Dallas’ Marty Martinez, founder and CEO of Social Revolt Agency, made history as part of a “first-ever Hispanic delegation” at the World Economic Forum annual meeting held last month in Davos, Switzerland. The five-member delegation was part of the We Are All Human Foundation’s efforts to increase international representation of Hispanic leaders.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is the international organization for pubic-private cooperation aimed to engage the influential political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. 

Martinez and the other delegates represented U.S. Hispanics at the world-shaping event. 

“We are at a crucial time in history where the global community is beginning to understand how important U.S. Hispanics are for their success,” Martinez told Dallas Innovates. “Building off the milestones already achieved, we intend to grow the U.S. Hispanic influence in Davos by unifying our Latino leaders across all industry sectors and getting additional commitments to the Hispanic Promise,” he said.

The Hispanic Promise was launched last year by the We Are All Human Foundation as part of its mission to empower and advocate for every human.

Martinez said 150 companies have signed the promise’s call to hire, promote, retain, and celebrate U.S. Hispanics as employees, customers, and citizens. Companies signing the promise include: AFLAC, AT&T, Bank of America, Boston Scientific, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Colgate-Palmolive, Eli Lilly, Emerson, Estée Lauder, HP, iHeartMedia, Microsoft, NRG, Pepsico, Qualcomm, Stanley Black & Decker, Tech Data, and Yum! Brands.

Agents of change

“We left Davos this year inspired and encouraged by the support of corporations to the U.S. Hispanic community through their commitment to the Hispanic Promise,” Martinez says. “While there are many companies that understand the importance of the Hispanic community to their globalization strategy, there are still thousands of companies that are yet to realize how integral this community is to their bottom-line growth.”

Social Revolt Agency founder and CEO Marty Martinez. [Photo: Courtesy Social Revolt Agency]

Martinez pointed to the “economic clout” of Hispanics, citing Hispanic GPD at $2.13 trillion and a  purchasing power that’s increasing 70 percent faster than non-Hispanics.

U.S. Latinos account for almost 30 percent of U.S. growth in real income, he said, adding that Hispanics account for 18 percent of the U.S. population.

“Hispanics are going to be a force for decades to come,” noted fellow delegate Raquel Tamez, CEO of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, in a blog post. “The organizations that will thrive are the ones that will capitalize on Hispanic talent.”

While there were 18-hour working days in Davos, Tamez remarked on the “countless conversations” that left her and others inspired.

“We connected with influencers like will.i.am, founding member of hip-hop group The Black Eyed Peas and a champion of STEM in the East L.A. community. Visionaries like Astro Teller, X’s Captain of Moonshots (his actual title). The CEOs of Accenture, Cisco, and JP Morgan Chase (all SHPE IPC members). African American billionaire and philanthropist Robert F. Smith, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and an assembly of others,” she wrote.

The We Are All Human Foundation’s Davos Hispanic Delegation members included:

• Marty Martinez, Founder & CEO, Social Revolt Agency
• Raquel Tamez, CEO, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
• Miguel Alemany, Chair of the Board, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers​
• Jesse Martinez, Founder, Latino Startup Alliance​
• Robert Rodriguez, President, DRR Advisors

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From left: Marty Martinez, Founder & CEO, Social Revolt Agency; Raquel Tamez, CEO, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers; Claudia Romo Edelman, Founder, We Are All Human Foundation; Juanpa Zurita, social media influencer; Dr. Robert Rodriguez, President, DRR Advisors; Miguel Alemany, Chair of the Board, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers; Jesse Martinez, Founder, Latino Startup Alliance. (Editors note: Zurita was not a member of the Hispanic delegation.) [Photo: Courtesy Marty Martinez]

“We are inspired and optimistic by the support expressed in corporate America towards the U.S. Hispanic community through the Hispanic Promise,” Claudia Romo Edelman, founder of the We Are All Human Foundation, said in a statement. “We are at a critical point in history—politically, economically, and socially—where the global business community is beginning to grasp how important U.S. Hispanics are for their success.”

What’s next?

Martinez said the delegation will be back next year, and they mean to be a force to be reckoned with.

Members of the original delegation are in discussions “to set up a Hispanic House (‘Nuestra Casa’) along the city’s main promenade—right next to the India House, the Russia House, the China House and all the rest of the major delegations,” Tamiz wrote. “Next year, we will again be noticed, seen, and heard—clearly and ardently.

“Because, as Theodore Roosevelt stated so eloquently, ‘the credit belongs to those who spend themselves in a worthy cause.'” 

Quincy Preston and Maddie Preston contributed to this report.