Originally Posted: September 6, 2016
DALLAS (SMU) – SMU’s Latino Leadership Initiative in the Cox School of Business, as well as the benefactors behind two other SMU programs in the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies, have been honored by D CEO Magazine with Latino Business Awards.
Launched in November 2013, the SMU Cox Latino Leadership Initiative (LLI) distinguishes SMU as the only university working across the entire Latino talent pipeline for corporate America. The initiative is designed to help meet the nation’s growing need for corporate leaders as national demographics evolve through management and organizational development, research into Latino corporate workplace retention and community outreach.
D CEO named the Latino Leadership Initiative its “Outstanding Latino Nonprofit” for 2016.
Nearly a year ago, SMU announced it strategic academic partnership with the Latino Center for Leadership Development (Latino CLD), founded by SMU alumnus Jorge Baldor ’93. The Latino CLD-SMU Tower Center Policy Program was formed to identify and implement policy-focused solutions to the Latino concerns such as educational and economic opportunities, voting rights and immigration reform, and the under-representation of Latinos in elected and appointed positions.
D CEO named Baldor its “Latino Advocate” for 2016, noting his organization’s contribution forming the Latino CLD-SMU Tower Center Policy Program.
Also in September 2015, SMU’s Tower Center launched an ambitious new program to research and promote policy-based discussion on the economic, political and social ties between Mexico and Texas. Made possible by a gift from GRUMA-Mission Foods, a Mexican corporation headquartered in Dallas, the program is designed to elevate the frequently fractured conversations about and between Texas and Mexico, creating a platform that examines shared issues through a policy lens.
D CEO named GRUMA Corp., led by CEO Juan González Moreno, as its “Outstanding Latino Business: Large,” specifically noting the company’s contribution to form the SMU Texas-Mexico Center.
“We are delighted that the Cox School’s Latino Leadership Institute, as well as the forward-thinking benefactors behind our newest Tower Center programs, are being recognized,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “Taking advantage of geography, demographics and the business leadership that exists in Dallas, SMU is determined to remain at the hub of programs that tap the strength of our growing Latino population and our economic partnership with Mexico.” READ MORE