Latino Social Media Industry News Platform Hispanicize.com Relaunches, Appoints Bill Gato Editorial Director

January 25th, 2012 JAM

Hispanicize.com Expands With Regular Contributors and More Content Devoted to Hispanic/Multicultural Social Media

Hispanicize.com, the nation’s leading news and industry insights platform about Latino social media trends in technology, marketing, entertainment and media, has relaunched its website with expanded coverage and the appointment of Bill Gato as editorial director.

As part of its major redesign, Hispanicize.com, the editorial content division of Hispanicize, LLC, will produce more original news, multimedia stories, interviews with industry leaders, technology features and reviews.

“Beginning with today’s relaunch we will work even harder to chronicle the trends and trendsetters that use social media to influence Latinos and multicultural audiences in media, marketing, entertainment, blogging, technology and social affairs,” said Cristy Clavijo-Kish, CEO of Hispanicize, LLC. “This robust platform will strive to be inclusive of the many entrepreneurs, leaders, companies and voices that together comprise the world of Hispanic/multicultural social media.”

Coinciding with the web site’s makeover is also the appointment of digital marketing entrepreneur, marketing consultant and award-winning journalist Bill Gato to the post of editorial director. Gato is also the former president and co-founder of Hispanic Digital Network (HDN), the first national network of Hispanic newspapers and magazines online now owned by PR Newswire.

“Bill is an outstanding talent who is well respected in the Hispanic digital media space and has the unique combination of entrepreneur and journalist needed for this post,” said Clavijo-Kish, a former business partner of Gato’s at HDN and its sister company Hispanic PR Wire.

The new Hispanicize.com will continue to feature stories from longtime contributing blogger/entrepreneur Michele Ruiz and PR professional Natalia Flores while adding more posts from other industry thought leaders.

The new Hispanicize.com will also include:

News: This includes news about new Latino or multicultural Facebook programs, Twitter initiatives, executive job appointments, marketing account wins, technological breakthroughs and more.

Start-Up Latino: Content from this new category is to feature a wide variety of stories of particular interest to Latino entrepreneurs and start ups. This will underscore one of Hispanicize’s key educational goals for entrepreneurs.

How To Stories and Videos: A new key content category on Hispanicize.com is the “How To” content. This category will focus on social media stories that are step-by-step and intended to support the growing Hispanicize blogger network. Case studies will be highlighted as part of the series.

Research: The Hispanicize team will devote more focus to developing credible research that illustrates the impact and growth of Latino social media programs, issues, and more across many disciplines.

Tutorials/Webinars: Hispanicize.com will continue with its tradition of creating industry-leading webinars and tutorials that demystify how to conduct social media programs.

Latino Blogger News: These blogger news roundups will spotlight the projects, campaigns and initiatives involving Latino and multicultural bloggers.

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Swizz Beatz’s Megaupload Downed – Anonymous Retaliates

January 23rd, 2012 JAM

UPDATE: Megaupload appears to back online, sort of.

The Atlantic Wire reports that those who haven’t been arrested on Megaupload’s staff managed to post a message accessible only at their IP address. As of now there’s really no content on the site available beyond a short, exclamation point-happy message asking people to share the new address as they work to get back online.

Friday, January 20, 10 a.m.: That was fast: voluntary blackouts are already out of style.

One day after the anti-SOPA blackout protest by several popular sites, the Department of Justice announced that it had seized file-sharing site Megaupload and charged seven people associated with it in one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the U.S.

Megaupload has long been a target of the entertainment industry, and the charges indicate why: they’re charged with causing $500 million in damages to copyright owners, and of making $175 million through sales of premium subscriptions and ads.

Kim Dotcom, who founded the website (he changed his name from Kim Schmitz), was the subject of a dramatic arrest at his New Zealand mansion. As the New York Times describes it, police (who arrived by heliocopter), had to cut Dotcom out of his “safe room,” where he’d retreated apparently to try and avoid arrest. He had a sawed-off shot gun close by.

