Celebrating Latino Business Leaders and Expanding the Segment

Latinos may be the largest minority group in the United States, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the composition of the C-suite at the largest companies across the nation. A decade ago, just two Latino CEOs were overseeing Fortune 500 companies – today, just 14 hold a top office. Although representation has improved, much more work needs to be done.

To help remove barriers to inclusion and expand our business in one of the fastest growing segments in U.S., BMO’s Economic Equity Advisory Group partnered with Latino Leaders magazine to rank Latino-owned businesses in the U.S. by revenue. The Latino Leaders Index500, Powered by BMO, aims to help better understand the needs of this important segment of the economy. Today, these companies account for more than US$134 billion in annual combined revenue and the overall Latino GDP is estimated at US$3.2 trillion in the U.S. making it the fifth largest economy in the world*.

On August 5, we honored many of those leaders in New York. At the event, I had the opportunity to sit down with Marcelo Claure, a globally recognized entrepreneur, investor, and Founder & CEO of Claure Group. As one of the early Latino leaders to break into the C-Suite as CEO of Sprint, I wanted to share Claure’s perspective on his experience as a Latino entrepreneur and where he sees opportunities.