USF - 611

The Future of C-Suite Hispanics

Research Paper & Findings

Ed Hernandez, MBA

12/6/2011

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Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 2

Research question ....................................................................................................................................... 4

Definitions of Terms ................................................................................................................................... 5

Methods....................................................................................................................................................... 6

Results ......................................................................................................................................................... 6

Review of the literature ............................................................................................................................... 6

Interviews .................................................................................................................................................. 10

Interview with Donna Blancero ............................................................................................................ 10

Interview with Victor Arias, Sr. ............................................................................................................ 11

Interview with Carlos Orta .................................................................................................................... 13

Discussion & Findings .............................................................................................................................. 14

Figure 1 ................................................................................................................................................. 16

Figure 2 ................................................................................................................................................. 17

Figure 3 ................................................................................................................................................. 18

Figure 4 ................................................................................................................................................. 18

References ................................................................................................................................................. 20

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The Future of C-Suite Hispanics Ed Hernandez, MBA University of San Francisco, Masagung School of Management MSOD Class of 2012 December, 2011

Abstract Primary and secondary findings and interviews with subject matter experts on the importance of

diversity in the boardroom with comparisons against Hispanics and Caucasians in the two-tournament

system of corporate America. Further identifies the importance of mentors, specifically senior mentors,

who help their protégées with obtaining stretch assignments and the opportunities for nominations into

board of governance roles. However, with narrow specifications, it is the efforts of the Hispanic

executive to work twice as hard, be a subject matter expert in his/her field of interest, and obtain the

competencies required, and outlined in this study, to further their chances to be the future of C-Suite

Hispanics.

Introduction There has been limited research on the importance of diversity in the board room and how Hispanics,

would represent the 10th largest economy in the world (Sanchez, 2011), hold significant buyer power

that lacks market reciprocity in Corporate America, specifically the Fortune 1000 companies in the

United States and its corporate board rooms. This study leverages previous research and updates the

current state of the Hispanic talent pipeline for board governance roles that will help further the business

case for diversity in the board room and how it needs to start from the top and not the front lines.

(Garcia, 2009)

As background of the opportunity, Hispanic Americans, who represent 14% (as of 2009) of the United

States, occupy only 2.3% of the total board of director seats among Fortune 1000 companies. Some

Hispanics have reached higher organizational levels, as a whole the population continues to be

underrepresented at the upper echelons, or the C-Suites, of major Corporations. This ascension of the

few who have progresses up the corporate ladder presents social challenges with those who are still

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aspiring or do not have the requisite skills/education for such positions (e.g. social isolation,

disconnect/distance, and less civic engagement. (C. Douglas Johnson, 2009) Therefore, this research

will further understand the opportunity to bring more Hispanics into the boardroom in order to address

these social challenges as well as to fulfill the need for diverse experience and perspective in the

boardroom as more companies ride the globalization wave. (Garcia, 2009)

The opportunity to understand the challenge for Hispanic-Americans to proportionally represent the

population on Fortune 1000 corporate boards in the United States due to the concept of market

reciprocity and the need for diverse leadership in this ‘hyper-connected’ world is explored in this

research paper. Therefore, I leverage the established network that has been developed over my tenure as

a leader of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs for the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2009, I was

invited to attend the Hispanic Executive Summit where I learned about the opportunities that exist and

the challenges in obtaining board appointments to corporations in the United States. From my

experience, I learned there are a desired skill set, and a gap in the ability to proportionally represent

Hispanics in the upper echelons of Corporate America. (C. Douglas Johnson, 2009) From the

opportunity to undergo a research project and topic of my choice, I determined the best topic that could

build on my knowledge for future use, and that for others, would to better understand the challenges that

Hispanics face in being selected for these important roles in corporate America that shape policy and

make critical decisions for its stakeholders.