The Department of Justice‘s press release on the seizure and arrests says that the site’s business model is “designed” to encourage uploads of popular copyrighted material, partially by rewarding those financially who do so.

Although the Megaupload shutdown was not directly related to SOPA, according to DoJ, the timing may have partly fueled the anger of hacker collective Anonymous, which responded with one of their largest distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in recent memory.

According to various anonymous twitter feeds, the Washington Post reports, the group also attacked the RIAA, MPAA, and Universal Music sites. If you want to know what the planning for that attack looked lke, Mother Jones’s Josh Harkinson was observing in the chat room as it was planned and executed.

Megaupload portrays itself as a free file-sharing service centered on legitimate uploads of content for sharing and storage. A recent ad campaign featured the endorsements of will.i.am, Kanye West, and P Diddy, all of whom likely contributed to the campaign because the company’s CEO is artist Swizz Beatz (a.k.a. Alicia Keys’s husband). That campaign itself was the subject of its own copyright battle. Swizz Beatz was not charged in the DoJ case.

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The Day The Internet Struck Back by Catharine P. Taylor

January 19th, 2012 JAM

When your 14-year-old son and the checkout guy at the supermarket are thoroughly conversant with the latest attempt at Internet-controlling legislation, you know someone, somewhere, succeeded with their communications.

And so it was yesterday, with the forces unleashed through the most powerful Internet companies in the world — which, in a movement that built up to one big day of protest, effectively killed SOPA and PIPA (aka the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act). But, of course, this wasn’t just about the power of Internet companies; it was about all of us, using the technologies they created, pointing out the ludicrousness of both bills.

I’m probably not as well-versed in either as I should be, but I know enough about them to know this: that yesterday, in the U.S., we crossed the Rubicon. It was the day where we proved the online world’s power as a social medium in a way that no amount of wildly popular cat videos ever could. As Wikipedia went black for the day, and other sites obscured their logos (Google), or became points of distribution for protest (Twitter), the Internet showed the true reach and force of its intensely interconnected world.

In a world where power has usually meant money and connections, yesterday was a breakout in terms of permanently altering those concepts. In fact, on one cable news show last night, the hostess mused whether — despite all the coverage the issue had gotten yesterday in traditional media — it was actually needed to spread the word about what was going on at all. She rightly guessed “no.” Ditto to all those who went to K Street thinking money and connections would get these bills passed. What’s money and connections when pitted against hundreds of millions of people with the ability to express themselves?

Just how powerful is the online world? Well, I went to the supermarket right after I noticed that Mark Zuckerberg’s status update on Facebook on the topic had received almost 300,000 “Likes” in three hours (he has slightly over 10 million Facebook followers). That’s when, as I was loading frosting and cupcake mix into my bag, I heard the college-aged guy at the checkout counter next to me going to great lengths to explain the evils of SOPA and PIPA to a customer, who, in case you were wondering, was listening quite intently. Surely this was a first for DeCicco Family Markets.

So maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised that when I got home, I discovered on nytimes.com that as the Washington elite was closing down for the day, it was also effectively caving on its proposed legislation. The updated headline on the same story late in the evening put it best: “In Fight Over Piracy Bills, New Economy Rises Against Old.”Wow, that was fast! While at the same time being very, very slow.A search on Wikipedia about SOPA (that page was not blacked out) led to sources confirming what was already clear: that the legislators who drafted these bills had little appreciation for, or understanding of, technology, and — no coincidence – also little appreciation for the new-world economy and all of the jobs, innovation and passion it has brought to our country for the last 16 or 17 years. This was apparent in the drafting of the bills, but made ever more so in how people and companies online mobilized against the bills using the very technology that Congress doesn’t get.

While no reputable Internet company is against online privacy, the devil is in the details. Imagine if Facebook had to police everything posted by its hundreds of millions of U.S. users. Well, it couldn’t, of course, but that’s essentially what such legislation would do. It’s astonishing that in 2012, none of the above was apparent to anyone involved with these bills. One can only assume that the old-world power of old-world media had blinded legislators from seeing the world as it really is. How else to explain that no one with the technical expertise to understand the ramifications of these bills was involved?

