NAA & HACR Campaign For Inclusion Of Latinos On Corporate Boards.

New America Alliance (Alliance), and the Hispanic Association On Corporate Responsibility (HACR) announce their partnership to advance the cause of increased inclusion of American Latinos on U.S. corporate boards. The two ad hoc organizations are also issuing a resolution declaring May 17 as “Corporate Board Diversity and Responsibility Day.” This movement has received the full support of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Washington D.C.

The campaign was launched during the New America Alliance 2002 Spring Conference in Los Angeles, at which a Corporate Board Initiative Panel is the first step in an ongoing program of education and advocacy. The partnership has received a formal endorsement by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which has pledged its support to all Alliance/HACR efforts surrounding this issue.

The Alliance/HACR partnership will serve to execute a two-fold initiative:

1) Provide development and a support structure to America Latinos who are qualified and available to serve on corporate boards.

2) Develop a collaborative and productive relationship with the Fortune 1000 to increase American Latino representation on corporate boards.

“We are fully committed to the cause of increasing the participation of American Latinos on Fortune 1000 corporate boards,” commented Moctesuma Esparza, chair of New America Alliance. “It is vital that qualified business leaders from our community be given more equitable consideration regarding the make-up of corporate America’s board rooms.”

“HACR and the New America Alliance’s Corporate Board Initiative will support efforts to improve the representation of Hispanics in the boardrooms of Corporate America,” said Anna Escobedo Cabral, president and chief executive officer of HACR. “Through this initiative, American companies will have at their fingertips information on qualified Hispanic board members to consider for their governing bodies. By training Hispanic business leaders on the skills of becoming successful board members, we will further increase the polls of qualified candidates.”

A Need for Change

The foundation for this campaign has already been cemented through the work that HACR has done over the last several years and the initial effort of New America Alliance. According to a recent research report from HACR, American Latinos occupy only 181, or 1.7 %, of total corporate director positions. Also, the results of recent public company corporate governance survey by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) reveals that 66% of respondents indicated the need to increase diversity on corporate board