Locals Offer Ideas for Closing Pay Gap.

Seventy-five percent of Mike Robinson’s 25 employees are women. He takes pride in doing his part to close a decades-long paycheck gap between men and women.

But the chief executive officer of Blue Ash-based LaVerdad Marketing realizes that great challenges remain for companies to achieve paycheck equality across sexes and races.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women are paid 77 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn.

Robinson just doesn’t favor more federal legislation as the solution to the problem.

The issue of paycheck equality came into light this week, when the Democrat-sponsored Paycheck Fairness Act was voted down in the Senate.

It would have made it easier for workers to inquire about pay discrimination, permitting them to disclose salary information with co-workers regardless of company policy.

The bill was expected to fail. It was introduced primarily for political reasons in Democrats’ attempt to portray Republicans as hostile toward women during an election year. The issue is expected to continue to be political fodder in the coming months.

Politics aside, nearly everyone agrees that men and women should be paid equal wages for equal jobs. The challenge is how to get there. Locally, one small business owner and some consultants recommend solutions ranging from measuring paycheck equality in the boardroom to encouraging more women to speak up to their bosses.

“Integrity is doing the right thing for the right reasons when nobody’s watching,” Robinson said. “So that’s what we try to do in my firm.”

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 legally banned pay discrimination based on gender. In 1963, women made 63 cents for every dollar a man earned, meaning there has been an increase of just 14 cents in almost 50 years.

In 2009, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act expanded the statute of limitations for an employee to file an equal-pay lawsuit.

Robinson and others, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opposed the Paycheck Fairness Act because of the potential chaos caused by workers openly sharing salaries in the workplace. Businesses also don’t need the burden of any more government regulations, they said.

The bill was “going to make it easier for litigation,” said Denise Kuprionis, a former vice president of the E.W. Scripps Co., who now runs the board consulting firm The Governance Solutions Group. “And the more a business has to put in place to make sure it’s protected from litigation is not going to help the economy.”

The Enquirer contacted several other large and small businesses for this story. All either declined comment or did not return messages.

The problem for companies, Robinson said, occurs especially when young performers are promoted quickly based on their performance and end up supervising more experienced employees. Having those young performers’ salaries made public would put the company in a position to have to justify that salary, which Robinson says should be between the company and the employee.

“Absolutely, I’m all in favor of equality across all levels of diversity,” Robinson said. “However, not everyone is going to be rewarded at the same level as they progress. Just think about a young person that performs so well that they end up managing people who are much senior to them in a very short period of time. Now you have to justify why you’re rewarding the high performer, and that’s the company’s business.”

Robinson formerly worked for Procter & Gamble, where he says he was forbidden to talk about his salary.

“I was a good case study for that because I got promoted very fast,” Robinson said. “By the time I got to a senior manager level, I was coached by (human resources) that we had to be careful because there were people that might be offended by my rapid ascent that they might quit the company.”

Robinson said companies should make paycheck equality a part of their internal reporting structures and a priority at the board level.

The idea would be to measure the number of men and women employees, match them up in terms of their jobs so they are comparing equal positions and making certain that the company is paying employees equally. A smart company would then share that information publicly, Robinson said.

“Showing you are equal and balanced can actually influence how consumers view your product,” Robinson said.

Others say women should speak up more.

“Women can be proactive in speaking up to their managers and human resources staff when they discover pay discrepancies between themselves and male colleagues who have the same job title, level of education, experience and expertise yet are earning more,” said Linda Gravett, senior partner of Gravett and Associates, a consulting firm in Anderson Township.

“If the response (women) hear sounds something like, ‘But you have less experience or expertise than Bob Smith,’ then a woman should ask what opportunities and resources are available through the organization to enhance her experience, expertise and education (to close the) gap,” Gravett said. “I would expect resources to be offered across the board for all employees, such as tuition reimbursement or participation in a mentor initiative.”

A woman should not fear being fired or reprimanded by a supervisor for speaking up, Kuprionis said.

If a female employee fears backlash, then she should first seek the advice of a close friend or adviser.

“It can be scary to go in and say, ‘Hey, I need more money,’ ” Kuprionis said. “But I can’t think of a case where someone was just fired for asking.”

LaVERDAD tapped as Marketing & PR Agency for the Ohio Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.

LaVERDAD Marketing and Media announced today their selection as the marketing & public relations agency of record for the Ohio Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.

“Our company is heavily invested in issues of economic development and inclusion.  Being a Minority Business Enterprise gives us the ability to understand the needs of small businesses and we are proud to partner with the Ohio Hispanic Chambers of Commerce to address those needs,” said Mike Robinson, president of LaVERDAD.