From my initial interest in this topic, there was an intuition that the status quo was a lack of market

reciprocity in the board room. Through the secondary research I discovered there had been challenges

for African-Americans, who were the first to be considered “Minorities” in the view of the dominant

culture. Only through the civil rights movement, did African-American obtain a seat at the table;

however still battle for opportunity into executive management. It is through the work of David Thomas

that identifies the ‘two-tournament system’ of corporate succession for whites in contrast to minorities

(Thomas, 2001). From Thomas, we can identify the need for mentors and corporate sponsors who need

to realize the importance of mentoring and that race matters when you mentor a minority protégée.

Thereafter, it is the importance of understanding the competencies as identified through Anna Duran’s

research and study that allow quantifying the skill set that will build competencies to serve in the board

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room such as Financial Acumen (Duran & Lopez, 2009). Finally, from my research findings and

interviews, we can obtain an update to the pipeline of Hispanic executives’ competencies for the board

room and the current economic environment that will galvanize the desired representation by the

Hispanic Directors of today as well as those who aspire to serve in corporate America’s boards of

influence.

Research question Therefore, the question that I pose in my research is the following: Are American Hispanics

proportionally represented in the Fortune 1000 boards, and if not, how can my findings support the

efforts to proportionally represent them in the upper echelons of corporate America the board rooms of

major corporations.

After proposing my research topic, it was clear that the secondary research available had done some

analysis of the key attributes and behaviors that would lead to obtaining a board seat on a Fortune 1000

board as a Board Director. The gap was evident in a recent documentary by Hispanic Association on

Corporate Responsibility (HACR) in the ‘Insider Game’ released fall 2011 (Sanchez, 2011). In that

documentary, there is the realization that there is not a following of young Hispanic executives in their

shadows continuing through the glass ceiling, yet those Hispanic Executives who have achieved board

status are now looking to leave a legacy.

In my research, I have sampled my vast network of business professionals of over 1000 professionals

and obtained a response rate of approximately 20% from those surveyed for a total of 260 responses.

From those responses, I performed an analysis in attributes and competencies found in a previous

research study by Dr. Anna Duran and contrasted that information to those who currently seek to

become a governance member of a Fortune 1000 company with additional behavioral attributes that

leverage the work of Dr. Donna Blancero, whom I interviewed for this study.

From my interview with Dr. Blancero and two other senior executives, I was able to determine some of

the variables that matter in being invited to serve or being selected to sit on a Board. First and foremost,

it is the corporate sponsor or mentor who will serve as the individual who can help groom the individual

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to the role, but it is the individual who must excel at the work and challenges in corporate life that will

get him/her on those respective boards. In addition, there is the requirement to fulfill corporate roles

that may require the aspiring professional to relocate various times w/in his/her career for the benefit of

the corporation.

Definitions of Terms In order to identify my sample to identify itself in race, I leveraged the U.S Census 2010 race

qualifications as follows, with an option to decline stating their race:

• Caucasian - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or

North Africa.

• African American - A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.

• Hispanic/Latino - A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central America, or other

Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

o Hispanic American – Infers Hispanic of U.S birth as the general definition does not state

if the respondent is born within the United States of America

• Asian - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or

the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea,

Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, or Vietnam.

• American Indian/Alaska Native - A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North

or South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or

community attachment.

• Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander - A person having origins in any of the original peoples

of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific islands.

Secondly, to define the term of a Fortune 1000, it is a list of public corporations listed by Fortune

Magazine on a yearly basis. In addition, most corporations, public or private, have a board of directors

who meet on a regular basis to provide strategic direction to the organization’s leadership on behalf of

its stakeholders. The Fortune 1000 is based on their revenues collected in a given fiscal period.

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Mentors or Corporate Sponsors can be formal or informal individuals who develop a professional

relationship in the workplace through a mutual and beneficial interest in professional development

and/or a philanthropic desire to make a difference or give back to individuals who may benefit from the

support of another professional in the workplace.

