Curiosity tells me that you’re a lifelong learner. I’m a firm believer that a smart, curious, energetic person can learn absolutely anything. Let’s say you’re an architect, but you’re interested in learning more about application development. We’ll look at taking a chance on you, especially if you have DNA that’s steeped in learning.”

When Hispanic Executive last spoke with Jose Martinez in 2017, he was vice president of IT infrastructure and applications management support at OneAmerica, the legacy financial services mutual holding organization based out of Indianapolis.

“Curiosity tells me that you’re a lifelong learner. I’m a firm believer that a smart, curious, energetic person can learn absolutely anything.”

ACCELERATE YOUR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WITH INFOSYS

After all, the education process doesn’t stop once someone begins working in the IT department. As Martinez explains, OneAmerica isn’t an environment where employees just clock in and clock out every day without further engagement beyond their desk. Rather, there’s a high currency on internal growth through programs such as Development Days. During these periods, the entire IT calendar is blocked off so Martinez’s team can further hone their tech abilities via outside speakers and new-skills curricula.

“The bottom line is, as a CIO, I need my team to be developed,” Martinez says. “Because five years from now, if they still have the same skills that we have today, then we’re going to fail. I need a different team in five years. So how do we get them there? It’s not just on them; it’s also on those of us who are in leadership roles.”

Development Days receive alignment and support from the entire OneAmerica organization, meaning that everyone is aware that IT is unavailable while the workshops are taking place.

Such cross-departmental unity embodies the OneAmerica mentality to “#WinAsOne”—a phrase that has become something of a mantra throughout the IT organization. It’s resulted in a culture that Martinez describes as empathetic, communicative, transparent, and focused on the organization as a whole rather than just the individual person. It is about IT associates being “business associates that specialize in IT,” rather than simply “IT specialists.”

“#WinAsOne is about treating your team like a family,” Martinez elaborates. “It’s about leadership and associates all being in this together, with one mission and one purpose.”

This mentality extends to external team members as well. “DXC is proud to work with Jose’s team and contribute to idea generation, technology, and innovation that supports OneAmerica’s initiatives,” says Jeff Williams, DXC vice president of insurance for the Americas. “Jose has established an environment for true vendor partner collaboration, resulting in one cohesive team.”

Martinez has found that when everyone has this kind of buy-in, it not only results in a better workplace environment— which in turn results in a higher value and better product for each OneAmerica customer—but a desire to do good outside of the office. For his part, he sits on the board of TechPoint

Our expertise and decades of experience in managing enterprise systems and driving digital transformation for insurers, will help you create better customer experience and enable long term growth.

the aspiration of increased velocity of innovation and a digital-powered business along with operational resilience by becoming a Live enterprise, leveraging Infosys capabilities.

and Nextech—two Indiana-based nonprofits dedicated to driving more education for computer science and technology in the Hoosier State.

Across the IT team as a whole, Martinez and his colleagues usually host two in-person events every year where they teach technology skills to youth in the Indianapolis area. That obviously (and unfortunately) couldn’t happen in 2020, so while they were able to hold a few virtual events, they also decided to pivot to another act of service. By pooling their resources, the IT team raised $10,000 last year, which they used to buy meals from local restaurants and then deliver them to healthcare workers at local hospitals. That way, OneAmerica was able to offer both moral and monetary support to two industries hit especially hard by the pandemic.

It sounds like something a family would do.

Explore where business is headed after the pandemic has rewritten the future of work and understand what’s next for global organizations. It’s time to reset—to forge new ways to connect with customers, employees and supply chains. Many challenges lie ahead, and “The Work Ahead” is your guide to solve them, visit Cognizant.com to view a copy of this research report.

“#WinAsOne is about treating your team like a family. It’s about leadership and associates all being in this together, with one mission and one purpose.”

Infosys congratulates Jose Martinez for this well-deserved recognition. Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. With over three decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. Visit infosys.com to see how Infosys can help your enterprise navigate your next one.

The Work Ahead Digital First (to Last) is a research series providing insight and guidance on how organizations are evolving to the next stage of the digital economy. Cognizant outlines trends and tactics for businesses throughout the world to ensure a successful future for the future of work.

Comfortable with Change

Michael Capiro has built a career out of his dual passions for the law and cutting-edge technologies

BY BILLY YOST BY THE TIME THIS IS PUBLISHED, MICHAEL CAPIRO

will have had his first day as senior counsel at Salesforce, the software company that has quickly become just as prominent an innovator as Capiro’s former employers: IBM, HBO, and, most recently, Amazon. Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, “empowers companies of every size and industry to digitally transform and create a 360 degree view of their customers,” per their company statement. Capiro will be supporting Hyperforce, a new service that allows for deployment of Salesforce’s software on public cloud and allows for increased flexibility for customers. Any new technology or product is associated with a certain degree of uncertainty, but Capiro is eminently comfortable with that kind of work.

The senior counsel’s somewhat unorthodox enthusiasm for the unknown goes back to his youth. “I just loved tearing things apart and seeing how they worked,” Capiro remembers. “I spent an entire summer learning how to program on an old Atari computer; it was just something I always felt comfortable around and enjoyed.”

After college, Capiro planned on heading to medical school but decided to take a year off to prepare. He got hired by IBM, and stayed there as a tech for five years. “During that time, I served as a technical advisor to our negotiations and legal team, and I saw the role of the lawyers there from a technical standpoint. It really motivated me to go to law school,” he says.

Since leaving IBM, Capiro has remained largely in the tech world. The lawyer arrived at HBO at precisely the time they were beginning the development and rollout of their landmark streaming app, HBO GO, for Latin America. He was a key legal advisor from the beginning, working with the team to shape the rquirements as well as the final product.

Capiro would have a similar and pivotal role at Amazon. Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a New York City hospital system came to Amazon asking for a way to check in on patients without having to throw away PPE equipment, which was incredibly hard to come by at the time. “We were able to put something together in a few weeks,” Capiro says.