As agency of record, LaVERDAD will provide branding consultation, stakeholder management, cultural training, and insights which leverage the experiences of some of the top marketing and public relations leaders in Ohio.   Organizations like the Ohio Department of Health, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Cintas, CDO Technologies, Cincinnati USA Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Downtown Cincinnati Inc., and the South Central Ohio Minority Supplier Development Council have benefited from their relationship with LaVERDAD.

“The Hispanic community is a vibrant and integral part of Ohio’s future and the OHCC is here to help Hispanic businesses grow into their potential.  Together with LaVERDAD, our mission of promoting and developing the economic Hispanic business community in Ohio will be multiplied,” said Jose “Rafi” Rodriguez, executive director of the Ohio Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.

A formal announcement of this partnership will be highlighted during the Ohio Hispanic Legislative Day on May 9, 2012 at the Ohio Statehouse and will feature Hispanic leaders from across the State of Ohio. The keynote speaker will be the United States Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis.

Contact: Jason Riveiro at 513.482.1814 Jason.riveiro@laverdadmarketing.com

About LaVERDAD Marketing & Media

LaVERDAD’s mission is to help brands or their agencies create and effectively market products and services that improve the lives of consumers. We do this by raising awareness, conducting research and analysis of the consumer and market, and then taking action with our clients to create campaigns and promotions with measurable results. Headquartered in Cincinnati, LaVERDAD operates nationwide with a focus on Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Atlanta and Phoenix.

About the Ohio Hispanic Chambers of Commerce

OHCC promotes the development and continued growth of the Hispanic business community in Ohio. The OHCC is committed to providing information and assistance to its membership by serving as a referral and resource center; monitors local, state, and national programs and legislation to evaluate the impact on Hispanic owned businesses;  and works with corporations  and government agencies to identify ways to provide opportunities for greater economic development. The OHCC works with the local Hispanic Chambers and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to provide special events and networking opportunities in Toledo, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Dayton areas.

Robinson Eyes Bright Future

LaVERDAD CEO looking for next generation of sharp marketers

The Cincinnati Enquirer | By: Josh Pichler

On Leadership

Mike Robinson is looking for the next generation of international marketers right here in this region.

By year’s end, Robinson, the chief executive officer of LaVERDAD Marketing, plans to launch a development program for college-aged students with diverse backgrounds interested in social media, and have them work on projects with LaVERDAD’s clients, which include Toyota North America, Procter & Gamble, Kroger and Cintas.

Robinson is searching for space downtown to house the program and hopes to partner with local universities to help provide credibility to the institution and provide accreditation for the program.

“It’s almost like creating a not-for-profit in that all of the retained earnings would go right back into the program,” Robinson says of his dream, which he’ll call the Verdad Institute on Social and Linguistic Competency.

Robinson, 50, is still in the prime of his executive life. But the institute reflects his growing interest in passing the leadership lessons he learned in the military and business world – hard work, encouraging diverse points of view, rejecting failure as an option – to the next generation.

Robinson says there’s a strong business case for the institute with social media’s rise as a powerful and effective marketing tool. LaVERDAD helps its clients reach diverse consumer groups in the United States and overseas, which is easier said than done, says Alfonso Cornejo, owner of AC & Consulting Associates and president of the Hispanic Chamber USA.

“(Some companies) think that by doing a very small sign in Spanish, people are going to be jumping into their brand, and it’s not that easy,” he says. “When immigrants come to this country, you bring the things that make you what you are: your values, your culture, the way you think.

“It is inevitable that you transition toward U.S. values and U.S. ways of doing things very, very fast. Mike has some high value added services to companies because he can see how a brand or a service will be perceived by (those immigrants).”

But the project is also a chance for Robinson to create opportunities for young students by helping them develop skills that can lead to unexpected career paths.

That’s been the story of his life. It started with a high school guidance counselor who told him to forget about college and pursue trade school or a military career instead.

“He told me – I’ll never forget it – ‘You shouldn’t think about college. You’re not college material.’ ”

Army paved way for opportunity

The irony is that at age 17, Robinson took his counselor’s advice and joined the Army – which eventually led to a bachelor’s degree in geography and planning from Arizona State University, a master’s in business and information management from Webster University and an executive education at Dartmouth College’s The Tuck School of Business.

Robinson’s family knows how to work and serve. Six of his uncles were in the service. Three served in Vietnam, where one was killed and another lost his leg and eye. Robinson’s father was born in the United States, but grew up in both Mexico and the U.S. Robinson grew up understanding the importance of having a job, and worked in the family’s restaurant. But good grades weren’t the priority.

