Despite Wall Street summit conferences, speeches by politicians and regulators, and organized lobbying efforts, Hispanic representation in the boardroom remains stagnant. According to this year's Boardroom Elite list:
•Hispanics hold 96 seats on the boards of Fortune 500 corporations – one more seat than in January 2005 and equal to the number in 1999, with only slight fluctuations in the intervening years.
•A total of 67 Hispanic individuals hold these 96 seats, two fewer than last year.
• The number of major corporations with at least one Hispanic on the board is now 87, one less than last year.
Other findings are that:
• Eastman Kodak has the "most-Hispanic" board, with three Hispanic members.
•Seven other corporations report having two Hispanic board members: Coca-Cola, Edison International, Ford, Kimberly-Clark, Office Depot, Pitney-Bowes, and Wal-Mart.
• Companies that added a Hispanic board member in 2005 include McGraw-Hill, New York Life, Laidlaw, Office Depot, Kimberly-Clark, Wyeth, Merrill Lynch, Oracle, and PepsiCo.
• Construction magnate Linda Alvarado, real estate consultant Armando Codina, and investor Enrique Hernandez share the honor of serving on four Fortune 500 boards.
• Only three individuals on the directory serve as "inside directors" (directors who are executives of the firm or major stakeholders): J. Pedro Reinhard, who is CFO of Dow Chemical; Antonio Perez, CEO of Eastman Kodak (also featured in the 2006 Corporate Elite); and William Perez, CEO of Nike.
Top Companies for Hispanics
In September 2005, Hispanic Business published its first-ever directory of the Top 40 Companies for Hispanics. Criteria for inclusion in this directory addressed a corporation's Hispanic leadership, recruitment, and promotion; supplier diversity; and Hispanic-oriented marketing and philanthropy. Twenty of the Top 40 Companies have a member on this year's Boardroom Elite directory.
To qualify for the Boardroom Elite, the individual must be a U.S. citizen of Hispanic descent who sits on the board of a Fortune 500 corporation headquartered in the 50 states or the District of Columbia.
Hispanic Business Boardroom Elite directory research was conducted by Chief Economist Juan Solana, Business Economist Andrea Lehman, Research Supervisor Michael Caplinger, and Senior Research Assistant Cynthia Marquez.
Linda G. Alvarado
3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.)
The Pepsi Bottling Group
Pitney Bowes
Qwest Communications
Aida Alvarez
PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.
Magdalena Averhoff
HCA Inc.
Mario L. Baeza
Air Products and Chemicals Inc.
Abelardo E. Bru
Office Depot Inc.
Kimberly-Clark
Paul A. Brunner
Johnson Controls
Pastora San Juan Cafferty
Kimberly-Clark
Waste Management Inc.
Louis Caldera
Southwest Airlines
Richard L. Carrion
Verizon Communications
Wyeth
Gilbert F. Casellas
Prudential Insurance Co. of America