I don’t have a great closer here, except to state what readers of this column have thought all along: Power to the people — and the almost-entirely U.S.-based Internet companies who enable them.

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GUEST BLOGGER SERIES: Janet Murguia “Survey Affirms AT&T as Industry Leader on the Issue of Diversity”

January 13th, 2012 JAM

The news last month was dominated by AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. The proposed merger generated considerable debate within the civil rights and progressive communities, with some organizations, including many labor unions, strongly in favor and others, principally consumer advocates, deeply opposed. While NCLR did not take a position on the issue, in the aftermath of the controversy none of us should lose sight of something AT&T is doing very right–embracing diversity.

AT&T’s strong record on diversity was confirmed in the most recent Corporate Inclusion Index (CII) released by the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR). HACR–of which I currently serve as Chair–is a 25-year-old coalition made up of 16 of the leading national Latino organizations in the United States.

In the survey for 2011, AT&T tied for first place and received a “95″ out of a possible “100,” the highest score awarded by HACR. The report notes that nearly half of AT&T’s workforce is female or a person of color, with one of the highest percentages of Latinos–12 percent–of any company. It maintains generally good relations with its heavily unionized workforce, and it maintains and supports strong employee affinity groups representing people of color, workers with disabilities, and LGBT employees.

AT&T also has one of the strongest global supplier diversity programs among the Fortune 100 and has made notable investments in recent years in Latino-owned businesses, the Hispanic consumer market, and in Hispanic philanthropy. And one of AT&T’s most important diversity accomplishments has been the number of minority high-ranking executives, including one of the handful of Latino CEOs in the country, Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets.

“With their 2011 HACR CII rating, AT&T has raised the bar not only in the telecommunications industry, but for all Fortune 500 companies,” said Carlos F. Orta, president and CEO of HACR.

“AT&T is committed to Hispanic inclusion as part of their business and CRS model, and that is reflected in their rating.”

For those concerned about strengthening paths for upward economic mobility for all Americans, especially those traditionally left behind even during boom periods, AT&T’s record is one ray of hope in an increasingly gloomy landscape. Increased corporate diversity will translate directly into greater upward mobility for many Hispanics. Similarly, supplier diversity gives Latino small businesses opportunities they might otherwise lose. And as the public sector jobs that once served as a bastion of economic opportunity for many women and people

of color continue to shrink, corporate social responsibility becomes more important than ever.

There’s no such thing as a perfect company, but AT&T is clearly an industry leader when it comes to the very important issue of increasing diversity, and thus promoting upward mobility, in corporate America. It is an example that other Fortune 500 companies should emulate now and in the future.

Janet Murguía has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., since January 1, 2005. She is a Board member of the Independent Sector, the Merrill Lynch Diversity & Inclusion Council, and is an executive committee member of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. She also sits on the Board of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda.

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Twitter Tracked Cholera in Haiti Faster than Officials by Erik Sass

January 13th, 2012 JAM

Among the many surprising applications for social media besides its original core mission of encouraging idleness, one of the most interesting and useful has been for public health, where sites like Twitter and Facebook can help track outbreaks of disease, gather data, and disseminate information about preventive measures and treatment to the public.

In fact, social media may be even better at tracking diseases than the established public health authorities, judging by an article documenting the use of Twitter to track a cholera outbreak in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in January 2010. The article, “Social and News Media Enable Estimation of Epidemiological Patterns Early in the 2010 Haitian Cholera Outbreak,” was published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene by Rumi Chunara and John Brownstein of Harvard Medical School and Jason Andrews of Massachusetts General Hospital.ng applications for social media besides its original core mission of encouraging idleness, one of the most interesting and useful has been for public health, where sites like Twitter and Facebook can help track outbreaks of disease, gather data, and disseminate information about preventive measures and treatment to the public.

According to the authors, “During infectious disease outbreaks, data collected through health institutions and official reporting structures may not be available for weeks, hindering early epidemiologic assessment. By contrast, data from informal media are typically available in near real-time and could provide earlier estimates of epidemic dynamics.”

