NHCC Chair
Yolanda Medina Casey / Hallmark Cards Inc.

Yolanda Medina Casey is Project Manager in the Visual Merchandising Division for Hallmark Cards, Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri. She is responsible for managing numerous teams in the revitalization of the corporate owned stores. This entails product assortment, merchandising of product, environmental graphics and marketing. Yolanda also serves as the liaison for the company to numerous Hispanic initiatives both internal and external.

Chair-Elect
Jose Estrada / Walmart

José (Pepe) Estrada is Director of Hispanic Markets for the Office of Diversity in Walmart Stores, Inc. Pepe joined the Walmart Stores, Inc. in June of 2004. In his new role Pepe and his team are building and strengthening relationships between Walmart and the Hispanic community in the US. Before Walmart, Pepe managed State Farm's Public Relations with the Hispanic community. In that capacity, he shaped State Farm's outreach strategy for the emerging markets in the US. During his tenure, State Farm has been recognized by various community groups for its efforts to further the economic development of the Hispanic community.

Secretary
Jon G. Munoz / Sprint Nextel Corporation

As manager of Inclusion and Diversity for Sprint, Jon Muñoz manages external strategic business relationships with key African American, Asian, Hispanic, Women, GLBT and Veteran non-profit organizations such as the National Urban League (NUL), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Council of La Raza (NCLR), United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the National Hispanic Corporate Council (NHCC).

Internally, Muñoz manages workforce diversity opportunities, including Employee Resource Groups, diversity training, inclusion scorecard reporting, external surveys and coordination of Executive Inclusion Council and division councils.

Treasurer
Yvonne Vargas / The Boeing Company

Yvonne Vargas is a Diversity Manager with The Boeing Company and serves as Boeing’s Diversity Southwest Regional Lead. In her role as Lead she provides consultation and guidance to Boeing sites in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Hawaii on diversity strategic initiatives and contributes to the design and direction of the enterprise-wide Global Integrated Diversity and Compliance Strategy. She is also the Boeing WHQ Diversity Liaison for the Boeing Employee Hispanic Network (BEHN) affinity group. In addition, Yvonne serves on Boeing’s Enterprise-wide Diversity Technical Affiliations Team. She also serves as the company's Focal with national level Hispanic affiliations.

Alejandro Hernandez
Wells Fargo

Alejandro Hernandez is a Senior Vice President in Wells Fargo’s Social Responsibility Group. In his role, Alejandro develops approaches to help the company manage its reputation and better coordinate reputation-related activities.  He facilities forums to identify and address opportunities and issues, and leads efforts to craft company strategies to address the interests of stakeholders including team members, customers, shareholders, suppliers, elected officials, nonprofit and non-governmental organizations, and socially responsible investors.

Angel Herrera
Aramark

Angel Herrera is currently Regional Vice President in the Southwest Region for ARAMARK Corporation. Immediately prior to his current position, Mr. Herrera was Division Vice President for Burger King Corporation in the Southcentral Region of the U.S.A.  Herrera has held numerous executive positions including Executive Vice President of Interfood Corporation, a privately held corporation based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Senior Vice President of Tricon Restaurants International and President of TRI Mexico. 

He has worked with Procter & Gamble, J. Walter Thompson and Pepsico.  He is a graduate of the Boston College School of Business and studied law at Interamerican University.  Mr. Herrera is currently an executive member of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA), past member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO) and on the advisory board of the Collin County United Way of Metropolitan Dallas.

Mercedes Jaime-LeVvintre
SUPERVALU

Mercedes Jaime-LeVvintre is Manager, Professional Services for SUPERVALU, Inc. headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. As Manager, Professional Services, she supports and promotes SUPERVALU’s Supplier Diversity purpose to develop and manage a program that ensures opportunities for women and minority business entrepreneurs. In that capacity, she works to engage women and minority business owners in successful business practices, to receive mentorship and experience growth through their relationship with SUPERVALU. 

Mercedes and SUPERVALU are committed to a procurement process for products and services that meet the diverse needs of their vendors, customers, SUPERVALU’s independent retailer business and those that shop at their retail banners. Supporting women and minority business entrepreneurs is a critical part of achieving SUPERVALU's business goal.

Salvador Mendoza
Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Salvador Mendoza is responsible for heightening and sustaining Hyatt’s presence and visibility in the community. Mendoza oversees Hyatt’s Diversity efforts in recruitment, development and retention of women and minorities, community relations and supplier diversity. Mendoza is also responsible for managing Hyatt’s ongoing partnerships with the various organizations. Mendoza is also responsible for managing Hyatt's ongoing partnerships with various national community organizations.

Clara Ponton
Microsoft Corporation

Clara Ponton, originally from Bogota Colombia, holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and a MS in Management of Technology. She has been working in the telecommunication and software industries for the past 16 years. Currently, Clara works for the Microsoft Business Division as part of the ERP Technical Adoption Program for  Microsoft Customers, Partners and Independent Software Vendors. She is also the current ERG Chair of the Hispanic and Latin group for Microsoft. Clara strongly believes in the power of sharing knowledge and volunteering. She considers it a triple win: for the company working for, the person itself, and the community.

Carolina Pulido
Food Lion, LLC

Carolina Pulido, originally from Bogotá, Colombia, moved to Charlotte, NC in 1998. She has worked in the HR field for the past 10 years applying her expertise to executive recruiting with an emphasis on bilingual/multicultural needs. She was raised in a bicultural home and believes she has the best of both worlds to bring to her position. Prior to moving into the HR field, Pulido worked in the hospitality industry for several years.

At Food Lion, Pulido’s driving goal is to find cultural matches for businesses and industries looking to diversify not only their workforce but also their outreach on an international basis. Pulido has a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Universidad de la Sabana in Bogota, and a minor in Psychology.

Luce Rubio
Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc. (a Colgate-Palmolive Brand)

Luce Rubio is Associate Director of Corporate Communications for Hill’s Pet Nutrition, a subsidiary of Colgate Palmolive, in Topeka, KS. She is responsible for Employee Communications and Media Relations. She chairs the Donations Committee and the Hill’s Diversity Council Communications Sub-committee. Luce also serves on the board of ARTSConnect, an organization that seeks to expand community access to the arts. Luce earned a Masters degree in newspaper journalism from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York; an MBA in global management from the University of Phoenix and holds a Bachelors in Psychology from Oberlin College.

Art Ruiz
State Farm Insurance Companies

Art Ruiz, CPCU, CLU is a Director at State Farm Insurance Companies reporting to the Executive Department. In his twenty-nine years with State Farm, he has worked in various capacities including Fire Underwriting, Agency Recruitment, Human Resources, Administrative Services, Public Affairs, Government Affairs, Multicultural Business Development and Community Alliances.

His focus is on building collaborative coalition engagement and relationships with Hispanic Markets.

In addition, Art served as a State Farm Loaned Executive to Raul Yzaguirre at Arizona State University Center for Community Development and Civil Rights.

Art graduated from California State University of Los Angeles with a degree in History.  Prior to joining State Farm, he taught English in Spain.  He has earned the professional insurance designations of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Charter Life Underwriter (CLU).

Maria Valentin
ConAgra Foods

María Valentin currently leads ConAgra Foods Corporate Community Affairs and The Language Access Services Departments. Under the direction of ConAgra Foods’ Workforce Effectiveness, the Community Affairs Department develops, coordinates and implements events and programs in collaboration with local and national community leaders. Ms. Valentin has more than 17 years of experience in community relations, management and volunteerism.