National Hispanic Corporate Achievers

1997 International National Achiever of the Year
Xerox
Hector J.Motroni

Hector J. Motroni is vice president, human resources and quality, at Xerox Corporation, Stamford, Connecticut. He is also a corporate vice president and an officer of the company.

Motroni was named to his current position in 1996. For two years prior to that, he served as vice president, quality and organizational effectiveness. From 1991 to 1994, he was vice president, quality, customer satisfaction and organizational effectiveness in what was then the Xerox Worldwide Marketing Group.

Motroni joined Xerox in 1971 as an engineer, before moving to the Xerox Latin American Group in 1973. There he held various positions including field marketing manager, Argentina, Venezuela and the Andean region; director, planning and pricing, Latin America; director, marketing and service operations, Regional Operations; and director, quality and customer satisfaction, Americas Operations.

Motroni earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in 1966. The following year he received a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering and in 1968 earned a master's degree in engineering, both from Dartmouth.

He is post president of the Dartmouth Society of Engineers and is presently a member of the Corporate Advisory Board of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.

Motroni is also on the board of directors of the Forum for World Affairs in Stamford, Connecticut, and is a member of the Committee on New American Realities of the National Policy Association, a Washington, D.C. think tank.

Born December 2, 1943, in Havana, Motroni and his wife, Myra, live in Weston, Connecticut. They have two children.

Master of Ceremonies
Peerless Importers
George L. Acevedo

George L. Acevedo for the last 8 years has been the Hispanic Market District Manager for the Merchants Division of Peerless Importers, the major liquor and wine distributor of New York.

He has worked as a Market Manager for Brown Forman Beverage covering the Metro and upstate New York markets and with Capitol Distributors as a Merchandising and Marketing aide.

A graduate of Lehman College and a past Hispanic Corporate Achiever, he has worked with such diverse non profit groups as the Puerto Rican Business Council, the National Academy of Media Arts and Sciences, the THALIA Spanish Theatre and Latino Sports. He has also written for Latino Magazine, Mujer International Magazine and the Ms. International USA Beauty Pageant.

He is married to the former Ivett Lebron and together they have two children, Helen aged 8 years and Lissette aged 2 years old.

He enjoys reading and traveling in his spare time.

NBC 4
Anna Carbonell

Anna Carbonell was named Director of Station Relations for NBC4, WNBC, New York, in July 1995. She is responsible for Channel 4's community service efforts throughout the tri-state area, and serves as Executive. Producer of the station's public affairs program "Visiones" and "Positively Black". Carbonell also serves as host of "Visiones", NBC 4's bi-weekly public affairs show which focuses on issues of relevance to the Latino community. Anna has over twenty-five years of experience working in the tri-state community and over fifteen years of experience working in local television. Anna has established herself as a leading activist for the Latino community and has been able to expand her outreach efforts through her position at NBC 4. A tireless advocate, Anna serves on the boards of some of the most prestigious advocacy organizations nationwide, including the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Advisory Board at Banco Popular. Anna is also a former Director of Region 11 (Northeast U.S.) for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

Ameritech
Ray Arias

Ray began his career with Ameritech in 1981 as an engineer designing cable facilities for a fast growing Chicago suburb. He has worked in marketing, personnel, operations and in several staff functions. Ray has worked at the Ameritech Leadership Institute where he worked on developing the Ameritech "Vision and Values" statement and leading the team to communicate this message to 65,000 Ameritech employees. Currently he is a Senior Manager with Strategy and Planning Group in Ameritech's large business group.

As a corporate citizen Ray has been involved with several community and professional groups including the Mexican Community Committee of South Chicago and Junior Achievement. Currently Ray is the President Elect of the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement or HACE. HACE is the largest Hispanic professional development organization in the Midwest. Through HACE Ray serves as a mentor and tutor to young Hispanic professionals beginning their journey's through corporate America.

