HispanicBusiness

Alberto Mora
VP & General Counsel, International Division
Wal-Mart
As general counsel of the U.S. Navy, Mr. Mora waged a campaign inside the Bush Administration to stop the mistreatment of terror suspects interned at Guantanamo Bay. Mr. Mora was not aware of the abuse at Abu Ghraib when he warned Pentagon and other administration officials that the mistreatment would carry grave political consequences for the United States. This year, he was honored with the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation's 2006 Profile in Courage award. Mr. Mora retired from the Navy earlier this year and was tapped to be Wal-Mart's vice-president and general counsel for its international division.

Oscar Munoz
EVP & CFO
CSX Corporation
Mr. Munoz cut his teeth working in management positions at PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and US West, Qwest, and AT&T before he was named in 2003 to his current post at CSX Corporation. Mr. Munoz helps spearhead all financial, strategic planning, information technology and real estate projects for the Florida-based railroad company. The USC- and Pepperdine-educated Mr. Munoz is involved in a number of charitable and philanthropic organizations, including the American Cancer Society and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Maria Owens
Vice-President
The Cohen Group
General Owens sees two major pillars as crucial to her personal and career success: The inspiration of her parents and their accomplishments, and her military service in the Air Force.

Ms. Owens says the opportunities afforded by her hard-working parents, both from impoverished backgrounds, inspired her and her three brothers to not take anything for granted. Her folks also set a military example – they met during World War II and ultimately instilled a patriotic sense of duty in their children. As a result, Ms. Owens and two of her brothers served in the military. A native of Cleburne, Texas, she received her commission in 1975 through the Air Force ROTC program at Baylor University.

She recently joined the Cohen Group, a Washington, D.C.-based business-consulting firm, as a vice-president in August 2005 after nearly 30 years in the Air Force. In her last assignment, then-Gen. Owens served as the director of manpower and personnel for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advising on personnel issues as well as developing policy and guidance for programs governing the U.S. military's major regional organizations. In this capacity, she fondly remembers all of the military service members she has encountered – in the U.S. and in Iraq – who have touched her life and made her truly grateful to serve.

Prior to her assignment to the Joint Staff, Ms. Owens served as the chief of staff for the Department of Defense's initial Homeland Security office, where she directed logistic and administrative efforts and interfaced with the Department of State, White House, and other federal agencies.

Having recently celebrated her third wedding anniversary, she is looking forward to spending time with her husband – also a retired Air Force officer – and although now working in the private sector, she continues to stay in touch with and support her fellow military service members.

David A. Rodriguez
EVP-Human Resources
Marriott International
Since June, Mr. Rodriguez has been in charge of personnel for the lodging leader's global portfolio of hotels and vacation properties and its 143,000 employees. The graduate of New York University joined the company in 1998 after a lengthy stint at Citicorp and a strategic position at Avon before that. He has held a variety of increasingly important roles at Marriott since joining, having been named a corporate officer in 2000 and joining the board of director's Committee for Excellence four years later.