Synchrony’s Latinx Executive Alliance offers strategies to advance Hispanic professionals
Career opportunities for Hispanic business professionals was the focus of the Oct. 18 virtual forum “Impacto,” the inaugural presentation of the new Latinx Executive Alliance formed within the Stamford financial services company Synchrony.
The alliance, which the company described as “a coalition of C-suite executives and business leaders,” was in part a reaction to recent data from the Corporate Governance Study from the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility that found Hispanics accounting for 4% of executive leadership positions within the Fortune 500 — even though this demographic accounts for 18% of the U.S. population.
Alberto (Beto) Casellas, executive vice president and CEO for health and wellness at Synchrony, noted his career advancement within environments where Hispanic peers were few and far between.
“As I have grown in our company, navigating my own career and growth, I’ve asked myself, ”˜What if there was just one more Hispanic around the table of leadership where I had the privilege to sit over the past few years?”™” he said.
Casellas acknowledged the new alliance does not “have all the answers” for Hispanic professionals, but he stated it possessed “a lot of potential to fill that gap” in identifying and nurturing opportunities. “It will also give us an opportunity to showcase other great work that exists in other organizations that are developing Latinx talent,” he said.
Lucy Perez, a senior partner at McKinsey & Co., cited data that showed Hispanics were underrepresented at both ends of the corporate ladder.
“In the majority of Fortune 500 companies, Hispanics make up less than 10% of the entry-level workers,” she said. “If we split that between men and women, we’re talking about 4.8% are men and 4.5% are women. Among the C-suite executives, less than 4%, are Hispanic ”“ we’re talking about 2.9% men and 0.7% Latinas. This means that we have a drop off of more than 75% from that entry-level role all the way to the C-suite.”
Perez recommended “thinking holistically about all parts” of the issue, including how talent is recruited, retained and developed.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all solution,” she added. “Each company has to chart its own path. But we need to understand what our starting point is.”
Fernando Aguirre, a member of Synchrony”™s board of directors and former chairman and CEO of Chiquita Brands International, stressed the value of Hispanic professionals connecting with business leaders who could help grow their careers.
“I believe there could be ways to foster and develop more and better mentors, and this alliance should be able to do that,” Aguirre said, adding that networking is a vital tool for career advancement.
D.J. Casto, Synchrony”™s executive vice president and chief human resources officer, urged Hispanic professionals to work together as a cohesive force within the private sector.
“If we can come together and really have some open and honest conversations about what has worked in the past and what hasn’t worked, sometimes organic connections tend to drive greater results than when you create a very structured program,” he said. “We have an amazing Hispanic network at Synchrony and they have been true role models on encouraging others that are not a part of the Latinx community to come in and be a part of this with us.”