And indeed, comparing 188,819 tweets containing or tagged with the word cholera against government cholera reports in the first 100 days of the 2010 Haitian cholera outbreak, the authors found that “Trends in volume of informal sources significantly correlated in time with official case data and was available up to 2 weeks earlier.” In future, this kind of data could allow public health agencies to respond more quickly to incipient outbreaks, by expediting emergency deliveries of vaccines or antibiotics.

Crucially, many Haitians own mobile phones which enabled them to post to online social media, even when the country’s other infrastructure (including landline telephone service) had been ruined by the earthquake.

In the past I’ve written about a number of public health applications for social media. Last year an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Raina M. Merchant, an emergency physician and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Pearlman School of Medicine, described how social media disseminated public health-related information in situations as diverse as the H1N1 flu epidemic, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, and the 2011 Egyptian uprising. For example, during the 2009 H1N1 flu epidemic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services hosted a “Mommycast” on YouTube (which could also be downloaded as an iTunes video podcast) which reached millions of viewers with information about vaccinations.

Also last year, a presentation to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta by Dr. Caitlin Reed of the LA County Department of Public Health examined the role of social media in tracking an outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease which was traced back to the Playboy Mansion. Social media played a role almost from the beginning of the outbreak, with a “cluster of respiratory illness reported by attendees via social media.” Social media was also central to the follow-up, allowing the LACDPH to send an online survey to all 715 conference attendees.

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LISTA Congratulates AT&T for their Inclusion of Hispanics in the Workforce, Supply Chain, Community and Governance

January 11th, 2012 JAM

Leading Hispanic advocacy group HACR recognizes AT&T’s inclusion of Hispanics in the workforce, supply chain, community and governance

AT&T has received the highest rating for all telecommunication firms on the 2011 Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility’s Corporate Inclusion Index (HACR CII). AT&T was one of only two companies to achieve a 95 rating, the highest in the 2011 HACR CII. The HACR CII rates Hispanic inclusion by Fortune 100 companies and its corporate partners in the areas of workforce, procurement, philanthropy, and governance.

“AT&T continues to demonstrate its commitment to diversity with policies that ensure the inclusion of Hispanics at all levels and in every one of its varied business lines,” said Janet Murguia, chairperson of the HACR Board of Directors and president and CEO of National Council of La Raza. “AT&T is one of the few companies moving the needle in advancing full inclusion of Hispanics in this country.”

Examples of AT&T’s commitment to Hispanic inclusion are:

  • A 12 percent representation of Hispanics in the AT&T workforce. The total U.S. AT&T workforce is 40 percent female and 38 percent people of color.
  • Sponsorship of an award-winning employee resource group, HACEMOS (the Hispanic/Latino Employee Association of AT&T).
  • A top-rated global supplier diversity program that spent more than $9.2 billion with minority, women and disabled-veteran suppliers in 2010, representing 18.8 percent of the company’s procurement base. AT&T’s goal is to achieve 21.5 percent of its procurement from diverse suppliers.
  • Strong focus on the Hispanic Consumer Market, which includes converting more than 700 retail stores in high-density Hispanic markets including California, Florida, New York and Texas to a bilingual (Spanish/English) format; full online and social media presence in Spanish; a strong advertising investment in Hispanic media; and sponsorship of top-rated Hispanic music, television, sports and entertainment programs and events.
  • Support of the Hispanic community by investing resources to advance education, strengthen communities and improve lives. In 2010, AT&T contributed more than $148 million to the diverse communities it serves through corporate, employee and AT&T Foundation giving programs.
  • Significant representation of Hispanics in the company’s most senior ranks including Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets; Thaddeus Arroyo, chief information officer; Jose Gutierrez, president, advertising and publishing; Carmen Nava, senior vice president-Consumer Marketing; and Angie Wiskocil, senior vice president, Wi-Fi services.

