Gaming company seeks Hispanics in upper levels

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2001 | 10:25 a.m.

Irene Bustamante, daughter of a Mexican-American mother who earned her high school diploma at 33 and a Mexican father who was a California farm worker, knows about hard work and self improvement.

As general manager of corporate diversity at MGM MIRAGE, Bustamante, 31, has an opportunity to help Hispanics enter the ranks of management.

Bustamante and other members of MGM MIRAGE management will meet Friday in Las Vegas with the Washington-based Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility.

MGM MIRAGE joined this association in a move to hire more Hispanics in top-level jobs and do more purchasing and contracting through Hispanic-owned businesses.

The move comes after Bustamante's office released figures showing that Hispanics make up only about 5 percent of top management at the company's Clark County properties, while accounting for 27 percent of employees.

"In a way, this reflects the history of the industry, which has been a white-male dominated field," Bustamante said. "But now it's changing because the demographics are changing."

The company announced it would be joining the association, a coalition of national Hispanic organizations, in August. In doing so, MGM MIRAGE became the first company from the hotel, entertainment, and gaming sector to join the association as a corporate member. Other corporate members include McDonald's, Coca-Cola and General Motors.

"Casinos have been slow to address this issue, and MGM Grand (an MGM MIRAGE property) has taken a leadership role, which could have a ripple effect in the industry," Anna Escobedo Cabral, president of the association, said.

Otto Merida, executive director of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, said this will put pressure on other gaming properties in Las Vegas to diversify their hiring and purchasing habits.

Friday's meeting will be the first between the company and the association, and it is expected to produce a game plan for achieving a boost in Hispanic hiring and purchasing from Hispanics, Bustamante said.

This will include identifying universities from which Hispanics are graduating in fields that help prepare for management careers, and developing training programs for current hotel employees.

The company sought out the coalition shortly after the merger of MGM Grand Inc. and Mirage Resorts Inc. last year.

"At the time, Gene Collins, who was then head of the local chapter of the NAACP, brought to our attention that we weren't purchasing enough from African-American-owned businesses," Bustamante said.

"This was May 30, 2000. We began working with organizations like the National Association of Minority Contractors, expanded our scope to other racial and ethnic groups, and looked at employment as well as purchasing."

The office at which Bustamante works was also created, and the racial and ethnic breakdown of hiring and purchasing was analyzed. MGM MIRAGE locally owns Bellagio, the Mirage, MGM Grand, Treasure Island, New York-New York, Boardwalk, Golden Nugget, half of the Monte Carlo and three Primm casinos.

The analysis revealed that Hispanics make up 27 percent of the company's 37,300 employees at its Clark County properties.

Of the company's 1,900 supervisors, 14.8 percent are Hispanic; of 1,600 managers, 10.8 percent are Hispanic; of 374 directors 4.28 percent are Hispanic, and of 170 vice presidents or higher, 0.76 percent are Hispanic.

Alan Feldman, MGM MIRAGE senior vice president for public affairs, summed up what may be his company's main motivation in seeking to increase the numbers of Hispanics in all levels of management.

"It's a long-known fact that anyone who walks into an environment looks around, and one way to feel comfortable is to see someone like yourself in the environment. If we don't diversify, our business will suffer," he said.