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e-Learning for Latinos Students;
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY’S MEN OF COLOR NATIONAL SUMMIT
CLOSING THE OPPORTUNITY GAP FOR LATINO AND AFRICAN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL YOUNG MEN
Elsa Cavazos
Luis E. González
The Colorado State University-Pueblo was recognized in the 2016 Nov/ Dec issue of Latino Leaders Magazine among the top 50 schools for Latino students. Though it is one of the smaller schools in the listing (5,000), it boasts one of the larger percentages of Latino students.
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Luis Hernandez, who today is assistant vice president for inclusive excellence and executive director for Hispanic outreach at Clemson University, also serves as the co-chair of the University’s Men of Color National Summit. Five years ago, the summit was created to help close the opportunity gap and to illuminate clearer pathways to higher education for Latino and African American high school young men. Young high school men like Hernandez once was, who have aspirations to go to college, dreams of careers to pursue and impact to make.
In 2021, Clemson celebrates the historically sold-out summit’s fifth year, where more than 2,100 students, educators and administrators, business and community leaders come together from across the country to listen, learn, network and then leave inspired to apply it all to impact change in their communities. Keynote and breakout speakers will focus on career and professional development; entrepreneurship; masculinity and personal identity; retention rates, graduation and student achievement; and social and community engagement.
Due to Clemson’s commitment towards inclusive excellence, the University’s Hispanic/Latinx student body on campus increased from 3% to 6% in just in three years, better reflecting the demographics of South Carolina where Clemson is located. Hispanic applica-
tions have steadily increased. In 2019, they made up 6.7% of all applications. In 2020, that number increased to 7.2%, and in 2021 to 8.7%.
The long-term results of developing a college educated workforce rich with Latino and African American young men means organizations have a more diverse pool of potential talent to choose from to build high-performing teams. The Boeing Company and Ally Financial recognized the value and opportunity that initiatives like Clemson’s Men of Color National Summit can bring to the future workforce. Both organizations have invested in the summit as its presenting sponsors. Many other notable organizations - on a local, statewide, and national level, have also invested in the initiative.
To cultivate a college-going culture amongst first-generation high school students and provide mentoring relationships to help students navigate the path to applying for colleges, Clemson formed the Tiger Alliance. This college access program is comprised of a cohort of approximately 400 high school Latino and African-American young men from Upstate, SC high schools who benefit from access to information about college fairs and expos, a mentoring relationship with a current college student, college-prep workshops, college tours and attendance at the Men of Color National Summit hosted by Clemson University.
Through The Boeing Company’s investment across the University’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, the Boeing STEM Tiger Alliance Scholarship was established. The first recipient was Alejandro Jaramillo, who graduated in May 2021 from Legacy Early College in Greenville, SC and is a Tiger Alliance participant. He was awarded a full scholarship to attend Clemson University, where he will be a College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences student this fall with the hope of securing a career in aeronautical engineering working for NASA or SpaceX.
Included in this year’s keynote speaker line up are José Hernández, NASA engineer and former Space Shuttle mission STS-128 astronaut, and Victor Sáenz, Ph.D, department chair and professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Texas, Austin and founder of Project MALES.
Clemson’s Julio Hernandez sees the impact the summit makes on attendees each year and reflects, “I would not be where I am today if so many people hadn’t mentored and helped me in the process. I was the first one in my family to go to college and I know what it has done for my life. I have a duty to help others.”
JOIN CLEMSON UNIVERSITY IN HELPING YOUNG MEN OF COLOR BY:
• Registering to attend the summit at Clemson. edu/menofcolor
• Becoming a sponsor of the 2021 and/or the 2022 summits
CONTACT
menofcolorsummit@clemson.edu to learn more.