Methods I started by search in secondary research by reviewing a white paper that was published by Korn/Ferry

Institute in 2009 when I attended the National Society of Hispanic MBA’s (NSHMBA) Hispanic

Executive Summit that same year. From that research, I pursued subject matter experts, like the co-

author of the paper, an educator and previous Editor of the Hispanic Business Journal published by

NSHMBA, and was thereafter referred to existing publications and another subject matter expert, which

I interviewed in a face-to-face meeting during NSHMBA’s Annual Conference this fall. From the

review of the literature, I was able to identify competencies and challenges of Hispanics in management,

the history of diversity, and current efforts in driving the Hispanic Boardroom initiative to the forefront

of corporate America.

Results

Review of the literature The literature that I found started with the Korn/Ferry white paper that spoke to the business case in

hiring diversity for corporate boards, followed by the competencies identified by Dr. Duran in her

research, that followed additional interviews, further research with Mr. Thomas’ findings in climbing the

corporate ladder and how race matters, while further research on diversity in the board room leverages

some of the same sources in my literature review. However, there has been little to update or provide

the importance of developing the pipeline to serve in corporate America for which this paper furthers the

dialogue within my academic and professional circles.

Out of the many articles and publications that I reviewed, I have summarized just a few of the ones that

we felt were most germane to my area of interest.

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A Leadership Repository for Boards of Directors, VICTOR ARIAS, SR. AND CARLOS GARCIA

Arias and Garcia presented statistics on how Hispanic Americans only represented 2.3 percent of the

total board of director seats among Fortune 1000 companies; at that time, only 19 percent of Fortune

1000 boards had a Hispanic director. In this white paper, it states the challenges in bringing Hispanic

executives for nomination due to the presence of new regulatory era, lingering misconceptions about the

Hispanic market (the difference between the Latin American executive from that of an American

Hispanic), a tough director recruiting environment, and, equally important, flaws in the directorship

search and selection process. This publication speaks directly to the implications of the Hispanic

representation gap within the ranks of U.S. publicly held corporations. As referenced, Vic Fazio, a

former Congressman who [at publication] sits on the board of Northrop Grumman Corporation states

“Individuals who have had direct responsibility in areas important to the company have a regulatory

perspective are valuable; it is an additional benefit if these people bring gender or ethnic diversity to a

board.”

As Arias states, this is a Trillion-Dollar Business Case that lends itself to competitors who understand

the market, where the U.S. Hispanic market is massive and growing and if neglected, will likely lose

“product and service of choice” opportunities and market share. Secondly, many Hispanic business

leaders cannot be identified and recruited through traditional networks; therefore, the boards that build

relationships with Hispanic executives will be better able to compete for increasingly valuable

managers, executives and directors in the future as the influence of the Hispanic market grows. Finally,

the required engagement with the community and stakeholder organizations will be established and

strengthen with the visibility into Hispanic communities when companies are seen as an employer of

choice and hire the Hispanic talent to bridge that gap to sell to the Hispanic consumer market. Arias and

Garcia recommend in order to strengthen the selection process to redefine the specifications to include

“business-cultural fluency” that requires “inclusion” which differs from “representation” to stimulate the

exchange of ideas and knowledge among intellectual peers on a board of directors. In addition to

redefining the specifications, they suggest to modify the search process to include more finalists and

take greater responsibility in brining Hispanic candidates to the nominating committee.

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The Truth about Mentoring Minorities: Race Matters, DAVID A. THOMAS

Thomas builds on his book with John J. Gabarro, of Breaking Through: The Making of Minority

Executives in Corporate America (HBS Press, 1999) to the Harvard Business Review in brief to bring

attention to the two-tournament system that lends itself to fast track whites early into middle

management while minorities tenure in middle management lends itself to a longer yet beneficial period

into executive management. Thomas speaks to his interviews with 20 minority executives,

predominantly African-Americans but also Asian- and Hispanic-American, and 12 white executives

with 21 nonexecutives (people who had plateaued in middle management) through their experiences and

progression through corporate America over three years ;he also reviewed the promotion records of

more than 500 managers and executives at three major U.S. corporations: a manufacturer of commodity

products, an electronics company, and a high-tech firm. These corporations that Thomas studied had a

long history of commitment to diversity and he felt that these companies would have more to teach us

about how minority executives could succeed – even given various obstacles.