Michael Capiro Technology Professional

SHOWING THE WAY

As a mentor for law students, as well as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and founder of the Spanish-language VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) clinic for tax assistance in Dayton, Ohio, Michael Capiro has been able to pass on some of the hard lessons he had to learn on his own. Early in his career, the attorney was the only legal scholar in both his family and his friend circle, and while that may have helped mold the unique approach Capiro brings to his role, he hopes there are some tough knocks he can help younger lawyers avoid.

“I love being able to help law students and young lawyers in their careers,” Capiro says. “I want them to feel like they have someone they can turn to who can offer some guidance or just understand where they’re coming from.”

“It would allow staff to check on patients and have face-to-face communication without having to physically be in the room every time.” Amazon continued to roll out the technology in other health systems dealing with COVID-19 patients where beds were full and PPE was scarce.

The attorney also helped roll out a new ability for Alexa, Amazon’s cloud-based voice service. Alexa can turn off lights, search for a user’s favorite songs, and report on what the temperature is in Tokyo. Capiro’s team helped implement a COVID checklist that offers CDC guidance based on the user’s answers to questions. “It was important to make sure that it wasn’t just rolled out in English,” Capiro adds. “We also offered it in Spanish in the US and adapted it to CDC-equivalent international organizations as well.”

The lawyer isn’t afraid to get neck-deep in new tech—it’s part of who he is, he says. “I think it just comes down to not being afraid of a challenge,” Capiro reflects. “The tech industry is about creating the next big thing that might be an essential part of people’s lives five years from now. It’s exciting to build

something that no one has done before, and that unknown is what the tech industry is centered around.”

Capiro’s colleagues are consistently impressed with his expertise on leading-edge technologies. “Mike and I have worked closely together for decades, and I have always had immense respect for his rare combination of skills as both a top-notch technologist/executive and legal practitioner,” says Jaret L. Davis, comanaging shareholder of the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig PA and a member of the firm’s global Executive Committee. “This diversity in his background has always made him a formidable force and an incredibly valuable team member on any project or initiative.”

Capiro remains effective because of his ease in the tech space. Developers can speak to him with an assumption that their legal counsel has a fundamental grounding in their language. He’s able to partner with developers to mitigate risk as much as possible, but he also understands that when it comes to the next big thing, there are always going to be a few question marks. Mitigated risk is still risk, but it’s an area where Capiro stays cool.

“I spent an entire summer learning how to program on an old Atari computer; it was just something I always felt comfortable around and enjoyed.”

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Greenberg Traurig salutes the commitment to innovation exhibited by Michael Capiro in all his pursuits, particularly his role as Corporate Counsel in Amazon. We take great pride in our many years of partnership with both Michael and Amazon. At Greenberg Traurig, we share their commitment to fostering innovation, and diversity and inclusion, and look forward to many more years of our impactful partnership.

Greenberg Traurig applauds the leadership and accomplishments of Michael Capiro, Corporate Counsel of Amazon.

As the CIO and CTO of Bridge Investment Group, Scott Cardenas combines his business background with his passion for technology to help ensure the firm can use technology as a differentiator to achieve corporate goals

A Business Mentality

BY TAYLOR KARG

SCOTT CARDENAS IS A COLORADOAN AT HEART.

But when he was given the opportunity three years ago to spearhead a successful real estate and private equity firm’s information technology program, he soon found himself on the other side of the Rocky Mountains.

Cardenas, who’s now a resident of Park City, Utah, is the chief information officer and chief technology officer at Bridge Investment Group. Since joining the firm in April 2018, Cardenas has been responsible for defining and executing a strategic plan as it relates to technology and the company’s overall mission to redefine the real estate industry. This includes everything around applications and data, infrastructure, operations, security, and project management.

Before joining the $25 billion assets under management (AUM) company, Cardenas held a variety of tech positions, including IT director at TIC (The Industrial Company), CTO at Kiewit, senior director at EchoStar Corp., and CTO and CIO for the City and County of Denver.

While his résumé is certainly impressive, Cardenas admits that it took him some time to figure out exactly what he wanted to do with his life. “I initially went

to school to be an accounting major, and then quickly realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do,” he recalls. “I decided to pursue my passion for technology, and although I didn’t want to be an accountant, I still wanted to understand the different aspects of business.”

To that end, Cardenas transferred to the Metropolitan State University of Denver and began pursuing a degree in computer information systems and management science. That program, he explains, allowed him to study aspects of both technology and business.

When Cardenas was twenty-one years old, he began working part-time as a network administrator for the Public Employees Retirement Association. Shortly after, they offered him a full-time position, officially marking the start of his professional journey.

A number of years and several career moves later, Cardenas says he realized he was too social to spend his time sitting behind a keyboard. “I was at a fork in the road in my career,” he explains. “I enjoy meeting people, talking to them, and understanding both their jobs and the problems they’re trying to solve. So I realized what I really had a passion for was solving business problems, not necessarily solving technology problems. I wanted

to understand why businesses needed these different technology systems and how it helps them differentiate themselves from the competition.”

This hankering to use technology to solve business problems led Cardenas to go back to school to get a master’s in international business from the University of Denver.

Since obtaining his MBA, Cardenas has had ample opportunity to apply the knowledge he learned in graduate school. But he wanted to continue refining his skill set, particularly skills related to leadership and relationship building—the exact skills that led him to the C-suite at Bridge.

“Yes, I am in technology,” he says. “But when people ask, I say, ‘I’m in the people business.’ It doesn’t matter which technology I’m an expert in or what my degrees are in: if I can’t fundamentally build and cultivate relationships, and interact with folks to understand their problems and business needs, I wouldn’t be able to successfully do my job.”

In addition to developing what would eventually become twentyplus-year relationships, being in the “people business” has helped Cardenas sharpen his leadership skills. “I had strong mentorship relationships— both formal and informal—where I was able to gain knowledge and grow

my skills in ways I otherwise couldn’t have,” he notes. “Now I try to bring that type of mentorship mentality into my own leadership style.”

Although he recently celebrated his third anniversary with Bridge, Cardenas remains convinced that he can continue to challenge himself to live up to the full potential of his role. “I want Bridge to be known for its operational excellence—for our embrace and use of technology so that we can strategically differentiate ourselves from the competition,” he explains.

