Sodexo's Commitment to Education: Corporation of the Year Acceptance

It is a great honor for Sodexo to be honored as “Corporation of the Year” by HCF -  but the real credit goes to the 600 exceptional student scholarship recipients who are with us tonight. All of you inspire us with your dreams, your grit, and your accomplishments.

America's first civil rights leader and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Dr. Hector P. Garcia, fervently believed that education is the key and all of you are a magnificent testament of that belief. That's one reason why we, at Sodexo, are very proud and excited to continue to work with HCF to promote opportunities in education for Hispanic Americans.

Ladies and gentlemen, tonight is clearly about excellence - instilling excellence, encouraging excellence, and achieving excellence. That's what it takes to win - in the workplace and in the marketplace. We're proud to share the stage tonight with these young people because we know a thing or two about achieving excellence.

Many of you know that Sodexo is a foodservice and facilities management company, and among our 6,000 North America clients are 900 college campuses and more than 470 school districts. . . we serve students from kindergarten through college every day - a solemn privilege we take very seriously. We know a good meal, for example, and a good experience in our facilities contributes to the wellbeing of students and can help achieve good grades and success in the classroom.

We know young people. Through our work with more than two million students every day, we know firsthand that students hold the promise for the future of our nation and our world.  We are firmly committed to providing opportunities for the youth of America, so their chances of competing for the best jobs in the global marketplace are high, and that they are well positioned for success.

Focusing on education is the right thing to do for students, but it's also important for the future success of the global economy. So as a global player, finding future talent is the key to our vision for dynamic growth.

Sodexo is truly an international company. 

• Our revenues are almost $18 billion worldwide
• We have business in 80 countries
• With 29,000 locations
• We are one of the world's top employers with more than 350,000 employees worldwide
• We serve more than 50 million customers every day.

I'm proud to lead our business in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Our North American headquarters is off  I-270. We have 3,500 employees in Maryland and another 125,000 across the rest of North America.

Clearly, our people are our lifeblood, which means Sodexo, like many companies, is faced with the challenges of recruiting, hiring, developing and promoting a workforce that can sustain and grow our business, and meet the needs of a demographically changing population. To meet these challenges head-on we are investing in a diverse workforce by supporting higher education among minorities. Half of Sodexo's new hires represent minorities and this will rise to 70% in two years.

Consider also these facts:

• In the U.S., the aging population and shrinking pool of new workforce entrants will result in a projected employee gap of 23 million people!
• There will be a tremendous shift in demographics as well - by the year 2050 in the U.S., 23 percent of the population will be Latino; 11 percent Asian; 53 percent white; and 14 percent black.

That's the practical reason why we are committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce and a corporate culture that works to ensure their success. One of the best ways to meet our growth challenges is to help and encourage Latino youth - the fastest growing segment of our population - become professionals in our industry. By providing support and resources for our Latino youth, we seek to win our fair share of this talent and provide an example for other companies to follow. 

We are leading the way to ensure that many sectors of our society are working together to strengthen tomorrows workforce. One example is our partnership with HCF as well as a number of our other initiatives.  One of my favorites is our Future Leaders Program, which is an internship program open to Hispanic college students currently enrolled in hospitality, engineering, communications, human resources or food and facilities management studies. We work to hire these interns as permanent employees when they graduate.

As I said earlier, the most important work we can all do is provide opportunities for students - then step aside and marvel as they seize those opportunities and flourish. That's why I am so proud of all the award recipients tonight and all they've accomplished.

I have one special story I'd like to share. It's about Annery Pulgar, who is a Sodexo/HCF Scholarship winner.
She told us how Sodexo has helped bring her closer to her dreams.

Annery said:
“As an immigrant, I have had to push through many barriers to make it in this fast-paced world. If it wasn't for your generosity, I wouldn't have been able to finish my Bachelor of Arts degree. I'm beginning my first year of law school which is a monumental achievement for my mother and me.”

Here are a few more details of her story. Annery was born in Cuba and came to the United States, to Miami, when she was 5 years old with her mother, grandmother, and great aunt. She and her family built a life here from scratch. Watching her mother overcome adversity instilled in Annery the determination to reach her dreams.

Annery decided that she wanted to become a lawyer at a very young age when she saw first hand the kinds of obstacles immigrants and other underrepresented individuals experience. She remembers the kind-hearted lawyer from Legal Aid who helped her family. She feels that as a lawyer she will have the ability to help many people who feel ignored and without recourse. She is passionate about immigration law and looks forward to making a positive impact on the immigration system.

With the help of HCF and Sodexo, Annery graduated Magna Cum Laude completing her bachelor's degree at University of Miami. She is now enrolled at the University of Miami Law School, on her way to achieving her dreams.

We celebrate Annery and all the scholarship winners tonight and Sodexo looks forward to supporting you along the way.

Together, let's all continue to cultivate excellence in today's students, who are tomorrow's talent; tomorrow's leaders.

Thank you again for honoring us with this award which honors the excellence my colleagues deliver every day.

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