“It wasn’t that I was incapable, I just didn’t have the discipline,” says Robinson, who grew up in Phoenix. “When I was going to school, there wasn’t one time when somebody checked my homework at home. They didn’t know how to. In those days, what was important was getting a job. We were bricklayers, carpenters, we were working with our hands.”

The military changed Robinson’s life, a pattern that has continued.

He was identified as a high-performing young soldier, and put into a commission program to become an officer. The Army sent him to Arizona State. When he graduated in 1983, his assignment was Beirut.

But twin bombings, which killed 299 American and French serviceman, led to a change in Robinson’s orders, and he went to Germany instead. Three years later, Robinson was asleep in the officers’ quarters when a Berlin discotheque was bombed, killing three people. Forty of his servicemen were at the club. Robinson said he spent that night going to area hospitals until he had accounted for them.

“It was unbelievable. I’m 23-24 years old, there are people literally laying in the hallways bleeding,” he says. “I realized how much of a life-changing moment that was. I went back to my room the next day to be with my wife, and I literally broke down and cried like a baby. I saw so much destruction of human beings. I decided at that moment that I want to do something about it.”

In military, learned about new cultures

Robinson joined the Special Forces and became a Green Beret. The next 10 years took him throughout Central and South America, where the Special Forces worked against drug kingpins and cartels including Pablo Escobar and the Medellin organization.

Robinson was a soldier, but his time in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Honduras created a knowledge base that informs his work as an executive today.

“I got to work with so many different Latin American cultures for so many years, that I really developed a deep respect, but also a deep knowledge and expertise that most people wouldn’t even dream of. Even in my own company today, no one has worked or traveled throughout these countries as much as I have.”

An injury ended his Special Forces career in the field. Robinson left the military and got his master’s degree at Webster, then worked as a defense contractor for three years. He landed at Procter & Gamble in 1996, where he spent the next seven years. During his last year with the company, Robinson worked full-time on a project, prompted by the anthrax attacks of 2001, which would help the government identify bio-terrorism.

Robinson recruited drug store chains to contribute real-time sales information on cough, cold and flu medicine to a central database. Inhaling anthrax often leads to cold- and flu-like symptoms. The idea was the government could more easily combat a bio-terror attack if it could identify a spike in the sales of cough, cold and flu medicine.

“That year I worked 365 days, worked every holiday. We were trying to build this thing before the invasion of Iraq,” Robinson says. “At the end of the year, I was exhausted.”

LaVERDAD has been family group effort

Robinson started LaVERDAD in 2003, one year after the Census showed that Hispanics had become the largest ethnic group in the United States. By 2010, according to the Census, that population had grown another 43 percent to 50.5 million. Robinson saw an opportunity to help clients reach these growing, diverse consumers in the United States and abroad.

“Starting your own business and having the size that he has is extremely demanding,” Cornejo says. “He and (wife) Mary put in long hours.”

Mary Robinson is LaVERDAD’s operations manager; two of his three children also work at the firm. His youngest is studying journalism at Ohio University.

LaVERDAD’s currently has 25 employees and is adding more in the coming months. The employees have come from 20 countries, reflecting Robinson’s belief that diverse teams outperform homogeneous teams.

He financed LaVERDAD by mortgaging his house and cashing in IRAs. LaVERDAD was profitable within three years, and Robinson is now considering taking on equity partners to keep growing.

“We learned how to be a multi-million-dollar agency, now how do we accelerate that? How do we get to be the $10-, $20-, $50-million agency?”

LaVERDAD has four divisions: Marketing, media, public relations and applied research. The firm has the capability to help clients identify opportunities in a specific region of the world, then help those clients test products.

“Helping a company or big brand get to a country like Brazil two years faster by using our methodologies than they could, (that’s) hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue,” Robinson said. “So it’s a big deal.”

Robinson said his employees, most of whom weren’t born in the United States, find him. Some may have spouses working for P&G or another international company. He says he hires for the person, not the position, and believes in having fun at work.

But at the core of LaVERDAD is the lesson Robinson learned in the military. He doesn’t forget it whether he’s at work or creating a new venture like the Verdad Institute on Social and Cultural Competency.

“Soldiering is serious business. If you’re not serious, you lose, and losing is not an option,” he says.

“And so when I go into a world like P&G or LaVERDAD, I’m serious. We don’t want to miss, we want to hit that target. I need to instill that in others, and leadership by example is sometimes all it really takes.”

Additional Facts

LaVERDAD Conducts Downtown Perception Survey.

The Cincinnati Enquirer

More people believe downtown is safer and cleaner in 2011 compared to 2010, according to Downtown Cincinnati Inc.’s annual report, which it released on Thursday.