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MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE
By Ralph de la Vega
ACCORDING TO THE 2020 U.S. Census the Hispanic population grew at a rate of 23% to reach 62 million. This data also confirms what we feared: Hispanics continue to have the greatest representation gap on American corporate boards. While Hispanics now represent 18.7% of the population, they only represent 3.8% of the directors on Fortune 500 boards1. Unless something is done to change the current trends that gap will grow larger as Hispanics are expected to represent 27.5% of the U.S. population by 20602 .
Despite their under representation on Fortune 500 boards (and boards in general) I continue to get calls from qualified Hispanic candidates asking advice on how to get considered for board positions. They all seem to have one thing in common. They have a hard time getting noticed and feel like they are invisible to companies and search firms.
The Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA), the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), and Latino Leaders Magazine have worked for a number of years to highlight the disparity and to spotlight the great Hispanic talent available. These efforts (and those of many others) are starting to show results. The most recent issue of Spencer Stuart’s S&P 500 Board Diversity Snapshot shows that Hispanic directors make up 7% of the new S&P 500 Directors in 2021 compared to 3% in 2020. This is encouraging but much more progress needs to be made.
The recent approval by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nasdaq’s (National Association of Securities Dealers & Automated Quotations) proposed rule changes3 should be a huge stimulant to drive diversity in the boardrooms across America. I applaud Nasdaq’s decision and have committed to work with Latino Leaders Magazine and others to develop and promote a vetted list of board-ready Hispanic candidates who can compete for these positions.
In the process of developing this list I have come across an amazing number of great candidates. They all have extensive experience in the executive suite of Fortune 500 companies, they have an unquestionable educational profile, they have experience in areas of current priority for organizations, and they are 50/50 mix of men and women. This list and others like it should significantly increase the visibility of these deserving candidates. (This list is published for the first time in pages 176-180 of this same edition) But it gets better…
Santa Clara University has agreed to develop a LatinX Board Readiness Program similar to their Black Corporate Board Readiness program which has received great praise among participants. I have agreed to serve as an Advisory Board member to Santa Clara University and look forward to the rollout of the new program. Latino Leaders Magazine has agreed to help promote the program and publicize the need for experienced board members to serve as volunteer mentors.
The greater visibility of underrepresented board candidates, the development of a program to improve their board readiness, and a group of volunteer board members to mentor them makes for a powerful combination. If we work
THIS LIST AND OTHERS LIKE IT SHOULD SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE VISIBILITY OF THESE DESERVING CANDIDATES. BUT IT GETS BETTER…
Ralph de la Vega: Board Director for: New York Life Insurance, American Express, Ubicquia, Amdocs.
1 Deloitte Missing Pieces Report 6th Edition. 2 U.S Census Bureau 3 The new “comply or explain”rule requires Nasdaq listed companies to have two board members from underrepresented groups or explain why they don’t comply with the recommended targets.
LATINOS HAVE THE WIDEST GAP TO CLOSE IN CORPORATE BOARD REPRESENTATION, LCDA AIMS TO CHANGE THAT
Latinos Lost Ground
More pressure has arisen for boards to focus on racial diversity. Yet Latinos have largely been left out of this progress. Over the last decade, Latinos have lost ground with the Latino population growing two times faster than their representation on Fortune 500 boards. To make matters worse, recent reports show that Latinos have the widest gap to close in corporate board representation of all underrepresented groups. According to one of the leading executive and board recruitment firms, Heidrick & Struggles, Latinos received the least amount of new Fortune 500 board appointments in 2020 with only 17 seats or 4 percent of the 424 appointments going to a Latino.
As the nation’s largest ethnic group, US Latinos are the engine driving economic growth in the United States, Latinos are 20 percent of the population, command $2.6 trillion in GDP, and Latino purchasing power is growing 70 percent faster than non-Latino. Still, Latino representation on Russell 3000 company boards is staggeringly low at a mere 2.3 percent. Companies that do not have the benefit of a Latino perspective are missing out on this fast-growing market.
