Study Finds Few Latinos in Corporate Suites

Latinos, one of the most affluent ethnic groups in the country, held director positions last year on just 94 of the Fortune 1,000 companies, said a study released recently.

The study by the Hispanic Assn. on Corporate Responsibility, a Washington-based watchdog group, also said Latinos held no corporate director positions within entire industries such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals and toys-sporting goods.

That translates to 105 seats occupied by Latinos out of 11,248 available seats in the 50 states. Because some people are directors in more than one company, the net result is that 72 Latinos occupied the seats. By contrast, in 1992, 58 Latinos occupied 84 board seats.

“The good news is that Hispanics are represented on 9% of America’s Fortune company boards,” Richard Jose Bela, president of the corporate responsibility association, said in a statement.

“The bad news is more devastating. Although we make up a substantial part of the market, we are not represented on over 90% of America’s corporate boards and, in those board rooms where we are included, our representation is often tantamount to tokenism.”

When calculated by the number of director seats, Latinos comprise less than 1% of Fortune 1,000 boards, far below their 9% representation in the general population.

The Latino group, a consortium of seven national Latino organizations, urged corporations to increase Latino representation on their boards.

Among the other industries that have no Latinos on their boards are furniture, jewelry-silverware, mining, crude oil production, rubber and plastics products, tobacco and transportation equipment.

The industry with the highest Latino representation is the building materials industry, followed by beverages.

The Latino group said that among the Fortune 500 there are but 35 Latino executive officers out of 6,179, or 0.57%.

Latinos are among the most prosperous ethnic groups. The March issue of Hispanic Business magazine reports there are 60 Latino individuals or families worth at least $25 million. By contrast, last year there were 50 Latino individuals or families worth at least $20 million.

Ten on this year’s list made their fortunes in the category of supermarkets, restaurants and food-related, and another 10 were in media and entertainment.

Among the most affluent are Roberto C. Goizueta, chief executive officer of Coca-Cola, worth $300 million; singer Gloria Estefan and her producer husband, Emilio, worth $40 million, and television personality Geraldo Rivera, worth $25 million.