“We are honored by HACR’s recognition of our holistic approach to diversity and inclusion,” said Debbie Storey, AT&T senior vice president of Talent Development and chief diversity officer. “At AT&T, diversity and inclusion are woven into all our business strategies and are key in achieving our business goals.”

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet and voice services. A leader in mobile broadband, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T | DIRECTV brands. The company’s suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com . This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss . Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT. Find us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ATT to discover more about our consumer and wireless services or at www.Facebook.com/ATTSmallBiz to discover more about our small business services.

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Verizon CEO Confirms Plan to Terminate DirecTV Partnership

December 15th, 2011 JAM

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam plans to end his company’s wireless LTE partnership with pay-TV operator DirecTV and will stop its build-out of FiOS television and Internet services during the next two years, the executive confirmed Dec. 8 during a speech at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference.

McAdam said Verizon Wireless would seek new partnerships with cable giants to cross-market phone, video, Internet and cellular services.
“We have begun discussions with officials at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about its $3.6 billion deal to buy spectrum from Comcast, Bright House and Time Warner Cable. The spectrum they will buy isn’t being used and fits well with the commission’s strategy to use airwaves that are being warehoused by firms,” McAdam said during the speech. “This takes spectrum that had no plans to be put into commercial service … We will make that commercial in the near-term.”
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Hispanics Named to FCC Diversity Advisory Panel as it appears in Hispanic Business Magazine

November 16th, 2011 JAM

Diversity Advisory Panel –> Several Hispanics have been appointed to the Federal Communications Commission’s rechartered Federal Advisory Diversityfor Communications in the Digital Age.The first meeting has been scheduled for Dec. 6, according to the FCC.

The Diversity Committee’s mission is to advice the FCC regarding policies and practices that will enhance diversity in the telecommunications and related industries.

Henry Rivera, vice chairman of the Emma Bowen Foundation for Minority Interests in Media, is chairman of this FCCDiversity Committee.

All Hispanic members include:
– Joaquin Alvarado, senior vice president, digital innovation, American Public Media | Minnesota Public Radio.

– Philip Alvelda, co-founder, MobiTV.

– Jessica Gonzalez, vice president, policy and legal affairs, the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

– Anton Guitano, chief operating officer of CBS Local Media.

– Jose Marquez, president, chief executive officer and founder, Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA) and Managing Director ofThe National Latino Alliance on Health Information Technology  (The Latino HIT Alliance)

– Robert Mendez, senior vice president, diversity, Disney ABC Television Group.

– Celia Nogales, assistant vice president of regulatory, AT&T.

– Javier Palomarez, president and chief executive officer of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

– Tony Perez, president-elect, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors.

– Walter Ulloa, chairman and chief executive officer, Entravision.

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LISTA Chairman and Microech President & CEO, Tony Jimenez has been Named to the 2011 Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in America.

October 17th, 2011 JAM

Leading Publication Recognizes Jimenez’ Impact on Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, Government Tech Field

Vienna, VA – October 14, 2011 – MicroTech President & CEO Tony Jimenez has been named to the 2011 Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics in America. The list is made up of prominent Hispanic movers and shakers in the areas of business, diversity, arts & entertainment, academic, and government. Jimenez is making his first appearance in this elite group, highlighting his impact in the corporate field. He is one of only two privately-held company CEOs on the entire list. The exclusive feature is published in the October 2011 edition of Hispanic Business Magazine.

Jimenez is at the helm of award-winning MicroTech, the Fastest-Growing Hispanic-Owned Business in the U.S. for the last three years. MicroTech provides Technology Services, Systems Integration, Product Solutions, Unified Communications & Collaboration, Cloud Computing, and Innovation & Integration to the public sector and Fortune 500 enterprises. A prime contractor on more than 100 Federal projects and 28 procurement vehicles, MicroTech offers access to over 2500 vendors and over a million tech products and services across the government.

“This is a real honor to make such a prestigious list of notable Hispanics in America,” said Tony Jimenez, President & CEO of MicroTech. “My business goals have always included helping others, including Hispanics, become successful entrepreneurs. America is truly the land of opportunity and I share my influence with the Hispanic community by mentoring and teaching others, and by setting a good example of how to overcome obstacles and achieve business success.”