Ameritech
Lillie Espinosa

Lillie Espinosa has over ten years of varied Human Resources experience in telecommunications, outplacement and non-profit. Ms. Espinosa is a Manager of Training and Development for Ameritech Custom Business Services in Chicago, where she is responsible for consulting with sales teams on key development and training initiatives. In addition, Lillie is currently managing the training initiatives for Long Distance Training for sales and sales support teams at Custom. In addition to her extensive background in personnel management and consulting service including training, employment and career management, Ms. Espinosa is licensed to deliver a full range of professional development programs. Lillie is an active member of the Ameritech Hispanic Advisory Panel and has volunteered her time to deliver professional development programs for AHAP members throughout the region.

Lillie volunteers annually with the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement, volunteers at her daughters school in Northwest Indiana, is the Youth Leader and holds a Board position at her church. Lillie has also been active as a Center Leader for Junior Achievement in Northwest Indiana.

The Brooklyn Union Gas Company
Pascual Vilaro

Born - Havana, Cuba - July 26, 1933. He worked for the Electric and Gas Utility in Havana, primarily in power generation plants as an Operator and Supervisor. He came to the United States in 1969 as a political refugee, with a family to support and a limited command of English. He was hired by Brooklyn Union in October, 1970, as a Helper. He moved through the ranks quickly to become Chief Operator in 1973, and General Foreperson in 1975. In 1980, Pat was promoted to Superintendent's Assistant and, in 1 981, was given responsibility for managing the operation of the Company's Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), the Company's primary gas-processing-and-storage facility.

Today as Manager of the LNG Facility, he manages a workforce of approximately 50 people with such diverse skills as Operators, Mechanics, Electricians, Process Technicians, Machinists, and Heavy Equipment Operators.

The facility Pat runs today is very different from the one he took over more than 1 5 years ago. He has been a champion for state of the art equipment, for an empowered, well-trained workforce. The result is that although Brooklyn Union's LNG facility is one of the nation's oldest by virtually any measure it is one of the most reliable and efficient plants of its kind in the industry.

Pat has four sons (Pascual, Eduardo, Henry and George) and eight grandchildren (Larry, Dayana, Alex, George, Henry Jr., Christina, Stephanie, and Marcus).

Citibank
Diana Villanueva

Diana Villanueva manages the Relationship/Project Office at Citibank, Nevada where she has been employed since November of 1989. Citibank, Nevada plays a major role as a "corporate utility" and as such provides processing support for approximately 28 countries and over 150 products. Diana manages a staff of five which coordinates all these activities. Prior to joining Citibank, Diana had been employed by the Alexia Park Hotel as Assistant Hotel Manager for 3 years. She held this position while attending UNLV and completing her undergraduate degree in Business Administration. Her community involvement includes participation in the Latin Chamber of Commerce, the Boy's and Girl's Club of Southern Nevada and the PAYBAC (Professionals and Youth's Behind a Commitment) program.

New York City Fire Department
Dario Gonzalez, M.D.

Dario Gonzalez grew UP in the South Bronx and attended New York City public schools. In 1 964 he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. He joined the U.S. Navy and spent the next six years (during the Viet Nam War) in the Submarine Service.

Upon discharge from the Navy, he started his undergraduate studies at Bronx Community College and then Columbia University of New York. In 1975 he graduated from Columbia with a bachelors' degree in Mathematics. He was accepted by the State University of New York at Stony Brook to study medicine.

In 1979 he graduated from medical school and continued studies in the field of Emergency Medicine at Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx. In 1985, he assumed responsibilities as the Physician in-Charge of Emergency Services at Queens Hospital Center, Jamaica, New York. In 1989 he became the Chief of the Department of Emergency Medicine. In 1993, he joined the New York City Emergency Medical Service as the Associate Medical Director and the Medical Director of Training. He has also become the Medical Director of the New York City Urban Search and Rescue Task Force. On April 19, 1995, he was deployed to Oklahoma City as part of the rescue effort, for the Murrow Federal Building Bombing. I worked with the NY-TF1 for seven nights (7 PM to 7 AM) in the search for bombing victims.