Through his findings, he found an Entry level to middle management stage where minorities watched

their white counterparts quickly receive plum assignments and promotions into middle management, and

grew discouraged. However, some minorities remain motivated by forging mentoring close and fuller

developmental relationships with mentors who opened the door to challenging assignment and expanded

responsibilities, sending the message, “These are higher performers.” During the second stage,

minorities “catch up” to fast-tracked whites through deep and broad functional expertise that leads to

influence over subordinates who might otherwise be resistant to minority leaders. Finally, after

minorities have forget mentoring relationships with powerful corporate-level sponsors, minority

managers take on challenges to working cross-functionally, learning to think and act more strategically

and politically than their white counterparts. Thomas continues to emphasize that minorities continue to

develop their networks of highly placed mentors and sponsors, relationships with bosses become crucial,

and they establish several new, long-term relationships with other executives as well, both white and

minority. After developing this framework of the two-tournament system, Thomas continues to discuss

the challenges on cross-race mentoring and its unique challenges with suggestions to openly discuss

racial sensitivities, see yourself in your protégés, and if unsure of one’s role as a mentor of a minority,

help protégés identify other appropriate supporters.

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Increasing Chances for Hispanic Selection and Participation in the C-Suite, ANNA DURAN, PHD

AND PATRICIA DENISE LOPEZ, PHD

Duran and Lopez survey Hispanic executives who are members of a corporate board and those who are

seeking corporate board appointments around eleven knowledge domains or corporate board member

competencies that they identified from a review of business and academic literature as well as interviews

with board members, search professional, and management experts. They used two-tailed t-test data

analyses to reveal that corporate board members and non-corporate board members evaluated their

competencies differently in two domains, namely, possession of knowledge of a specific industry or

organization of interest, and financial and statistical literacy. Duran and Lopez refined their questions

through a pilot phase of the survey a year in advance with 32 participants and added another domain of

knowledge called business cultural fluency.

The total pool of subjects for this study involved 180 Hispanic attendees of a series of corporate

governance courses held within an executive education program at a major school of business over a

span of four classes from 2003-2007. These subjects responded to the survey by letter, e-mail, and

personal calls for a response rate of 30%, or 54 participants. Out of the competencies defined in the

survey, Hispanic executives seeking board positions rated ‘More than Sufficient and Above’ knowledge

in the areas of having a portfolio of significant experiences and accomplishments, general leadership

experience, an understanding of the relationship between business and economic environment (on

domestic markets), and a well honed area of expertise.

However, areas that could be further developed were that of financial and statistical literacy, market

knowledge and marketing acumen, knowledge of boards and their functions, and the relationship

between business and the economic environment (as it refers to the realities of globalization on the

marketplace and the workplace). Through their research and findings, they discuss that it is not just

“who you know,” “how many contacts you have,” “what you stand for” or “what you have done as a

leader” that counts when being considered for the governance positions; it is also “what you know”

specific to the needs of business and the industry in question. Therefore, as found in the sample, those

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interested in holding a corporate board position, must be clear about an organization or industry that

they would like to serve as directors.

The governance experts and search professionals, as identified in the article, all agree that having a deep

understanding of the key drivers of the industry/business as well as the philosophical values of the

organization of interest are essential elements of contribution for corporate board members. This

perspective, as referenced by Duran and Lopez, suggests that knowledge transfer is a key component of

social capital or network development.

Interviews I interviewed an educator who has published on Hispanics and the importance of mentorship, an

executive search partner who places Hispanic Directors into corporate boards, and the CEO of an

advocacy group for Hispanics. Within these interviews, I further discovered the fiber that connects them

all, a passion for representation and a voice that wants and needs to be heard in the rooms that matter,

the board rooms of America, the classrooms of higher learning, and in the halls of democracy where

policy is shaped for the average person.

