Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Nissan Americas: Nashville's newest Hispanic neighbor


Nissan Americas opened its new headquarters south of Nashville yesterday, cementing the company's already significant role in the Hispanic identity of Music City.

Hispanic employees in the news

The Tennessean's photo gallery of the new building included this picture of Jaime Ortiz working on the fourth floor, just a small reminder to Nashville that our newest corporate neighbor employs a number of new Hispanic Nashvillians. Other Nissan employees in the news recently are Pedro Quiterio, engineer, who attended the Committee of Latino Parents' sendoff of former Metro schools director Pedro Garcia (story here), and Stephanie Valdez Streaty, originally from Colorado, who was recognized in the "Corporate Executive" category of the Nashville Business Journal's 2008 Women of Influence Awards (story here)

Other examples of Nissan's Hispanic identity in Nashville:

Importance of diversity

When the Japanese automaker announced its relocation to Middle Tennessee from California in 2005, Nashville city promoters found out that diversity in Tennessee was a top concern among employees considering whether to relocate (story here). In June 2006, Nissan announced that it was "committed to pursuing and encouraging minority, women-owned, and local businesses to participate in the project" and invited a local Hispanic chamber of commerce to attend a Diversity Subcontractor and Vendor Project Informational Meeting (story here).

History of Hispanic marketing

In November 2006, Nissan launched a marketing campaign called Shift_musica, which was designed to attract Hispanic customers through music (story here). In March 2007, Nissan announced its newest Hispanic PR partner (story here), and in May 2006, Nissan launched a pan-regional Latin America media campaign with Fox Sports (story here).

Cross-cultural business

In December 2006, Dominique Thormann, Nissan senior vice president, discussed "Working Across Cultures in a Global Company" at Vanderbilt (story here).

Philanthropic support of Hispanic non-profits

In July 2007, Nissan made a $35,000 contribution to the civil rights efforts of the National Council of La Raza (story here), and in September 2007 Stephanie Valdez Streaty, Sr. Manager of Philanthropy and Diversity Communications, announced a $50,000 donation to the Harding Place YMCA's Hispanic Achievers program (story here). In May 2008, it was reported that Nissan joined the League of Latin American Citizens with a $25,000 donation and would also be supporting a scholarship program with Nashville-based Conexion Americas. (story here).

Welcome

To Nashville's newest "Hispanic neighbor" (even though you've been in your temporary HQ in downtown Nashville for a while now, so you're not so "new" anymore), we say welcome!


Image source: Nissan

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