According to the results of its annual Downtown Perceptions Survey, conducted by LaVerdad Marketing, DCI reported that 63 percent of respondents believe downtown is safe, up 5 percent from 2010, and 70 percent believe it’s clean, up 10 percent. According to the survey, 80 percent have an overall positive impression of downtown, up 13 percent.

DCI said its annual Visit Survey found that the average downtown visit lasts 3.5 hours, and the spend per visit is $95.77, a 5.8 percent increase over 2010.

“Of course, there are still people who declare at parties and other functions that downtown is unsafe, unclean and there is little to do. These are people who have not been downtown recently and experienced all of the progress,” said David Ginsburg, DCI’s president and CEO, in the annual report.

The non-profit business organization, which was formed in 1994 and now has more than 210 corporate members, focuses its efforts on three areas: maintaining and enhancing a safe and clean downtown; enhancing the image of downtown as a vibrant hub of activity; and advocating for business and residential growth downtown.

The group’s grass-roots efforts include ambassadors who pick up and remove trash, clean graffiti, pull and prevent weeds, and work with police to reduce panhandling. Its marketing efforts last year included producing 125,000 downtown guides distributed to more than 400 outlets.

Read article online here..

Riveiro joins LaVERDAD Marketing & Media.

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jason Riveiro has been appointed senior manager, media and public relations for LaVERDAD Marketing & Media in Blue Ash. Prior to joining LaVERDAD, Riveiro served as publisher and general manager at TSJ Media, one of the largest Spanish language media companies in the region with a portfolio that includes La Jornada Latina, Latinos Magazine, La Mega 97.7 FM Radio in Cincinnati and La Mega 103.1 FM Radio in Columbus. In this role, he oversaw the expansion of their Spanish-language products into multiple markets including Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, and Miami.

Along with his work at TSJ Media, he provided nationally recognized leadership as the Ohio State Director for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the oldest and largest Hispanic civil rights organization in the country, and the former founding President of the Cincinnati chapter. Under his leadership, LULAC obtained over $500,000 to fund educational programs across the country. In addition, he led the campaign to bring the 2011 LULAC National Convention to Cincinnati which brought over 15,000 attendees and over $3 million dollars in revenue to the city from out of town visitors.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas in Houston and is currently in Xavier University’s Executive MBA 2013 class.

Read Article Here.

LaVERDAD Marketing & Media Honored by South Central Ohio Minority Supplier Development Council as 2011 Supplier of the Year

The Cincinnati Enquirer

LaVERDAD has been named Supplier of the Year by the South Central Ohio Minority Supplier Development Council (SCOMSDC) for its outstanding performance and achievements.

The award – which was presented on Veteran’s Day at the SCOMSDC Gala in West Chester, OH – recognizes certified minority suppliers who have demonstrated outstanding quality and service over the life of the company, and is exemplified through their strong potential for expansion and development, regardless of the prevailing economic environment.

“We are honored to have received this award for the second time in our firm’s history, and especially honored to receive this recognition on Veteran’s Day,” said Mike Robinson, president of LaVERDAD.

Robinson, a second generation Hispanic, is also a service disabled veteran who served as an Army Special Forces Officer throughout Latin America after earning the coveted Green Beret in the 1980’s. After the military he served as a global manager for the Procter & Gamble Company before launching LaVERDAD in 2003.

After 9/11, Robinson was asked to serve on the Expert Advisory Board for Middle Eastern Affairs, providing strategic communications advice related to wartime operations.

In 2007, LaVERDAD was recognized by NMSDC as MBE of the Year, and Robinson was recognized by the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as Hispanic Businessman of the Year, and in 2010 was honored by the State of Ohio as the Distinguished Hispanic Veteran as well as Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan.

The “Class II MBE of the Year” award is given annually to a minority business enterprise (MBE) with annual sales between $1M and $10M and has demonstrated its ability to deliver exceptional quality and service to corporate clients. Founded in 2003, LaVERDAD is an award winning Hispanic owned and certified minority business. The company specializes in bringing ethnic consumer insights and marketing strategies to Fortune 1,000 companies. Headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, they operate throughout the U.S., with a focus in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, Miami, and New York. LaVERDAD provides a range of services including market research and analysis, creative design, public relations, and advertising.

“LaVERDAD is a company that the Council has worked directly with in our rebranding efforts,” said Darryl A. Peal, President of the SCOMSDC. “I have witnessed, first hand, the level of quality and expertise that LaVERDAD brings to its clients. Their success is hinged on their ability to deliver. However, their ability to provide insight on the growing minority consumer markets is a niche that is being sought after increasingly by the corporate community.”