Interview with Donna Blancero

Blancero, an Associate Professor at Bentley University, has been a supporter, a mentor, and informal

champion of mine since I joined the National Society of Hispanic MBAs and when I was interested in

pursuing my PhD and I researched that path through the PhD Project in 2007. She has been the editor of

The Business Journal of Hispanic Research and published numerous papers on diversity and the

importance of mentorship. In my phone interview with her, we discussed the importance of mentoring,

individuals who I should interview as well, and two articles that I have included in my literature review

to further develop this research project. In respect to networking, there was the importance of being

connected to the right people, that qualifications does not equal knowledge, and there needs to be a level

of digging deeper for Hispanic talent in the board room.

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The lack of representation in networking circles that drive the pipeline for executives in the C-suite, the

board rooms of corporate America, or the in-groups, must be bridged and that leveraging the research of

David Thomas in “Breaking Through…” can further identify the strategic, big picture importance of the

network and the importance of developing strategic partnerships through stretch assignments.

Thereafter, we stressed the importance of education as there is a significant gap in high school diploma

achievement versus that of Blacks (African-Americans) or Whites (Caucasians) in the United States. In

addition, there should not be the ‘poor us’ attitude in Hispanics, rather emphasizing the clear aspects of

educational concerns for all and the importance of connecting the lack of higher educational success for

Hispanics that leaves a gap in the pipeline of representation in corporate America and that impact on

decisions for proportionate representation in professional roles in the United States.

Thereafter, we discussed what is “Success” for the whites versus Hispanics who have looked for a

work/life balance and how the millennials (those coming to age in the 2000s, Generation Y) will also

crave for balance in their personal and professional lives. Finally, having the knowledge of those

knowledge areas of importance to succeed in corporate boards is critical, but we go back into have

mentors with influence, albeit they may be white males, it is important to be mentored and possibility

further education with the support of educations like the National Association of Corporate Directors

(NACD) and leverage the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR) resources to

further close the gap.

Interview with Victor Arias, Sr.

Arias is an Senior Client Partner at Korn/Ferry International, an executive search firm, whom advocates

for Hispanic executives for corporate appointments and is a board member of AFC Enterprises (i.e.

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen), Advisory Council Member for Stanford Graduate School of Business, and

a mentor to the pipeline of aspiring Hispanic professionals like myself. In our phone interview, we

discussed the economic environment and its impact on board turnover contributing to the decline in

representation for Hispanics and minorities at public companies as existing directors do not want to

‘jump ship’ and mandatory retirement ages are being extended from 62 to 65 years of age. In addition,

corporate America look looks at CEOs/CFOs of public companies and does not consider private

companies, board of regents, board of trustees, and therefore narrows the scope of potential diversity

option, people of color, and is the ‘eye of the needle’ in this dilemma of proportional representation in

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the C-Suite. In addition, half of placements go to search firms with these narrow search criteria and the

remainder of the nominations go the “old fashioned way” as who you know and is found within the in-

group or ‘top of mind’ aspect of personal circle of influences.

Arias recommends changing the specifications and expanding the search criteria to go after general

managers and not just CFOs. As an example, he states there is an emphasis on execution compensation

and there is a need for a Human Resource executive on corporate boards who can understand how to

structure compensation as there is more scrutiny with institutional investors like California retirements

systems (i.e. CalPERS/CalSTRS). In addition, there is a peer compensation process that is creating a

‘paper up’ process for the right lend of compensation structure and company expertise on the board with

the HR representative focusing on representation of Hispanics- and African-Americans within said

boards. A company that states it is committed to diversity and its importance is being asked by the

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to divulge the ‘how’ board appointments occur and the

importance of Diversity is being seconded by big institutions like CalPERS.

