Business Leaders on Integration and Immigration Reform

Business Leaders on Integration and Immigration Reform

In a series of interviews now available on AS/COA’s Hispanic Integration Hub, business leaders address the private sector’s role in helping to ensure that immigrant workers become integrated into their communities and the workplace. Executives also speak out on the possibility of immigration reform and why it is important for the country’s future.

The interviews were filmed in Omaha, Nebraska—a new gateway city where the Latino population grew by 186 percent in the 1990s followed by an additional 54 percent from 2000 to 2008. Moreover, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Omaha’s foreign-born population increased by 234 percent from 1990 to 2008. These numbers clearly indicate that Omaha is like many other medium-sized U.S. cities that have seen a transition in their demographic composition. And the private-sector is responding. “At a time of limited financial resources, businesses are finding new ways of working together and with community groups to advance initiatives that promote the upward mobility of Latinos and the general immigrant population in Omaha,” says Jason Marczak, AS/COA Director of Policy.

Select interviews now available:

Roslyn Dickerson, Regional Senior Vice President of Americas Corporate and Public Affairs, InterContinental Hotels Group (Atlanta, GA)
With a presence in more than one hundred countries and with more guest rooms than any other hotel company in the world, InterContinental Hotels Group relies on a number of strategies for sustained growth and business delivery. Roslyn Dickerson speaks about the importance of reaching out to the Hispanic community both as employees and consumers. “These are folks [immigrants] that come into the business, they clean rooms, they’re engineers, they’re doormen. They come to our country looking for opportunities, and the hotel business is one of those opportunities,” she says.
Watch the full interview.

Roslyn also outlines the necessity for federal immigration reform: “We count on immigrants coming from other countries, particularly from Latin America, but from all countries around the world. They are a pivotal part of our business and our industry. And were we to not have some type of immigration reform, where those future flows would be in danger, it would have a great impact on our company.
Watch the full interview.

John Sunderman, CEO, Paxton & Vierling Steel Co. (Council Bluffs, IA)
John Sunderman represents one of the leading steel processors in North America. The welding work demands skilled labor, and his company has made substantial investments to provide skills training for a growing Latino workforce. The returns on his investments also mean higher retention rates as workers are more committed to the company. “[We’ve] developed a program to offer welding classes and ESL classes for Latino individuals... It basically offers us an entry-level employee with a skill set that we can then take on and train. Our success with these programs—in terms of retention rates—has exceeded our general hiring efforts,” he says.
Watch the full interview.

Rodrigo Lopez, CEO and President, AmeriSphere (Omaha, NE)
AmeriSphere, a mortgage banking company, understands the challenges the newly-arrived Hispanic population faces. Recognizing the changing demographics in Omaha, he talks about the importance of integrating Hispanic immigrants into the larger community. He emphasizes that integration benefits both the immigrant and host communities and produces productive and invested citizens—exactly the type of employees that will be needed in the next decade. “Today, it may appear that training people and making sure that they have skills is not necessary because… we have 18 million people without jobs. But eventually, our economy is going to improve… so we have to make sure that we are always training people so they have the skills necessary to work,” he says.
Watch the full interview.

More videos, case studies, testimonials, data, and the latest news are available at AS/COA’s Hispanic Integration Hub: www.hispanicintegration.org