Honoring Hispanic Heritage Month: Expanding Latinx Board Participation

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Nasdaq’s employee resource group (ERG), Adelante Nasdaq, hosted a chat with key Latinx leaders who both serve on corporate boards and help board ready candidates find suitable positions. Together, they discussed their individual career journeys and gave advice for the future generation of Latina leaders.

Increasingly, companies are looking to grow their board diversity following a rising investor interest in diversity at the top and the continued rise of investment in environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, of which diversity is a large part.

Over the past 10 years, there has been an increase of female board members, with approximately 45% of new board members at companies found within the Russell 3000 index growing 12% since 2008.

But other minority board members are increasing at a much slower rate, with Latinx board members rising even slower. A recent study by the Latinos Corporate Directors Association (LCDA) determined that 65% of Fortune 1000 companies do not have any Latinos on their boards. Meanwhile, Latinas make up just 1% of Fortune 500 board members.

To discuss the lack of Latinx board members and how to improve the participation of Latinas on boards, Adelante Nasdaq brought together two Latinas currently serving on boards, Sonya Medina Williams, member of the boards of directors at Papa John’s International (PZZA) and Delta Apparel, and Lisa Bacus, board director for Selective Insurance Group (SIGI), Teradata, Douglas Dynamics and Culver's. The two were joined by Ozzie Gromada Meza, Vice President of the Latino Corporate Directors Association, who specializes in elevating Latinx talent to the boardroom.

Meza discussed how LCDA works to grow Latinx access to board rooms through LCDA’s three pillars:

• Identify supply: identify board ready Latinx candidates and invite them to join the LCDA network.
• Grow demand: work with Nasdaq-listed companies and others to emphasize the importance of Latinx representation on boards.
• Raise awareness: Internally connect board ready Latinx candidates with mentors within LCDA.

Bacus and Williams are both members of LCDA and discussed their own journeys toward board membership while providing advice for future Latinas looking to take the next level.

Bacus discussed the importance of going above and beyond in every job, demonstrating unique talents and embracing difficult opportunities, “Whether it's in the corporate world or in the private world or the nonprofit world, it's about having ambition. But it's also about being willing to do the work, to take the tough jobs, to take the ugly assignments that others may not want to learn and grow and to differentiate yourself,” said Bacus.

Williams echoed Bacus, noting the importance of building one’s own personal brand as a means of showing board readiness. “You are your brand, and you have to continue crafting that brand to ensure that you are not only taking care of it, [but that] you're differentiating it as far as skillsets are concerned,” said Williams.

Both emphasized the importance of diversity at all levels of candidacy, including skillsets, work history and expertise. Before Williams was a board member, she worked in government as the Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the Bush Administration. From her work in government, she garnered critical skills in communications, strategy and leadership that have helped her in her career, “Secure a large portfolio of experience in basic business acumen…that relates very well into a business portfolio,” said Williams.

Bacus cited her work on nonprofit boards as a key learning tool for board governance and a steppingstone to future board positions. Invited to be on the advisory board for her alma mater, Northern Arizona University, she networked with many distinguished individuals and learned the tenants of board governance, “[It was] an incredible experience for me as a first learning opportunity to understand board governance!”

As the panel ended, the participants also emphasized the need for board ready candidates to represent their whole selves when looking for boards to join. Representing one’s whole self helps with board culture and fit, enabling greater success and opportunity for the members.

“You don't have to hide anything about who you are or what or want, what you're made of or what your life is made up of. The more you can bring into the boardroom, the more you bring into your work every day, the better leader you're going to be,” said Williams.

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