Arias further leverages the Census findings from 2000 and recently 2010 that the wave was coming and

is now here, respectively, about preparing the work force to attract the Hispanic market and consumer in

the “how to” attract those segments into buying the companies products and services to sustain profits

and grow overall bottom lines in the United States. Further discussion around attraction of Hispanics

into the pipeline of board appointments can not only be solved within corporate America, but these

companies will need to reach out to Entrepreneurs, and non profits; those aspiring Hispanic executives

will need to be educated through search firms and HACR; corporate relations engagement may support

the idea of driving the pipeline forward, but may skip a generation on the importance of making an

impact. Finally, Arias further emphasized the importance of having a white mentor, not a Latino

mentor, due to power and influence in organizations with senior professionals as it is not a level playing

field where minorities have to work twice as hard to succeed.

In correspondence, Arias shared a PowerPoint deck that states that 86% of the Fortune 1000 have zero

Hispanic representation on the Board; total seats held by Hispanic-Americans are 142 out of 9,800 seats

(approximately 1.4%) as analyzed by Korn/Ferry. Some of the trends in his deck were International

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replaced diversity as focus, SOX created demand for CEOs/CFOs, low turnover in seats (as referenced

in our phone interview). Some of the demand drivers are higher turnover of seats, improving economy,

census results, IPO influence, government regulations and scrutiny, institutional investor pressure.

Supply issues stated in his presentation are that Hispanics can’t be found, lack of corporate executive

development/retention, critical mass, narrow specifications (little desire for non-traditional candidates),

and few reliable sources of Latino Candidates. With his next slide, he looks for the action plan of who is

responsible, what can be done, where is the focus, and how to create sustainable change.

Interview with Carlos Orta

Orta is the CEO of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility and recently published the

“Insider Game” 12-minute movie that speaks to current Hispanic Executives on corporate boards desire

to answer Mr. Arias’ questions of who is responsible, what can be done, where to focus, and how to

create the desired change. During our face-to-face meeting in Anaheim during the National Society of

Hispanic MBA convention that we both were attending, we sat down for the hour to understand the

challenge of market reciprocity in corporate America, the history of diversity and its challenges, and

what HACR is doing to support this initiative with the help of Hispanic executives with influence in the

board rooms.

Orta states that proportional representation is not owed to us, but the numbers show that Hispanics have

a 20-30 market share in the products and service offering in the United States. It is about asking the

question of diversity in business to business interactions and that there are not enough opportunities for

Hispanics to be CEOs, to Arias’ point, and look beyond the traditional specifications into entrepreneurs,

as well as city, county, and state boards of commissions and federal boards to obtain a “Stamp of

Approval” to serve in corporate governance. As boards look to prioritize who sits on them, there is a

prioritization to obtain an expert on the board, be the best of the best, and if they get a diversity

candidate, that is great; however, competence adds the value required to fulfill the required

specifications. Furthermore, it is who you know as if you are not on “main street, you miss out” on the

opportunities to be nominated. He further illustrates that the power structures can be found in the

Symphony, Orchestra, and Ballet boards, or as he states that Anita Fey has coined the SOB boards.

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We discussed the importance of mobility in assignments and his previous experience in corporate

America with advice to be mobile as being a Cuban in Florida is not a rarity and if he did not like his job

assignments, that he could come back with additional experience that his peers would never obtain. He

suggests it is best to socialize and be strategic on boards, create a (20 year) plan or roadmap to become

an executive and champions/corporate sponsors will seek you out for the opportunities you may desire.

In addition, he suggests that Hispanics learn to make sacrifice and that African Americans demand what

they want and Hispanics do not. From this point, we discuss the history of blacks’ workings to become

the predominant “minority” and through their efforts, define those civil rights that Hispanics are now

stepping into and benefiting through their own efforts. Even though, the efforts have been made for

inclusion, it is still important to be the best and have a solid track record.

Finally, passion is important for Hispanics and Orta held that passion through his professional

experience working at Ford and his passion for cars and current role as CEO for HACR as a politico

working on behalf of the many Hispanic executives in power who are looking to HACR for the support

of moving the goal of proportional representation in the board room and hence, leaving a legacy for the

Millennials to step into the doors those Hispanic executives have opened and no one has yet stepped

through in their foot steps as thought would occur. He speaks to the benefits of being bi-cultural and

that is an importance trait to hold as diversity is critical in this global economy that is now leaning on the

BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) that will be driving significant growth in the

upcoming years. And if Orta could, he would learn Mandarin to further his qualifications to be the best

and compete with the best in this hyper-connected world.