He continues disaster management activities with the New York City Office of Emergency Management and at the federal level (FEMA) in responder disaster preparedness and training. He continues to practice clinical Emergency Medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and hold an appointment at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, as an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine. Internationally, he has lectured in Kiev, Ukraine, Bucharest, Romania and Vladevostok, Russia on disaster preparedness. Currently he is Board certified in Emergency Medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Medicine.

He continues to live in the Bronx with his wife, Pearl.

General Electric
Ruben Charles Berumen

Ruben Berumen was born on April 10, 1957 in El Paso, Texas. He attended the University of Notre Dame as an ND Scholar and graduated with a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1979. Upon graduation he joined General Electric's MMP and had assignments at Heavy Military in Syracuse, New York, and Neutron Devices in St. Petersburg, Florida. He came off program at Medical Systems in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as a Manufacturing Engineer. In 1983, he was selected as part of the Magnetic Resonance Manufacturing start-up team in Materials. He was promoted to Production Control Manager in 1984. In 1985, Ruben was selected to help form the MR Field Quality team. Once the team was operational, he returned to Materials and was appointed Manager of MR Material Control in 1986. In 1987, Ruben transferred to the Lighting Business Group in Juarez, Mexico, as Shop Operations Manager. In 1990, he transferred to Major Appliances as Plant Manager, Chihuahua, Mexico. In 1992, Ruben returned to Medical Systems as Texas Region Service Manager. He has held expanding roles in Field Management and was named to his present position in December 1995.

IBM
Martin J. Sepulveda, M.D.

Martin J. Sepulveda, M.D., F.A.C.P. (Fellow of the American College of Physicians), is the Director of Global Occupational Health Services for the IBM Corporation. His Team of health professionals in the United States and around the world promote the well-being and health of employees and help IBM achieve a safe workplace and productive workforce.

Dr. Sepulveda joined IBM in July of 1985 and is a graduate of Yale University in 1974 and Harvard Medical school in 1 978. He is board certified. Dr. Sepulveda is recognized as one of the young leaders in his field as evidenced by his extramural appointments on scientific advisory boards, professional associations, and scientific journal review panels. Dr. Sepulveda continues a long-standing commitment to the educational advancement of Hispanics through mentorship activities and diversity efforts in his hometown school district. He was recently involved in developing plans in the State of Connecticut to meet state legislative requirements mandated by the diversity and education law. Within IBM his team of health personnel is recognized as one of the most diverse professional teams in his field. Martin was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico and raised in New York City, and currently resides in Southbury, Connecticut.

MetLife
Gustavo Gomez

Gustavo Gomez is manager of MetLife's Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) unit where he is responsible for managing the company's overall compliance with affirmative action and equal employment opportunity laws and regulations nationwide. He oversees the development of company policies and procedures, manages government compliance audits, conducts training in EEO and affirmative action, handles allegations of discrimination, and provides advice and counsel to management with respect to maximizing the utilization of the company's diverse workforce.

Mr. Gomez has been employed with MetLife for over 25 years where he has advanced through a series of increasingly responsible positions in different company departments. He is the former Chair of the Corporate New York/New Jersey Industry Liaison Group, and is a member of Image and the Queens Village Civic Association. He holds a BBA degree in finance from Baruch College and resides in Queens, New York with his wife and two children.

NYNEX
Gail Cardona

Ms. Gail Z. Cardona joined NYNEX in 1980 as a Business Office Representative and in 1985 was promoted to Business Office Supervisor. MS. Cardona has been a pioneer in traditionally male dominated positions in some of her management assignments at NYNEX. She was the first female field foreman in the Bronx managing the company's largest, installation and maintenance field operation. Ms Cardona is presently the Director of Safety and Health, a traditionally male dominated industry, and the first woman to hold that position at NYNEX. Ms. Cardona has 16 years of service with the Company.

