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Martinez Speaks to St. Louis Hispanic Chamber of Commerce |
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| Published on March 31, 2005 |
May 31, 2005
Alfonso E. Martinez, president and CEO of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, spoke on May 20 to the issue of “U.S. corporations that lack U.S. Hispanics on their boards of directors are at a competitive disadvantage for the projected $1 trillion in Hispanic spending power,” according to an article by Shera Dalin of the Post Dispatch entitled “Official touts benefit of U.S. Hispanic presence.”
Martinez cautioned companies against missing the chance to market to the nation’s largest – 14 percent – and fastest-growing minority group. He said he often has to remindboards about the $1 trillion economic power U.S. Hispanics are projected to have by 2008. They live primarily in five states: California, New York, Florida, Texas and Illinois. “We have a lot of money, and we’re really easy to find. So what’s the problem?” Martinez quipped before the chamber’s annual gala at the Adams’ Mark hotel in St. Louis, MO.
Hispanics hold only 2 percent of the board seats at Fortune 1,000 companies. By failing to have more U.S. Hispanic board members, companies may overlook the U.S. Hispanic market and how to appeal to it. Merely hiring Hispanic managers is not enough, because leadership comes from top. “It appears to me that we no longer invest in the character of a company; we invest in an analyst’s prediction of their stock price,” added Martinez.
But with the requirement of the Federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act, more board members will have to demonstrate complete independence of the companies they represent causing a wider board member recruiting net to be cast. “Social performance equates to economic performance,” Martinez said. “The pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change,” he noted.
Information taken from:
Dalin, Shera. “Official touts benefit of Hispanic presence.” St. Louis Today Post Dispatch. 24, May 2005.
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