Discussion & Findings In my findings, I surveyed my network of professionals of 1,340 professionals via email and subsequent

postings via LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter with 249 (partial and complete) responses for a response

rate of 18.6% in the fall of 2011. In my responses, a majority of my respondents where Caucasian and

Hispanics, whom I analyzed for the findings to the questions developed using the categories developed

by Duran and Lopez in their Board Competency Survey (Duran & Lopez, 2009). In addition, I included

behavioral type questions developed through my secondary research, interviews, and feedback from

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peers and my professor. In the analysis I found that approximately 90% of the sample favored

“Increasing diversity in gender and ethnicity among Fortune 1000 board members is critical to

improving corporate governance and building a competitive advantage.” However, those responses

could be found biased due to the social likeability factor and may be not as high if tested in indirect

methods to find further validation of this belief. However, the response to mentors and having senior

mentors was more surprising and representative of the population through hypothesis testing and

confidence intervals at the p-value of 0.05, that Hispanics are more likely to have a mentor or corporate

sponsor by an approximate ratio of 2-to-1 than Caucasians. Furthermore, this ratio stays consistent with

that of a senior executive mentor whom, from the research, provides further validation that the

individual is someone who should be mentored and be watched as a high-potential employee for stretch

assignments (Figure 1).

Even though the majority of Caucasians and Hispanics do not have a senior mentor, it is important to

note the difference between those that do have the senior mentor as Mr. Thomas writes in his article that

white middle managers plateau and do not achieve executive management status while Hispanics tend to

‘catch-up’ due to mentoring relationships forged in their early parts of their career through stretch

assignments that propel them into executive management in the two-tournament system. Being in this

sample, I performed a hypothesis test and confidence intervals for the range of responses that I would

receive from the general population at a 95% confidence interval. From my hypothesis test that there is

no difference in the sample (null hypothesis) between Caucasians and Hispanics having a Senior

Mentor, as asked “Do you have a senior executive (VP level or above) as a mentor and/or corporate

sponsor?” I found that I could reject the null hypothesis (there is a difference) at p-value of 0.00002 and

that the confidence level at 95%, for Caucasians having a senior mentor range from 27.2% to 45% with

my proportion sampled at 36.1% and Hispanics interval range from 54.7% to 73.1% with my proportion

sample at 63.9%. Therefore, I can confidently state at the 95% confidence level Hispanics are twice as

likely to have a senior mentor as their Caucasian mentor helping Hispanics obtain stretch assignments

and announce them as high-caliber employees.

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Figure 1

Furthermore, I analyzed the findings of Duran, et al findings of the Board Competencies a found within

her survey and contrasted her means to those found within my survey to see that my sample has a

“sufficient knowledge to “more than sufficient knowledge” (mean averages of 3.0 - 3.4) of the board

competencies versus her sample of Hispanic executives with “more than sufficient knowledge” to “high

levels of sufficient knowledge” (mean averages of 3.9 - 4.3) in general leadership experience, a well

honed level of experience, a portfolio of significant experiences and accomplishments, and an

understanding of the relationship between business and the economic environment. Therefore stating,

that those attending executive training versus my sample may be more senior in their progression

towards board attainment or that there has been a lack of progression for the C-suite Hispanic in today’s

environment since the study. However, Duran’s sample was relatively smaller and a more captive

audience, versus a generalized population that is in business and Hispanic, therefore my current sample

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could be more accurate and generalizable to the skill set of the Hispanic executive with the age range of

35-54 years of age versus her sample that did not include age, rather seniority at the executive level

status. Some of the characteristics of my sample is more of Individual Contributors to Senior Managers

(Figure 2) with 11 to 20 years of experience and the majority of the sample with 10+ years working for a

Fortune 1000 company with the majority of the sample not serving on a corporate board, rather half of

the Hispanic sample serving on a non-profit board.