In addition to his duties as CIO and CTO, Cardenas is excited to work alongside other company leaders to enhance the firm’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. “Aside from revenue and business outcomes, we want to ensure Bridge is a great place to work,” he says. “We want to attract the best and brightest professionals, and help guide them to a long, successful career with the company.”

Outside of his professional responsibilities, Cardenas works regularly within his local community. Whether he’s mentoring young adults and sharing career advice or helping to provide internet connectivity and devices to underserved communities, he hopes to make a difference in people’s lives— no matter which side of the Rockies he’s on.

“I realized what I really had a passion for was solving business problems, not necessarily solving technology problems.”

Not Just a Firewall

BY FREDERICK JERANT

IN THE BEGINNING, HOMERO TORRES just wanted to finance his education.

“I was the first person in my family to go to college,” he says. “While studying engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio [UTSA], I helped pay my way by working a variety of jobs—in a movie theater and as a sales rep in a Montgomery Ward store, for example. Eventually, I landed at Southwest Research institute as an Ethernet technician.”

Torres, who was raised in a small south Texas town just north of the Mexico border, found the work and the bustling atmosphere so attractive that he fell behind in his studies. Torres finally left school and began working as a contractor at Applied Materials in Austin. And although the company was tempted to hire him full-time, it already had a “no degree, no job” policy in place.

Frustrated but determined, Torres worked as a help desk technician at UTSA (“At first, they said I was overqualified,” he recalls) as his reapplication to the university proceeded—this time, heading toward information systems management.

Within a few months, Torres became a network technician, with an interest in security.

When the school established a full-scale information security department in 2005, its director, Dr. Annette Evans, brought him on board as the assistant director. “I had the tech knowledge, but little understanding of administrative aspects. She must have seen something in me, and she taught me what I needed to know,” he recalls.

In 2011, Torres joined Hewlett-Packard’s Houston facility as a solutions architect/technical consultant; he and his team deployed

As Homero Torres sees it, information security isn’t just a tech function—it’s a strategic part of the business plan at major companies like SunPower Corporation

Homero Torres

Global Director of Information Security

SunPower Corporation

an all-encompassing security system. A year later, he became senior manager of cybersecurity for the former Tesoro Corp. There, he assisted with strategic planning and direction of the corporation’s complete cybersecurity program, including information security and risk management.

His professional life took another turn in 2014. “I was attending Black Hat USA—a huge information security event—and met Michael Botts, who was SunPower’s global director of information security.” Botts sought someone to cover his duties for a six-week leave, and hired Torres. But Botts’s return to the company was short lived, and Torres’s temporary gig suddenly became permanent as Botts resigned to take a new job at a Fortune 5 company.

Today, as global director of information security at SunPower, a leading solar technology and energy services company, Torres’s day-to-day activities are broad and varied. “People often think ‘security’ means putting up a firewall and running antivirus software,” he says, “but it’s far more than that. I’ve been preaching for years that security isn’t just an IT job—it’s really risk mitigation. That’s why it’s so important to work closely with different teams throughout the company.

“My team is charged with protecting the brand, the integrity of our financial data, the privacy of our customers and partners, R&D programs, and functional operations,” the director continues. “We also make sure that all protections are up and running, respond to security incidents, stay abreast of emerging threats, help to maintain our infrastructure, and comply worldwide with an enormous range of rules, standards, and laws. No two days are the same.”

As he explains, some aspects of this work are more sensitive than others. “We have to be particularly careful with customer data,

because it’s so valuable to legitimate marketers and to scammers,” Torres notes. He credits the efforts of Wendy Bozzolasco, SunPower’s associate general counsel for litigation and deputy chief ethics and compliance officer, with bolstering the company’s data privacy initiatives. As for protection of systems, “partnering with Jose Gonzalez’s team for infrastructure security and third-party partners such as MegaPlanIT helps build resilience into the InfoSec program,” Torres says. “These partnerships are paramount to our success.”

SunPower’s employs a number of staff in the Philippines, including members of Torres’s team.

“There are challenges, of course, in managing a workforce that’s on the other side of the world, but it has worked out well,” he reflects. “We have also benefitted from the diversity of ideas, perspectives, and culture.”

Diversity and inclusion inform Torres’s own worldview. “My mother is from Mexico, and I grew up in Texas—there wasn’t a lot of diversity there,” he says. “But at Southwest Research, I was surrounded by people from all over the globe, and I learned that the world truly was bigger than my experiences had shown me.”

And SunPower has only increased his understanding. “Michael Botts, who brought me on, is African American. My team is Filipino, and the majority owner of SunPower is an energy company based in France. Learning about different cultures brings new meaning to my life—and it’s the greatest ride I’ve ever had,” he says.

Torres adds that SunPower’s commitment to diversity is ongoing. “There is now a focus on diversity and appreciating cultural differences through training and awareness,” he says, “and Maribelle Bostic recently became our head of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Creating that role says a lot about the company.”

Torres says the key to his leadership success lies in consistency. “This job is nonstop; maintaining consistent procedures allows you to stay on top of ever-changing threats and shifts in the business. Nothing in this business stands still, and I want everyone to feel as though they are partners in delivering value.”

“I’ve been preaching for years that security isn’t just an IT job—it’s really risk mitigation. That’s why it’s so important to work closely with different teams throughout the company.”

At MegaplanIT, our innovative IT security and compliance solutions deliver customized, cost-effective services on time. Our 24/7/365 Security Operations Center and highly qualified team of Penetration Testers and Information Security Consultants here at MegaplanIT have decades of experience helping businesses like yours stay safe from cyberthreats. Visit us at megaplanit.com

The Pathway to Trust

As general counsel at NiSource, Anne-Marie Wieland D’Angelo works

BY LUCY CAVANAGH

“THE THEME OF MY CAREER HAS BEEN hard work, taking risks, and being fortunate enough to meet good people who were willing to invest in me,” says Anne-Marie Wieland D’Angelo, executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary at NiSource, a utilities company that provides gas and electric energy across six different states.

