Recruiting Hispanic board members: finding qualified candidates is not as challenging as it is sometimes made out to be--if you know where and how to look.

AuthorCata, Carlos
PositionHEIDRICK & STRUGGLES GOVERNANCE LETTER

TWO THINGS WE KNOW: there is a dearth of Hispanic board members, and a compelling business case for recruiting more. The numbers are dismayingly familiar. According to the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), despite all of the progress on diversity and inclusion over the past three decades, the percentage of Hispanic directors on Fortune 500 boards remains stuck at about 3 percent, and 850 of the Fortune 1000 boards have no Hispanic members at all. Meanwhile, the business case will only grow stronger. Hispanics represent the fastest growing ethnic group in the U.S., have $1 trillion in purchasing power, and represent a highly desired consumer and employee base.

What is less well known is that finding qualified Hispanic candidates doesn't have to be as challenging as it is sometimes made out to be--if you know where and how to look. There are a variety of options available to find qualified candidates within the Hispanic executive community: engaging a search firm, networking with Hispanic members of your management team, or reaching out to organizations that focus on the Hispanic professional community.

Leadership talent pools for Hispanic candidates

In fact, qualified Hispanic board candidates can be found in a variety of places, as companies that have led the way in appointing Hispanic directors know. Our analysis of Hispanic membership on boards indicates that they have generally been drawn from five distinct pools of talent:

* CEOs and CFOs of large, publicly-traded companies: This is, of course, the talent pool to which most boards look first when seeking any new director. The competition for these candidates is fierce; they are in short supply and often reside on multiple boards, resulting in the need to look elsewhere.

* Other C-suite executives of Fortune 500 companies: This group could include general managers, division presidents, and other functional leaders who report directly to the CEO and have enterprise-wide responsibility.

* Hispanic entrepreneurs: This category encompasses Hispanic executives who have built enterprises of scale. At a time when companies need to be more nimble than ever to engage their competition, such entrepreneurs can bring fresh perspectives on growth, new market entry, strategy, and business model innovation. As with any board, fit is always critical, but the sophistication and experience with complex business environments that many Hispanic entrepreneurs bring can be powerful.

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