Figure 2

For Hispanics in this sample, I have identified the summary statistics against some of the key

competencies in Duran’s competency survey where 2 is “Some competency,” 3 is identified as

“Sufficient competency,” 4, is “More than sufficient competency,” and 5 is “High levels of sufficient

competency” (Figure 3). In addition, some of the competencies that seemed lacking in Duran’s study

where sampled where the mean is this study is approximate 3 (Sufficient knowledge) where Duran’s

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study realized a 4 (more than sufficient) or 5 (high level of knowledge) ratings. Therefore, it can be

seen that having these competencies and levels of knowledge in these areas can lead Hispanic executives

to the board room with further experience and/or training in corporate America.

Figure 3

Figure 4

2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00

A well honed area of areas of expertise

General leadership experience

A portfolio of significant experiences andaccomplishments

A record of advocacy leadership

An understanding of the relationship betweenbusiness and the economic environment

Current Findings: Identified competencies in serving on a Fortune 1000 Board. (Duran, 2009)

Mode

Median

Mean

2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00

Understand basic finance principles, includingrisk assessment

Understand basic marketing principles andstrategies (pricing, etc.)

Organizing, Analyzing and InterpretingStatistical data for business purposes

Designing an effective communication strategyabout product value

Reading and Interpreting Financial Data

Current Findings: Identified areas of improvement in serving on a Fortune 1000 Board. (Duran, 2009)

Mode

Median

Mean

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To leverage the importance of education and that of having a mentor, I cross-tabbed and filtered for

Hispanics and Caucasians with a Master’s degree to identify income levels and percentage of the sample

with a mentor to further illustrate the importance of mentors in corporate America. Regardless of race,

the majority of my sample was earning over $135,000 in annual income level where Caucasians in this

sample only 32.7% of them had a mentor, Hispanics had 53.5% mentors. Therefore stating that

education and mentors can be the viable combination that unlocks high earning potential and captures

the only Fortune 1000 board director in my sample with 2 Board of Regents/Trustees for a public

institution.

In conclusion, I would recommend obtaining a senior mentor or corporate sponsor in one’s attempt to

climb the corporate ladder and have a high earning potential that allows one to fulfill one’s legacy.

Albeit owning a fancy car or becoming a mentor, just like the cross population with a Master’s and a six

figure salary, regardless of race, is mentoring at 61.9%. Furthermore, to speak to the fact you must have

people you trust in and out of the organization is vital in maneuvering through the corporate politics and

being tapped for ‘stretch projects’ to grow from middle management into the C-Suite of corporate

America. This confidence, that my sample exudes with education, experience, and mentors, allow them

to agree or completely agree with their abilities at work and be a resource when that stretch assignment

requires a relocation to a different part of the country as the sample agrees that is also an important

factor in contributing to one’s progression through the tournament of corporate America. Advocacy

groups like HACR and Hispanic Directors will be knocking on the doors of the Fortune 1000 and I am

confident that the pipeline is growing to fill those seats that will help proportionally represent Hispanics

and other minorities in the board room and be leaders in driving the U.S economy forward into the

hyper-connected world.

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References C. Douglas Johnson, P. &. (2009). Step-Up Leadership Development for Hispanic Professionals with

Walkout. The Business Journal of Hispanic Research, 46. Duran, A., & Lopez, P. D. (2009). Increasing Chances for Hispanic Selection and Participation in the C-

Suite. The Business Journal of Hispanic Research, 3(1), 54-76. Garcia, V. A. (2009). A Leadership Repository For Boards of Directors. Los Angeles: The Korn/Ferry

Institute. Sanchez, L. (Director). (2011). Insider Game [Motion Picture]. Thomas, D. (2001, April). The Truth About Mentoring Minorities: Race Matters. Harvard Business

Review.