PANR Leaders Attend Chicago University GSB Education Program

PANR Leadership attended Chicago University Graduate School of Business, Executive Education Program last December. The program was hosted by the National Hispanic Chamber Leadership Academy and sponsored by Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Sam’s Club and PhRMA. 6 members of the PANR leadership were among 30 Hispanic Executives nationwide that participated in the program.  

The goal of the National Hispanic Chamber Leadership Academy is to enhance, refine, and add to the skills and training of Hispanic Chamber Executives to maximize their effectiveness on behalf of Hispanic-owned businesses. The Academy will also serve as a venue to strengthen the relationships and promote the collaboration among local Hispanic Chambers of Commerce that are the driving force behind Hispanic business growth and success.  The Academy contains the following primary components:

Benchmarking, Best Practices, Strategic Planning 

The Academy provided extensive benchmarking, best practices, and strategic planning opportunities as part of the training and education sessions and through special sessions. Online tools were utilized to provide continuous, ongoing information sharing and consultation among participating Executives. Organizational and related models for common use can be developed through this process. Special attention was placed on ensuring the participation and involvement of all key stakeholders in these sessions.

Organizational Development and Capacity Building

The Academy will generate several positive outcomes in these two key areas, while creating a platform to identify additional critical needs at the local level that can be addressed through Organization collaboration in national initiatives. Organization leaders will be better prepared and will have an enhanced ability to engage in organizational development and capacity building for their own and other local Chambers in their regions. As their capacity is built, local Hispanic organizations will play an increasingly important role in driving business growth in their local communities. In addition, equipped with these tools, Chamber leaders will have greater opportunities to design national initiatives to address common needs. An example would be an initiative to seek support from corporations to provide Hispanic Chambers and Organizations with resources to streamline, standardize, and leverage the use of technology in their individual operations and in ways that facilitate communication and collaboration among the Organizations and Chambers. 

Training/Education

The training and education component is the centerpiece of the National Hispanic Chamber Leadership Academy. Chamber leaders will participate in an intensive, exhaustive academic training and education sessions over a five-to-seven-day period at the prestigious University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB). The curriculum for these sessions were modeled after GSB’s executive development program and had been developed in consideration of the needs identified through the assessment. Instruction will be complemented through general business education training. A special focus was placed on ensuring that course content is relevant to the socio-economic reality of the Hispanic business and at-large communities. Participating leaders were identified through an application and screening process to ensure a high-level of commitment and disposition to fully benefit from the training and implement information learned in local initiatives for the benefit of the local Hispanic business community. 

Participation of an institution of the caliber of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business ensures that the highest quality of training was delivered and adds to the prestige and recognition of this initiative. A description of the course and a draft of a course schedule are attached. (Click here)

Charter Sponsor Recognition/Publicity