After graduating from Notre Dame Law School, D’Angelo got her start at Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, a mid-sized Chicago law firm with corporate clients ranging in size from family-owned business to

Fortune 500 corporations. “They were doing really interesting work, and the size of the firm allowed me to be substantively involved in sophisticated projects and get direct client contact at a very early stage in my career,” D’Angelo recalls.

During her time with the firm, D’Angelo was contacted about a position in the real estate practice group of McDonald’s Legal Department. Although she was happy with her practice at Burke Warren, she was intrigued by the thought of working for a multinational company like McDonald’s.

“McDonald’s had been a client of the firm, and there was an opportunity to join in the commercial real estate group, which was my area of expertise at Burke Warren. I also felt that, unlike a traditional law firm partnership track, I had the potential to take my career in a variety of different directions. So I thought, ‘I want to give this a whirl,’” she explains.

D’Angelo worked on commercial real estate at McDonald’s, but she was wary of the possibility of getting siloed in that role forever. Fortunately, she distinguished herself

to foster an environment of transparency and serve as a mentor to those around her

with some more experienced colleagues who had taken her under their wing when she started. “When I confided in them that I was thinking about going back to private practice because I felt stuck, they told me to throw my hat in for McDonald’s US general counsel team that they were forming at that time,” D’Angelo says. “They preferred people who had franchising experience —which I didn’t. So I thought I couldn’t do it. I remember one of my mentors counseling me, saying, ‘Don’t count yourself out—you’re young and you’ll learn.’”

The McDonald’s US general counsel team did end up hiring D’Angelo, and it was there that she cut her teeth acting as a “mini GC” for US business units. In her years with that team, she got exposure to many members of the company’s US leadership team, including through a project she spearheaded that would allow McDonald’s to test concepts and products in McDonald’s restaurants. One of those test concepts grew into the now famous McCafe section of McDonalds, and it gave D’Angelo an opportunity to work crossfunctionally with members of the McDonald’s

Anne-Marie Wieland D’Angelo EVP, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary NiSource

US leadership team and demonstrate leadership, strategic thinking, and business thought partnership.

Based on a nomination from another mentor, Gloria Santona, D’Angelo later participated in the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Next Generation of General Counsel program. The program sharpened her desire to take the next step in her career—a transition to a general counsel position leading the legal department of a publicly traded company. “I learned quickly that I would have to find someone willing to take a risk,” D’Angelo says, “someone willing to hire me as their general counsel without having any prior corporate governance or securities experience.”

Through her network, which she expanded through her participation in the Next Generation program, D’Angelo met the general counsel at Global Brass & Copper Holdings Inc. (GBC). He was retiring, and worked her into his succession plan. “I took a huge leap and left well-known McDonald’s to go to a small, publicly traded metals manufacturing company, where I was the only woman on the entire executive team and the only minority above a director level,” D’Angelo says.

D’Angelo went on to make a huge impact and secured the general counsel position just six months after her arrival. Then, after several acquisitions and only eighteen months in the general counsel seat, something unusual happened. “We were approached with an offer to sell GBC. Once again, I was in unchartered territory for myself, and I was doing something few general counsels have the opportunity to do,” the attorney says.

“But, similar to other times in my career, it was about rolling up my sleeves and digging right in.’”

Today, at NiSource, D’Angelo leads a department of fifty-eight attorneys and legal professionals, and she strives to carry on the spirit of mentorship that benefited her throughout her career within her department. She strives to support and advocate for younger attorneys, particularly women. “I am very deliberate about making sure that they have opportunities to showcase and lead,” the GC says. “I have not hesitated to throw folks into the deep end of the pool on projects that they thought they were maybe not qualified to run, but I make sure I’ve got their back.”

D’Angelo’s leadership, both of her team and of NiSource’s legal strategy, has made quite an impression on her colleagues in the field. “An enduring hallmark of AnneMarie’s career has been to serve as a true business partner to executive management and the board, with an uncanny ability to spot talent, enable change, and engender loyalty and trust,” says Kristofer Swanson, vice president and forensic services practice leader at Charles River Associates.

D’Angelo herself emphasizes that element of “trust,” stressing the importance of authenticity and transparency when it comes to building a team. She knows that mistakes are inevitable but works to make sure her team members feel comfortable enough to come to her with those mistakes. “If you don’t bring your authentic self, people won’t buy it—they won’t trust you,” D’Angelo explains. “Authenticity creates the culture of trust. You show vulnerability, and people will follow.”

“The theme of my career has been hard work, taking risks, and being fortunate enough to meet good people who were willing to invest in me.”

GLOBAL

International businesses present unique challenges— and opportunities—for corporate citizenship in multiple countries. The executives featured here thrive in navigating cultural shifts worldwide.

190. Jeff Jorge, Baker Tilly 196. Alfredo Simón, Mitsui & Co (USA) Inc. 199. Luis Esparza, Conduent 202. Martin Diaz de la Peña Lopez, Sony Pictures Entertainment 205. Sergio Urias, Covington & Burling

The Long Road

BY ZACH BALIVA

Jeff Jorge leads international services for a large consulting and public accounting firm that acquired the company he created from scratch. But getting to this point wasn’t an easy journey: it took years of dedication, hard work, and perserverance.

Jeff Jorge

Principal and Firm Leader for International Services

Market Leader for Supply Chain & Manufacturing Baker Tilly

Just before they reach the federal agents waiting to apprehend them, the bike lifts off the ground and into the air. John Williams’s orchestral music soars as the boy and his alien friend sail to safety through the night sky.

Although Jeff Jorge saw the movie when he was just six years old, he can still remember another detail, something so seemingly insignificant and normal that most viewers would never think twice about it. In an earlier scene, when Elliot turned on the faucet in his kitchen sink, steam rose into view. Elliot’s family had hot water.

Jorge, who grew up in Brazil’s southernmost region and remembers huddling around one space heater for warmth, was awestruck. And Elliot had more than hot water. He ate exotic-looking candy, lived in a safe neighborhood, and had a room full of toys. By the time the credits ended, Jorge had made up his mind—one day, he would live in the United States.

