SMU Cox Executive Education Announces New Director of Latino Leadership Initiative

DALLAS (SMU)— SMU Cox Executive Education welcomes a new director to take its four-year-old Latino Leadership Initiative to the next level. Ana Rodriguez, an alumna of SMU Cox, brings nearly twenty years of experience in higher education, not for profit and corporate work.

Launched in November 2013, the LLI is a national center of excellence at the Cox School of Business designed to help meet the nation’s growing need for corporate leaders as the economy grows and national demographics evolve. The LLI grew out of research that shows a gap in talent at the country’s executive leadership level.

Rodriguez will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for the LLI, which works with the university and the business community to access an important talent resource and marketplace. The LLI operates to deliver management education programs, organization development services, new research-based insights and community engagement activities. 

“I am honored and overjoyed to return to my alma mater as the director of the Latino Leadership Initiative,” said Rodriguez. “While Latinos make up nearly 18 percent of the total U.S. population, only two percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are of Hispanic origin. I am humbled by the opportunity to build upon the LLI’s proven success and to work with companies to recruit, retain and develop top Latino talent.”

“The LLI is of utmost importance to SMU Cox Executive Education in our mission to serve the business community,” said Frank Lloyd, associate dean of Executive Education at SMU Cox. “Ana Rodriguez brings solid experience in establishing mutually beneficial relationships between universities and business organizations. She will strengthen the LLI’s efforts to expand the corporate leadership pipeline and accelerate top Latino talent to management and executive level positions. This will benefit our community, our country, and so SMU.” 

Rodriguez will begin her new role August 1. She has held leadership positions in corporate partnerships, development, alumni relations, university advancement, and external affairs at UTD’s Naveen Jindal School of Management and UNT Dallas. In those roles, she coordinated corporate relations strategies, public relations, fund raising, and community engagement. Ana also served as the executive director for the Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico, a non-profit arts organization and resident company of the AT&T Performing Arts Center, and she worked for Bank of America in its Global Wealth and Investments division.

About SMU Cox Executive Education

SMU Cox Executive Education offers new, innovative and flexible programs – both open and custom – that provide a relevant and dynamic learning experience for professionals, managers, and executives.  Programs provide skills development in areas such as management, leadership, sales and marketing, and accounting and finance. 

About SMU Cox

The SMU Cox School of Business (smu.edu/cox), originally established in 1920 on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and was named in honor of benefactor Edwin L. Cox in 1978. SMU Cox is a nationally and internationally ranked business school with undergraduate (BBA) majors in accounting, finance, financial consulting, general business, management, marketing, real estate finance and concentrations in energy management, entrepreneurship, real estate finance and risk management and insurance.

The Cox School offers four Master of Business Administration programs including the Executive MBA (EMBA) and Full-Time MBA, Fast Track MBA, and Professional MBA (PMBA), with concentrations in accounting, finance, general business, information technology and operations management, management, marketing, real estate and strategy and entrepreneurship. The school also offers the JD/MBA with Dedman School of Law; MA/MBA with Meadows School of the Arts; Specialized Master’s of Science (MS) programs in Accounting, Business Analytics (Full and Part-Time), Finance, and Management; Sport Management and Health Promotion Management with Simmons School of Education and Human Development; and Engineering/MBA and MS in Engineering Entrepreneurship with the Lyle School of Engineering. For professionals not seeking a degree, SMU Cox Executive Education and multiple certificate programs cover a broad range of disciplines.

The Cox School of Business maintains an active alumni network globally.

News Media Contacts:

Anna Martinez
annam@cox.smu.edu

Alice Snow
asnow@cox.smu.edu

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