The individuals that make up the annual most influential list are drawn from several sources, mainly submissions from readers and visitors to HispanicBusiness.com, and from the publication’s editorial and research staff. In addition to Tony Jimenez, this year’s notable recipients include the NBA Atlanta Hawks owner Alex Meruelo, Jack In the Box Inc. Chairwoman, CEO and President Linda A. Lang, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

Since launching MicroTech at his kitchen table in 2004, Jimenez has grown his business into a profitable quarter-of-a-billion-dollar company. A passionate advocate for the Hispanic community, organizations like Deloitte, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and NASDAQ have all acknowledged his extraordinary success.

“Tony Jimenez is a special individual who leads with a can do attitude and his actions speak louder than words, ”said Jose A Marquez-Leon, President and CEO of Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association. “LISTA is blessed to work with Tony, as chairman his contributions have been outstanding and he has made our organization stronger.”

Recognized numerous times by government agencies and watch groups honoring individuals who have played pivotal roles in the government tech community, Jimenez has advised the last two U.S. Presidents on economic matters. Recently, he met one-on-one with former President Clinton, and traveled to Puerto Rico for a historic meeting with President Obama. He serves as an advisor to the White House on the U.S. Department of Commerce National Advisory Council on Minority Business Enterprise.

Jimenez is a recipient of the U.S. Hispanic Advocacy Association “Bravo Award” for a commitment to diversity and has received numerous awards for his efforts including Veteran Champion of the Year; the LISTA CEO of the Year; Executive of the Year; National Corporate Advocate of the Year; and Minority Business Leader of the Year. He is a published author and has been featured on several top television news networks and in a number of nationally recognized newspapers and magazines. He serves on a number of boards including the U.S. – Mexico Chamber of Commerce and Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. His charity efforts have led to recognition as the “Top CEO Philanthropist” in the Washington DC region.

Earlier this year, Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology Magazine named Jimenez as one of the “Most Influential Hispanics in Technology.”

About Latino in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA)

LISTA ( www.a-lista.org) promotes the utilization of the technology sectors for the empowerment of the Latino community. We are an organization that is committed to bringing various elements of Technology under one central hub to facilitate our partners, members and the community with the leverage and education they need to succeed in a highly advanced technologically driven society. LISTA Mission is to educate, motivate and encourage the use of technology in the Latino community and empowering them to bridge the digital divide.

About MicroTech

MicroTech is a certified and verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and a certified 8(a) Small Business, and delivers robust process-driven performance for mission success. MicroTech applies its regimented process, enterprise IT experience, and state-of-the-art engineering solutions to integrate different technologies and create proven results that can respond to your strategic needs. MicroTech is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, EMC Velocity Partner, Cisco Gold Partner, HP Elite Partner, Dell Certified Partner, Symantec Managed Services Partner, VMware Enterprise Partner, Autonomy Value Added Partner, Adobe Solutions Partner, Citrix Silver Solution Advisor, Oracle Silver Partner, IBM Business Partner. MicroTech is the Hispanic Business Magazine No. 1 Fastest-Growing Hispanic-Owned Business (2009-2011); CRN Magazine No. 1 Fastest Growing Solutions Provider in the U.S., and the National “Public Sector Integrator of the Year,” and on the Deloitte 2010 Tech Fast 500, the No. 1 Fastest Growing Private Company in the Washington DC Metro area. ISO 20000 and ISO 9001:2008 certified, CMMI Maturity Level 3 rated, and ITIL management qualified, MicroTech is headquartered just outside the Nation’s Capital in Vienna, Virginia, with key offices in Richmond, Virginia; Greensboro, North Carolina; Huntsville, Alabama; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association announced today that Jose A. Marquez National CEO, will join the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Advisory Committee for Diversity in the Digital Age.