The world looked different when Jorge exited the theater. He was a happy child but was suddenly aware of the Brazilian economy’s fluctuation and how, at that time, his family had very limited means. And he saw how hard his parents worked to shield him from it all: previously, he thought his family simply liked to eat chicken. In reality, his parents were plucking the inexpensive birds to make and sell feather earrings to pay the bills.

But the family navigated a difficult economy together. When his junior year of high school arrived, at a time of relative prosperity, Jorge’s family found a way to make his dream a reality through a foreign exchange program. Unfortunately, when the year was over, Jorge lacked funds to pursue higher education in the United States. He had, however, gained one thing that would set him apart forever—fluency in English.

Jorge returned to his native Brazil but never gave up on his dream. He worked full-time as a mechanic, taught English as a second language, and placed subtitles in vintage Roy Rogers movies—all in an effort to pool resources to make his family’s ends meet. Four years later, as his family situation improved, he scraped enough money together to pay for one year of college. As a skilled tennis player, Jorge hoped an athletic scholarship would cover the final three years. He enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University for its engineering program, but what Jorge did not realize was that the school was also home to a well-ranked NCAA Division 1 tennis team. While he made the team as a walk-on, he wasn’t able to land a full scholarship.

The months that followed were marked by financial hardships outmatched only by Jorge’s resilience and drive to succeed. Jorge sold his used car to pay for tuition, started couch surfing due to no longer having a place to live, and cut back to one meal per day—all

It’s one of the most memorable scenes in the history of cinema: Elliot wears a red hoodie and pedals furiously with E.T. concealed in his basket.

PARTNERSHIPS WITH POWER

For Jeff Jorge and Baker Tilly, external partnerships are key to success. In early 2020, the organization turned to Cook Ross to enhance its efforts around diversity, inclusion, and equity. “Cook Ross helped us zero in on what we do well and make improvements that matter to our team members and the communities we serve,” Jorge says. “We always want to improve, and our external partnerships provide growth opportunities.”

Leaders at Cook Ross concur about the impact of this partnership. “The partnership with Baker Tilly has been an invaluable experience,” says Myla Watley, a project manager and consultant at the company. “Baker Tilly is genuinely committed to improving and expanding their DEI initiatives in transformational ways, and Jeff’s unique perspective has been instrumental in identifying these opportunities.”

the while maintaining a nearly 4.0 GPA. A combination of competitive scholarships and a paid internship with Fortune 500 automotive supplier TRW created the financial environment where Jorge could graduate debtfree. The internship also led to a full-time job offer from TRW, inclusive of one important benefit—a work visa.

The next decade brought an important period of personal and professional growth as Jorge accepted international assignments and took on various leadership roles. After expanding TRW’s operations in Mexico, he transitioned to Delphi to help that automotive company grow its footprint in Western Europe. Then, he returned to Michigan to enroll in the MBA program at the University of Michigan while helping develop Delphi’s Ford account. In roles of increasing responsibility, Jorge led marketing strategy for Delphi’s electronic systems division, as well as the company’s initial foray into medical devices.

Jorge had spent years traveling the world, bringing very talented people together to solve large problems for well-known companies. But what did middle market companies do to solve the same problems? As Jorge pondered that question, he noticed a gap in the market.

In 2009, Jorge validated the model for providing global expansion support as a service and created his own company— Global Development Partners (GDP)—to fill that gap. In a span of two months, he had enough clients to take his new venture full-

time. By 2013, GDP had offices in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil and was attracting both larger clients and the attention of major suitors. In 2015, Jorge finalized a deal to merge with Baker Tilly.

GDP became a service line within Baker Tilly and helped Jorge bring his vision and value into the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. In one particular assignment, his team helped one client expand to thirty-two countries in just eighteen months. “This was a classic merger success story because it gave Baker Tilly new capabilities and gave me a new platform from which to accomplish results that would have been hard to do quickly on my own,” Jorge says.

The early success led to an expanded role. Today, Jorge leads Baker Tilly’s international services across 145 territories and also leads the market inroads for mobility, supply chain, and manufacturing teams. Even prior to Baker Tilly navigating the impact of COVID-19, Jorge and other Baker Tilly leaders intentionally focused on the team dimension of the organization.

“There are multiple variables at play,” he explains. “Yet, my experience and that of so many others confirm that the bestperforming teams are so because they have a clear vision that compels action, interconnected objectives, mutual trust and accountability, psychological safety, and an unwavering ability to work together. All of those variables are controllable—and it starts with leadership

and fostering a culture where individuals bring their whole selves to work.” While Jorge acknowledges the work is never finished, the firm has underscored its commitment through hallmark initiatives such as Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging for Success (DIBS), the Racial Equity Advisory Group, and the Silver Linings program, which is designed to promote wellness and an appropriate work/ life balance for team members.

Although Jorge is enjoying his life and career in the United States, he’s maintained close ties to his family and heritage. In fact, over the years, he was able to help his parents and brother immigrate to the US. “Few things are better than sharing life with the people you love,” he reflects. “When you combine the support of family, personal responsibility, hard work, and a clear vision, amazing things can happen.”

Recently, the Jorge family came together to celebrate a birthday with a churrasco, a traditional barbeque popular in their native Rio Grande do Sul. The next morning, as Jorge was cleaning up around the house, he noticed his son’s bicycle lying in the front yard—an unthinkable thing in Brazil considering the nation’s general safety and theft conditions. It was a simple reminder of how far he’d come. “I lacked nothing as a child. Yet, my son enjoys aspects of a life I never had,” Jorge says. “And he’s safe in a land that’s full of opportunity where he, too, can make his dreams happen.”

“The best-performing teams are so because they have a clear vision that compels to action, interconnected objectives, mutual trust and accountability, psychological safety, and an unwavering ability to work together.”

A childhood split between the US and Spain taught Alfredo Simón the power of diversity.

Bridge Builder

BY ZACH BALIVA

EL AMERICANO. THAT’S WHAT HIS Spanish friends called Alfredo Simón. His family fled from Cuba to Spain and eventually settled in New Jersey. His parents were still teenagers when they arrived in Newark shortly before his birth. Each summer, Simón visited his grandparents in a rural village north of Madrid. In the US, he learned English in elementary school as part of a natural assimilation into a mostly immigrant community. In Castilla y Leon, he was defined by his country of birth.