Ms. Cordona's commitment to her work and the South Bronx community she lived in for most of her life has been demonstrated through her involvement in a multitude of organizations and committees. She was recognized and awarded for her role as on Executive Board member for the Bronx Chamber of Commerce. In 1992, the Bronx Special Olympics honored Ms. Cardona for her support of their efforts. She served as a Trustee for the Bronx Museum of the Arts, on organization she supported since its inception. She was the founder and vice-president of the Mott Haven Historical Society, an organization of community activities and neighbors who were committed to making the South Bronx a better place to raise their families. Most recent"' in 1996, Ms. Cardona was recognized by VISTA Magazine as one of the top ranking female corporate executives in the nation.

One of Ms. Cordona's most exciting honors was recognition for her contribution to the community by the Carter Administration. President Carter in celebration of Hispanic Heritage month, invited Ms. Cardona and other Hispanic leaders throughout the country to the White House.

Ms. Cardona is currently a member of NYNEX Hispanic Support Organization (HSO) where she was a mentor in the Hispanic Mentoring Program. She also is a member of the Association- of NYNEX Women (ANM. She is a Founding member of 100 Hispanic Women and co-choirs its membership committee.

Ms. Cardona holds a BA in Economics from Fordham University. She was selected to participate in NYNEX Executive Masters Program and received her MBA from Pace University. She has also completed over half the required credits toward a second master in Industrial Relations from Cornell University.

NYNEX
Carmelo Rafael Curbelo

Mr. Carmelo Rafael Curbelo is currently the Managing Director of the Service Costs Division of Finance and Controller at NYNEX Telecommunications Group. Mr. Curbelo is responsible for the cost studies across the NYNEX servicing areas, as well as the interstate access arena, supporting the Company's compliance with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Mr. Curbelo has been with NYNEX for 31 years.

Mr. Curbelo is currently running for the presidency of the Hispanic Support Organization; he has been the Commander of St. Francis de Chantal Sea Cadets; little league baseball coach; tenants organization president; member of the IEEE; mentor in NYNEX's Empire University program. In addition to two undergraduate degrees, Mr. Curbelo has three graduate degrees including a professional engineering degree and an MBA, both obtaining a 4.0 GPA overage. He has two children, one a doctor of internal medicine and the other finishing his final year of law school.

Sprint
Louis Carrion

Director-Consumer
Marketing Sales

Sprint's making it easier for Central Florida's Hispanic Community

Sprint, the global communications company with deep roots in Central Florida, provides considerable support for the area's Hispanic Community through various activities.

Sprint's dedication to serving the Hispanic community is shown through sponsorships such as Fiesta Gigante, Viva Osceola, the Hispanic Academic All-Stars, Hispanic Corporate Achievers and Cinema Go-Go. Sprint also takes part in the Hispanic Business Expo, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's General Assembly annual meeting and advertises in the Osceola Hispanic Newspaper, the Miss Puerto Rico Beauty Pageant and in Central Florida Hispanic Magazine. Sprint spends a substantial sum on Hispanic media.

"Sprint is always looking for ways to support the Hispanic Community as a whole. Anytime we have the opportunity to help strengthen the Community, we're happy to make things happen;" says Sprint's Director of Marketing and Sales, Lou Carrion.

The Hispanic community can turn to Sprint for bilingual Directory Assistance and bilingual voice prompts on all Spree calling cards. Bilingual customer service representatives are always ready to provide assistance to residential and business customers.

Sprint is a global communications company -- at the forefront in integrating long distance, local and wireless communications services and the world's largest carrier of Internet traffic. Sprint built and operates the United States' only nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network and is the leader in advanced data communication services. Sprint has $14 billion in annual revenues and serves more than 16 million business and residential customers.