PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
Lisa Pollina
Victor Arias Jr.
Denita Willoughby
David Thomas
Monica Martinez
Lisa Pollina was named global financial
institutions executive in Bank of America’s
Global Treasury Services business. Pollina
will develop a global strategy for delivery
of client-centric treasury solutions. A
founding partner in financial-advisory firm
Bordeaux Capital, Pollina has completed
more than $5 billion of professional-services agreements and merger-and-acquisition sales on three continents. A
German Marshall Fund fellow, Pollina
also was Councillor delegate to the
Atlantic Council of the United States and
a corporate-finance instructor at the
University of Chicago. Bank of America is
No. 25 in The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50
Companies for Diversity®.
Heidrick & Struggles named Victor
Arias Jr. co-managing partner of its North
Americas diversity-services practices. Arias,
who assumed this position in August, plays
a key role in both internal and external
diversity efforts and developing and implementing innovative best practices. Co-founder and former president of the
National Society of Hispanic MBAs, Arias
was formerly appointed by President
George W. Bush to the Commission on
White House Fellows. A partner with
Heidrick since 2004, he participates on
several boards, including the Frito-Lay
Hispanic Advisory Board and the Stanford
University Board of Trustees. Arias holds a
bachelor’s degree from the University of
Texas at El Paso and an MBA from
Stanford University.
AT&T California named Denita
Willoughby vice president of external
affairs, Los Angeles. Willoughby will direct
the telecom’s local policy and philanthropic efforts in the Los Angeles area. She has
held a series of leadership roles at AT&T,
most recently as vice president of programming. A recipient of the NAACP’s Black
Woman of Achievement award and the
Black Business Association’s Leadership
Award, Willoughby is president and
founder of the Hi-Beta Investment Club.
She also is a former advisory board member of the United Way Team Tech and
South Bay Economic Development
Partnership, among other organizations.
Willoughby holds an engineering degree
from the University of Wisconsin,
Madison, and an MBA from Harvard
University. AT&T is one of DiversityInc’s
25 Noteworthy Companies in 2006.
David Thomas was named group senior
vice president and head of diversity and
inclusion for LaSalle Bank and all other
ABN AMBRO subsidiaries in North
America. He also is a member of the company’s global-diversity platform. Thomas
was vice president and chief diversity officer for Sprint Corp. prior to his new
appointment. Before that, he held a series
of senior human-resources positions with
Citigroup, American Express and FMC
Corp. (Sprint Nextel, Citigroup and
American Express are, respectively, Nos. 39,
27 and 30 in The 2006 DiversityInc Top
50 Companies for Diversity.) Throughout
his 25-year corporate career, Thomas has
gained experience in corporate diversity,
community relations, philanthropy and
human-resources management. A former
Heart of America United Way board member, he has earned multiple awards for his
corporate and community efforts, including the Chairman’s Award from the Kansas
City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree from the
City College of New York and an MBA
from the University of Missouri.
Comerica appointed Monica Martinez
vice president of Hispanic Business
Affairs. Martinez will lead supplier-diversity development and Latino-business
growth. Prior to joining Comerica,
Martinez spent 10 years with Ford Motor
Co., No. 37 in The 2006 DiversityInc
Top 50 Companies for Diversity, where
she fulfilled various managerial roles,
most recently in the capacity of grassroots
and public-communications manager.
She also was Ford’s Latino community-relations liaison and interim manager of
Hispanic affairs. Comerica is No. 12 in
The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies
for Diversity.