Today, Simón is regional lead and senior counsel for the Americas as well as the head of Latin America’s legal operations at Mitsui & Co.’s Americas HQ. In that role, he supports the global investment company’s work on climate change and infrastructure, among other initiatives. To find success, Simón must bring stakeholders, clients, and communities together through a focus on common interests. Although uniting people from various backgrounds can be a challenging task, Simón is the right man for the job. It’s a skill he perfected as a child in Spain.

At first, Simón was just the American kid who came to town each summer. As an outsider, he wasn’t immediately welcomed by a group of kids his age. Yet he persevered, and eventually broke through by finding a shared passion—the game of frontenis, a derivative of basque pelota. Simón spent hours watching from the sidelines before finally receiving an invitation to play. He demonstrated an interest in actually learning the spot, and that interest gave him instant credibility. Soon, Simón found himself playing in local tournaments.

El Americano shed his nickname and became part of the group. “Finding common ground is about having the curiosity to learn. It requires humility, empathy, and effort,” Simón says. And the practice shatters barriers. Once Simón showed an interest in frontenis, among other local activities, his new friends asked questions about his American culture. Simón taught his peers the game of baseball and developed lasting relationships.

The profound struggle and sacrifice of his parents compelled Simón to become the first in his family to attend college. He worked evening

Today, he’s helping Mitsui & Co make important connections that help bring large-scale investment projects to life.

shifts at Newark’s airport to help cover tuition at Rutgers University and later became an RA to make campus living possible.

Although he first studied political science, Simón’s heritage drove him to law school. “My family suffered under authoritarian regimes in Cuba and Spain,” he explains. “I saw law school as a way to develop skills that would position me to make an impact and pursue causes that resonate with me.”

Simón’s diverse background and innate drive to understand other people has helped him serve as a “cultural bridge” throughout his legal career. Upon graduation, he took a job at a large Wall Street law firm, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, whose leaders sent him to South America to oversee a deal and ultimately close on the sale of the second largest bank in Peru.

Simón navigated diverse perspectives and interests, advancing the deal while being responsive to his clients in Milan, his bosses in New York, the counterparties and their lawyers in Toronto, and the target company on the ground in Lima, which in turn had a host of diverse stakeholders. This experience, early in his legal career, revealed a role of a corporate lawyer that he later realized played to his strengths. It was a skill developed through personal experience rather than a lecture hall.

As Simón progressed in his career, the desire to use his legal skills to make a significant impact never left him, and when a Mitsui recruiter made contact in 2008, he recognized a cultural match. “Mitsui strategically deploys its resources to address some of the most challenging issues of our time. We seek to bring strategic businesses into the Mitsui family so we can leverage our diverse strengths to create synergies and unleash hidden value,” he says. Innovative solutions

Alfredo Simón Regional Lead and Senior Counsel, Americas Head of Latin America, Legal Mitsui & Co (USA) Inc.

warmly congratulates

Mitsui & Co. Regional Lead & Senior Counsel, Americas and Head of LatAm Legal

Alfredo Simón

on his well-deserved recognition as an exceptional lawyer and leader.

We are proud to collaborate with Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc.

in infrastructure, energy, healthcare, and nutrition help people flourish and societies thrive.

Although he was originally hired to support the development of water treatment projects in Mexico, Simón now leads regional M&A activities and oversees the legal function for various portfolios of companies. His goals include creating value and helping drive growth forward. Since joining Mitsui, Simón has worked on multiple power projects throughout the Americas, and has seen the company become the secondlargest independent power producer in Mexico. He has also led negotiations for key strategic corporate development investments with a Chilean salmon company, fertilizer ventures in Chile and Peru, and renewable solar and wind energy projects throughout the US, Mexico, and Argentina.

Mitsui forms partnerships for M&A activities and joint ventures alike. Simón works behind the scenes to help those partnerships come alive. A typical day, he says, is atypical, but whether he’s leading high-stakes negotiations with a local stakeholder, advising a board of multinational directors, or chairing a legal conference among general counsel of portfolio companies, he knows that connecting with people goes a long way to establishing trust.

“Early in my childhood and legal career, I learned the power of connecting with people from diverse backgrounds to achieve a common goal, and in many ways that’s what I’m still doing today with Mitsui,” he says.

“The work I do is rewarding on a personal level,” adds the senior counsel. “Renewable energy, clean water, nutritional security, and reliable electricity should not be the privilege of a fortunate few. My family’s difficult journey brought me to a place that allows me to do my small part in creating a more sustainable world with Mitsui.”

For Simón, bringing people together is fundamental in advancing Mitsui’s mission of “building brighter futures, everywhere.”

“Finding common ground is about having the curiosity to learn. It requires humility, empathy, and effort.”

The Right Questions

BY STEVE HEISLER

LUIS ESPARZA’S MOTHER KNEW HE was cut out to be a lawyer when her curious child started peppering her with questions about, seemingly, everything. One of seven children in a bilingual El Paso household, Esparza recalls a particular line of interrogation around a topic of grave importance: why Lou Ferrigno’s pants don’t burst after he transforms into the Incredible Hulk on TV. His mom provided a quick answer— stretch denim!—but that did little to abate Esparza’s inquisitive streak.

“Since I was little, I was observing and analyzing things, and I always had questions; it would drive my mom crazy,” Esparza recalls, adding that she was encouraging nonetheless of this level of curiosity. “What she tried to instill in all her boys and girls was [a desire] to question things—not just for argument’s sake but for us to go and investigate to form our own opinions and conclusions.”

Luis Esparza has always demonstrated a curious streak—which he now puts to good use as associate general counsel for Latin America at Conduent

What began as a few reasonable questions about jean cut-offs led Esparza to a career in law, culminating with his latest position at Conduent, a company that specializes in business process outsourcing and customer experience. Esparza currently serves as associate general counsel for Latin America, in which role he oversees and assists Conduent’s legal needs for conducting business all through Latin America, including labor, data privacy, corporate, and litigation matters, as well as everyday business activities.