October 12th, 2011 JAM

The mission of the Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age is to make recommendations to the FCC regarding policies and practices that will further enhance the ability of minorities and women to participate in telecommunications and related industries. Specifically, the Committee will focus on lowering barriers to entry to communications and related industries for historically disadvantaged men and women, exploring ways in which to ensure universal access to and adoption of broadband in historically disadvantaged communities, and creating an environment that enables employment of a diverse workforce within the communications and related industries.

 

This announcement builds on Jose Marquez-Leon’s long standing dedication to enhance diversity within the technology community.  Founder of Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association, Mr. Marquez-Leon has focus on the development of the Latino Technology Professional and business owner. A technology industry pioneer he was the first to identify a need for technology and saw technology disparities throughout the Latino community. Mr Marquez-Leon took action in order to assure that our community was educated, motivated and empowered in the use of technology.

 

“For me it is a great honor and privilege to serve in this capacity,” said Jose A. Marquez-Leon, “It is important that our community has someone to represent them at the table and assure that we continue to grow in this techno-economical society.”

 

By joining this illustrious group of technology thought leaders Mr. Marquez will continue to develop the next generation of technology professionals while advising on policy which will affect the future of all Americans in the years to come.

 

 

About Latino in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA)

LISTA (www.a-lista.org ) promotes the utilization of the technology sectors for the empowerment of the Latino community. We are an organization that is committed to bringing various elements of Technology under one central hub to facilitate our partners, members and the community with the leverage and education they need to succeed in a highly advanced technologically driven society. LISTA Mission is to educate, motivate and encourage the use of technology in the Latino community and empowering them to bridge the digital divide.

 

About the National Latino Alliance on Health Information Technology (LatinoHIT)

 

In 2009 the National Latino Alliance on Health Information Technology (www.latinohit.org) was established with the purpose of sustaining the Latino community with a group of concerned Primary care physicians and Health Information technologist to assist in the paradigm shift to Health Information Technology and Electronic Health Records. LatinoHIT is committed to ensuring that primary care physicians, technology professionals and our community have the resources, information and tools to effectively understand the changes in the medical industry and that now community gets left behind.

 

·       Committee is Chaired by former FCC Commissioner Henry Rivera.

The committee’s first meeting will be Dec. 6.

Other members of the committee are:

·       Joaquin Alvarado of American Public Media,

·       Philip Alvelda of MobiTV,

·       Karla Ballard of One Economy,

·       William Branham of 21st Century Telecom,

·       Eric Broyles of Megree,

·       Bridgette Daniel of Wilco Electronic Systems,

·       Erin Dozier of National Association of Broadcasters,

·       Donna Epps of Verizon,

·       Derrick Frost of Invision TV,

·       Anita Stephens Graham of Opportunity Capital Partners,

·       Jessica Gonzales of The National Hispanic Media Coalition,

·       Anton Guitano of CBS,

·       Chanelle Hardy National Urban League,

·       Charles Harrell of The IT Architect,

·       Maxie Jackson of National Federation of Community broadcasters

·       Ron Johnson Solutions4Change,

·       Sherman Kizart of Kizart Media Partners,

·       Faye Kuo of Communication Services for the Deaf, 

·       Nicol Turner-Lee of Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies,

·       Robert Mendez of Disney,

·       Karen Narasaki of Asian American Justice Center,

·       Celia Nogales of AT&T,

·       Javier Palomarez of United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce,

·       Susan Patrick of Patrick Communications,

·       Tony Perez of National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors,

·       Steve Roberts of The Roberts Companies,

·       Sylvia Strobel of the Alliance for Women in Media,

·       Dr. Jorge Schement of Rutgers University, Virgil Smith of Gannett Co.,

·       Dr. Cindy Shao of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce,

·       Loris Ann Taylor of Native Public Media,

·       Walter Ulloa of Entravision, Mark Wallace of Cipher Communications

·       Jim Winston of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters.

·       Rudi Brioche of Comcast–NBCU,

·       David Honig of MMTC,

·       Andy Schwartzman of Media Access Project,

·       Maria Brennan of Women in Cable Telecommunications,

·       Diane Sutter of Shooting Star Broadcasting,

·       Corrie Wright of Free Press.

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