LCDA Is Part Of The Solution
Supply is not an obstacle. The LCDA is part of the solution, leading in advocating for, growing, and opening up opportunities and demand for Latinos in corporate leadership and board governance. As a source of vetted talent, LCDA has developed one of the most powerful networks of respected and accomplished Latino leaders in corporate leadership.
LCDA’s robust membership of experienced corporate directors and qualified executives bring extensive business experience from all industries to the boardroom. LCDA serves as a key talent hub and strategic ally by supporting board influencers and public and private organizations seeking to diversify their board.
LCDA tracks Latino board representation on the Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 through its publicly available online search tool, LatinoBoardTracker.org, raising awareness of the underrepresentation of Latinos on the boards of America's largest companies.
To learn more visit: latinocorporatedirectors.org.
In Collaboration with:
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Cid Wilson Courtesy Luis González
communities and institutional investor initiatives is a good example. HACR will continue to strongly advocate for greater Hispanic inclusion at all levels of corporate America, including on corporate boards. ELEVATING THE CALL FOR GREATER There are many things that every person can do to support the board diversity movement, including activating your share-HISPANIC/LATINO holder communications, attending shareholder annual meetings, and amplifying the call for greater Hispanic inclusion on INCLUSION ON corporate boards on your own social media platforms. As we raise our voices together, corporate America will increasingly hear CORPORATE BOARDS the message and shift its corporate culture to meet the demands for greater Hispanic inclusion. HACR and many diversity-focused organizations have programs that prepare candidates for board service. But corporate America must do more to change the culture of their boardrooms towards one that promotes inclusion of Latino board directors. This is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do, as our country becomes increasingly diverse. The many companies that are getting it right deserve LAST JUNE, the Alliance for Board Diver- our praise. Meanwhile, others not only lack sity (ABD) and Deloitte jointly released our ethnic and racial diversity, but still fall short Missing Pieces Report: The Board Diver- on gender diversity. This movement may sity Census of Women and Minorities on be a long journey, but together, HACR and Fortune 500 Boards which documented in our collaborative institutional and organizadetail the current and historical diversity of tional allies are prioritizing swift change. Fortune 500 corporate boards over the last ten years. The ABD organizations comprise Catalyst, The Executive Leadership Council, Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), and Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) with Diversified Search as a consulting member.
The report showed that Latinos make up only 4.1% of all Fortune 500 corporate boards seats with Latinas representing just 1.0%. While our representation is poor among Fortune 500 boards, it's worse when you look at the thousands of mid-capitalization and small-capitalization publicly traded and privately held corporate boards. While there are many theories on why corporate America has lagged in its inclusion of Latinos on corporate boards, one thing is certain: Unless there is visible accountability for board diversity, those boards will continue to default to their status quo. That is why HACR and many diversity-focused organizations are taking our advocacy beyond the
The recent release of the 2020 US Census data confirms what we have known for decades. The Latino population is growing, and Corporate America is taking note of our increasing economic influence. While we are seeing a burgeoning presence of Latinos in corporate America in early career to mid-level management positions, there is a significant drop-off at senior-level positions and the corporate boards. diversity-focused gatherings and towards industry-focused national and global gatherings, including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where HACR has had a presence since 2018, as well as other major gatherings with a history of attracting CEOs, board directors, boards chairs, and nominations/governance chairs among the attendees. Earlier this year, HACR joined with many other diversity-focused organization in calling on the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to support Nasdaq’s proposal to mandate diversity of underrepresented communities or explain in a disclosure why it has not done so. I’m pleased that the SEC has done the right thing and approved the Nasdaq proposal. This is significant because we know that while there is a lack of ethnic and racial diversity on Fortune 500 corporate boards, there is far less diversity on the mid-capitalization and small-capitalization companies, many of which trade on Nasdaq. Not surprisingly, the Latino representation on boards at smaller corporations is even lower than it is at Fortune 500 corporations. CID WILSON State legislative initiatives can mag- PRESIDENT & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER nify the impact, and California’s law that OF THE HISPANIC ASSOCIATION ON requires diversity of underrepresented CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY.