Though Esparza entered law school without a clear idea of what he ultimately wanted to practice, he narrowed the field during a class in his fourth semester. He was enrolled in a law philosophy class and assigned Machiavelli’s The Prince, which argues that royalty is permitted to justify amoral means if it accomplishes their goals. Esparza’s assignment was to present arguments—essentially, litigate— on how the piece views justice.

“There was extra pressure, as our teacher was an Italian national and a very, very strict one,” Esparza says. “It was a mind-blowing experience and confirmed for me that I had made the right choice [of profession].”

While still in law school, Esparza considered finding a career in litigation but had no luck—nobody was hiring. Eventually, through the school’s community service program, Esparza accepted a position at the Mexican Consulate in El Paso, Texas, where he would assist on issues related to Mexican nationals in the area, including deportations and judicial procedures. He was later promoted to join the Commercial and Economy Promotion Department and discovered a fondness for legal practice that requires fluency in more than one language.

“Our department promoted Mexican products—exports and imports—as well as investments,” Esparza explains. “This caught my attention, as I was already fluent in both

English and Spanish. This made it easy for me to communicate with foreign investors interested in investing in Mexico.”

From there he started a long and fruitful career in the legal departments of major firms such as Deloitte, PwC, and Baker & McKenzie.

Conduent represents the second phase of Esparza’s career—a shift to life as in-house counsel. Of course, he has also experienced dramatic shifts brought on by the COVID-19

pandemic. The AGC and his team remain deeply concerned with issues raised by the pandemic and the toll it has taken on the Latin American operations and employees at the company.

These trying times have taught Esparza that resiliency in the community begins at home, as it did for him. “Regardless of the hardships and difficulties the pandemic has brought, the Latin community is family

Luis Esparza Associate General Counsel for Latin America Conduent

oriented and falls back on the values and principles that make families strong,” Esparza emphasizes. “The challenges that were brought to my practice were [essentially] how to keep business continuing while keeping everyone safe, and how to act fast. Priorities were, and always have been, our workers— they’re our greatest and most important asset.”

Esparza is well aware that many employees around the world, especially young attorneys just starting out in their careers, have had to rethink their long-term professional plans as a result of the pandemic. His advice to those individuals is to be patient. The journey to a successful career might seem harder right now, he says, but it will come if you work hard—and broaden your horizons.

“Try to learn another language, and engage people from other countries,” Esparza says. “Read—don’t glance—but really read and understand what you are reading. Moments of doubt will come, but the beauty and nobility of the law is that it’s so broad, and every day offers so many fields and venues.

“Finally, observe,” he continues. “I’ve always been, and still am, the quiet one in the room. Always let other speak first so you know who you are dealing with.”

And if all else fails, ask questions.

RHT applauds Luis Esparza

on his recognition in Hispanic Executive and look forward to our continued relationship.

RHT

LEGAL CONSULTING is a group of Mexican attorneys with more than 25 years of experience providing legal advice and representation for domestic and foreign companies doing business in Mexico.

“Regardless of the hardships and difficulties the pandemic has brought, the Latin community is family oriented and falls back on the values and principles that make families strong.”

A Diplomat Between Divisions

VP Martin Diaz de la Peña Lopez unifies the divisions of movie-making powerhouse Sony Pictures Entertainment in his versatile, rotational role

BY ANDREW TAMARKIN

MARTIN DIAZ DE LA PEÑA LOPEZ

is a change agent. In his rotational role as vice president of global finance for Sony Pictures Entertainment, he pulls from his diverse, cross-industry experience to inspire financial changes for the renowned entertainment studio.

Lopez’s journey begins on a familyowned farm in the south of Spain. He was the seventh of nine siblings, and his parents instilled in him early on a determination to lead by example, take ownership of his work, and stay humble. “I was raised to be a sort of Michelangelo,” Lopez reflects. “A little bit of everything.”

He followed his older siblings to Madrid, where he studied economics and began his professional career. At twenty-two years old, he landed his first job at HewlettPackard. There, he developed his economic skill set and traveled Europe to provide financial expertise to teams of engineers, customer service specialists, and consulting managers. During his seven years with the IT giant, he outgrew junior roles and refined his financial fundamentals—preparation for his next chapter at Avon Cosmetics.

Within two years at an almostseven-hundred-employee subsidiary of Avon for the South of Europe, Middle East, and North of Africa, Lopez had more than twenty finance employees under his management as finance director. He modernized the company’s financial transactions and made sure that his team members were able to update their skills. And, in the face of the 2008 economic crisis, he met with consultants, unions, and HR leaders to resolve financial difficulties. “It was a great chance for me to focus not only on financial activity but also on the many elements of a leadership role,” Lopez says.

In 2011, he accepted a finance director role at Paramount Pictures. Three years later, he was promoted to executive director of finance for the international territories, prompting his relocation to Hollywood.

“It was radical change,” Lopez says of his transition to the entertainment industry. Upon his arrival in California, Lopez was thrown into the fast-paced world of show business. But grounded by his financial background and supported by the soft negotiation skills he had gained in international leadership roles, Lopez felt prepared to tackle any challenge with grace.

Martin Diaz de la Peña Lopez

VP of Global Finance

Sony Pictures Entertainment

So, in 2019, when Sony Pictures sought someone to step into a rotational role where they would serve as a liaison between the CFO and departmental financial heads, Lopez stood out as the ideal candidate. In his current position, he works for one to one-and-ahalf years within each of the company’s divisions— film production, TV production, media networks, and worldwide distribution—to strengthen respective budgeting, planning activities, and commercial finance support.

“I get in contact and delegate tasks from the CFO to corresponding heads of finance within the different divisions,” Lopez explains. A diplomat that works between and across divisions, he unifies otherwise siloed financial processes by establishing core values and pointing each area toward corresponding results. “As financial professionals, we are common denominators.”

In maximizing these departmental synergies, Lopez has discovered opportunities that benefit the company at large. By standardizing the company’s planning calendar, Lopez enabled divisional heads to work more cohesively. Lopez has even assisted the chief information officer on an array of projects, expanding his scope of influence as the only financial executive currently in this rotational role.

