Monica Lozano has been appointed the eighth member of Apple's board of directors. Lozano, of Mexican origin, is the first Latina to hold such a position at the technology giant. Her experience backs her up. She is currently president and CEO of College Futures Foundation, and continues to serve on the boards of Target and Bank of America. 

Ignacio Eugenio Lozano’s granddaughter, founder of La Opinión in Los Angeles, Monica Lozano was the editor of that newspaper for 30 years. Under her direction, La Opinión published relevant stories such as the impact of child mortality and the AIDS epidemic. She also served as president and CEO of Impremedia, the newspaper's parent company, and was a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company.

Lozano also co-founded the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program, and was a former chair of both the University of California Board of Regents and the board of directors of the Weingart Foundation, a private philanthropic organization.

“Her values and breadth of experience will help Apple continue to grow, to innovate, and to be a force for good in the lives of our teams, customers, and communities,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a statement. 

Monica Lozano is also a Latino Corporate Directors Associations’ (LCDA) member. The organization’s goal is to increase the number of Latinos on corporate boards. According to LCDA's Latino Board Tracker, currently 77% of Fortune 1000 companies lack a single Latino director on their board.

Another finding of LCDA and corporate data provider Equilar is that in the state of California, where Latinos make up almost 40% of the population, they hold only 2.1% of board positions. 

In order to improve these indicators, the state of California passed Bill 979 in September 2020. This regulation requires public companies to include executives from underrepresented communities on their boards until December 2021.  

In last year’s September, LCDA—along with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and UnidosUS—also launched the Latino Voices for Boardroom Equity campaign. The goal is for Latinos to hold 20% of board seats—roughly their share of the U.S. population.

In the last four months of 2020, as a recent Bloomberg report indicates, the group sent 240 letters to publicly traded companies to encourage them to incorporate Latino executives on their boards.  They expect to send 400 more letters this month. They also chose nine companies with a strong Latino consumer base to meet with their CEOs. Only half of those have responded to their requests. But the efforts will continue.

"There is an enormous number of talented Latino candidates who can bring a lot of value [to the companies,” says Esther Aguilar, chief executive officer of the Latino Corporate Directors Association (LCDA).