While Lopez’s background and his love for learning equipped him with the power to excel in this position, his leadership abilities set him apart. For Lopez, it’s about leading by example, treating people well, staying humble but determined, and having the courage to offer different perspectives.

“Don’t be afraid to step up,” he says. “Rather than following the competition, try to see new areas of growth. At Sony Pictures, they are hungry for new ideas.”

Thinking outside the box is natural for Lopez, especially given the symbiosis between technology and creativity at Sony Pictures. But the company’s mission also resonates with him on a very personal level: as Lopez puts it, Sony Pictures aims to connect different communities of interest worldwide. In the business of storytelling, reaching projected audiences is key—but so is the influence that any given story can have.

For Lopez, this is the perfect blend between results and purpose, something that grounds him as he looks to the future and knows that change is imminent. Luckily for Lopez, he is seasoned in diving headfirst into the changing tide.

“When you embrace change,” he says, “you usually never look back.”

“Rather than following the competition, try to see new areas of growth. At Sony Pictures, they are hungry for new ideas.”

Raised in the border town of Juarez, Mexico, Sergio Urias now executes large-scale transactions and shines a light on disabilities rights at Covington & Burling

Between Two Worlds

BY BILLY YOST

WE ARE ALL SHAPED IN SOME CAPACITY by the environment in which we grew up. Sergio Urias, who currently serves as the cochair of private equity and head of the Latin America practice at Covington & Burling and was co-honored with the American Lawyer ’s Dealmaker of the Year award in 2020, credits much of his success to his hometown of Juárez, Mexico.

“You have within this huge population the DNA of go-getters and people that just want to improve their lives and make something better out of it,” Urias explains. “It was only later that so many of us that came from there realized that the entrepreneurial spirit of the city is what made us who we are. The mixture of the Fortune 500 companies who set up manufacturing facilities in the ’80s and those immigrants who are trying to cross the US border makes it so that people live somewhere between both countries.”

As Urias notes, however, there is another side to the city. The transient nature of so many of Juarez’s inhabitants and the ever-present threat of extreme cartel violence can make it a truly scary place to be. In fact,

that is what led Urias and a multitude of other professionals who hold the city dear to found Project Paz, a New York City-based nonprofit aiming to help “the children of our brothers and sisters affected by drug-related violence in Juarez, Mexico, through fundraising efforts.” Project Paz brings together hedge fund managers, leaders in the fashion industry, and a myriad of other people who feel that they owe their own accomplishments to the city that raised them.

Urias knows a thing or two about bridging worlds. The deal that won him his most recent award involved representing the interests of fourteen different banks as well as Argentina’s largest payment processing company, Prisma Medios de Pago. As Covington was negotiating a deal, a massive devaluation of the peso effectively shut down the debt markets. As Urias puts it, it was the kind of deal that could occupy the entire contents of a memoir.

The lawyer jokes that he came near to losing his mind in the middle of the deal, but the memory is now associated with the warm glow of nostalgia. “It was like a 3-D chess game that you were playing blindfolded. At times, our internal discussions were harder than the external ones,” Urias says. “But I think part of the reason this deal got so much attention was because it was a ‘win-win’ across the board. John Steinbeck said, ‘What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?’ I like that.”

Sergio Urias Cochair of Private Equity and Head of the Latin America Practice Covington & Burling

It’s an apt analogy for Urias’s early days of success. He was able to attend one of the premier law schools in all of Mexico, Escuela Libre de Derecho; the school’s alumni only number around three thousand since its founding in 1912, but those graduates include ex-presidents, members of Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, and a cavalcade of preeminent and accomplished citizens. Urias would go on to earn his master’s degree at Harvard, seemingly unstoppable in his pursuits.

But between those experiences came a bitter winter. “I was in my third year of law school, and I was on the top of the world,” the lawyer recalls. “Not only was my school so hard to get into but only a quarter of the people who start their second year actually finish. I was in my third year, and I was just on this high. And then life decided to slow me down for a bit.”

A freak diving accident left Urias paralyzed. He spent a year in rehabilitation in Miami and Houston with a supportive group of family and friends behind him. Just a year after that life-altering accident, Urias was back on the path to becoming a lawyer.

The accident has helped make Urias an advocate for disability rights. He was part of roundtable discussions held by Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which eventually resulted in Mexico’s proposal to the United Nations for a comprehensive international convention to protect the rights and

dignity of persons with disabilities. Sergio has also found opportunities to advocate while at Covington & Burling—in fact, he says, Covington’s culture and approach when it comes to diversity and inclusion is a significant reason he came onboard.

“Covington gets it,” the lawyer says bluntly. “Diversity may now be the trend, but Covington was doing it right way before it was so, and we continue to lead in this area because we know it makes sense from both an ethics and business perspective.”

That same approach is probably why, Urias says, Covington is one of the most diverse private equity and Latin American groups in the US. “We strongly believe that if you want to promote creativity and innovation, you need people that think differently, people from different backgrounds,” Urias explains. As head of Covington’s Latin America practice, he leads a diverse group of lawyers and advisors from all over Latin America, including some of the leading Hispanic and female practitioners in the region. Urias is also dedicated to empowering younger lawyers, including Hispanic lawyers, to become the next generation of legal leaders.

The call for diversity and inclusion is one that is echoing loudly in the space right now, but it helps to hear it from an architect of one of the most complex global transactions to take place in recent years. The man raised by a city somewhere between two worlds keeps finding ways to bring new voices together.

“It was like a 3-D chess game that you were playing blindfolded.”

Creating inclusive workplaces

At JPMorgan Chase, we have been working to make inclusivity central to the work we do.

Having leaders and talent from different backgrounds and experiences delivers more diversity of thought, innovation, value and creative solutions.

We’re committed to leading with diversity, equity and inclusion throughout our organization and across underrepresented groups. And we’ve pledged to do more to drive real and sustainable change for Black and Latinx people in our company and in America. Diversity, equity and inclusion are what make JPMorgan Chase — and the customers, clients and communities it serves, stronger and better.

To learn more visit, careers.jpmorgan.com