 

<a href=”http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2011/11/14/CL06736″>Read article online here.</a>

LaVERDAD’s Mike Robinson on marketing.

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mike Robinson came to Cincinnati via Procter & Gamble and the legendary Green Berets, the U.S. Army’s Special Forces unit. In 2003, he started LaVERDAD Marketing and Media, an agency that focused on marketing to Hispanic audiences.

Earlier this year, his firm was one of two Hispanic- owned businesses accepted into the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Minority Business Accelerator program. He recently spoke with reporter David Holthaus about his plans:

HOW DOES THE Minority Business  Accelerator help you?

The MBA is meant to provide some guidance and expertise. The whole goal is to give you a team of advisers, a team of influencer’s who have an interest in growing the portfolio companies. Many businesses, in particular smaller minority businesses, may not have access to that guidance and expertise.

WHAT’S DIFFERENT about your agency?

We’re a full-service marketing, public relations and market research company that I learned to merge together when I was at Procter & Gamble. We focus on the core competency of the changing demographics in the United States. Not too many people were in that game a few years ago. We  focus on cultural and linguistic competence. It was founded on my first career, which was commanding special forces teams in Latin America. So we take guerrilla marketing to a whole new level.

HOW HAS YOUR business changed in  recent years?

Originally, it was just the Hispanic market. But P&G and others asked us to focus on the Asian market, the African American  market and others. Now we’re focusing on Cincinnati. We just did the Downtown Cincinnati Perceptions survey. They called us to the table to get the multicultural perspective. And the Convention and Visitors Bureau asked us to do the design work for the Elks, Shriners and LULAC  conventions. Toyota North America just tapped us to serve as media relations agency for the Hispanic media in the U.S., and we’re the  multicultural agency for State Farm for Hispanic media in this region of the country.

HOW HAS YOUR audience changed?

It’s become a very technological market, and the social media space is becoming very important. But at the same time, there’s still the need to reach out in the grassroots manner. You still have to get out and make those commitments. We definitely have the traditional means of  print and radio. In two weeks State Farm is a major sponsor of the Cincinnati Hispanic Festival, where we’ll get a tremendous amount of contact with consumers.

HOW HAVE YOU grown?

We’ve grown significantly in terms of revenues. We’re in downtown Montgomery,  but we’ve just grown out of it. I’m looking at  potential property acquisition downtown. In the last five years, our growth has exceeded triple digits, and over the next two or three years, we’ll probably double or triple our business.

LaVERDAD’s Robinson built company on Special Forces themes.

Business Courier | By: Paula Norton

CEO wants contributions to improve world around him.

Mike Robinson’s marketing and media firm is small but brings cultural and linguistic expertise to the table for clients.

And he and his team “don’t like to lose.” Mike Robinson grew up in Mexico and went on to a career as an officer in the U.S. Army, where he served in occupied Berlin during the Cold War, as a Special Forces Green Beret and as a counterterrorism officer in Latin America.

Those experiences provided the foundation of his business model for LaVERDAD Marketing & Media, the Hispanic marketing company he founded in 2003. Also a former manager with Procter & Gamble, Robinson has since taken on clients including State Farm Insurance, P&G and Toyota. Robinson shared thoughts on his company’s growth and challenges with Courier contributor Lisa Daumeyer.

Q: How did being a Green Beret prepare you for the business world? Our entire business model was based on what I learned in Special Forces; we were extremely competent and confident. Our models were based on the fact that a small, specialized group of professionals could become subject matter experts with the advantage of being culturally and linguistically competent. Once we became operational, we were considered to be a substantial “force multiplier,” meaning that an elite unit could drop in behind enemy lines, organize a superior indigenous force and help achieve strategic objectives. The same holds true now: at LaVERDAD, we don’t like to lose.

Q: Has the economy forced any changes in your company? What are they? We’ve had to become very market-driven and focused on ensuring we accomplish key business metrics. In 2010, P&amp;G gave me a scholarship to attend the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. I already had earned my master’s degree and thought I knew business metrics quite well. Tuck really taught us to intimately understand managerial finance as opposed to accounting finance. The end result was a targeted growth strategy based on key ratios aimed at growing our business to scale.

Q: What is the most difficult aspect of your job? The space we play in puts us in a position of competition with some very large agencies. We don’t have the infrastructure and deep pockets they have, and many large corporations are consolidating their supplier base, which can create barriers.

Q: What do you like to do when you’re not working? I enjoy philanthropic programs such as being part of Cincinnati Rotary and other efforts related to improving diversity and inclusion in our community and in business. I am honored to have recently been appointed to the board of the United Way.

Q: What are your growth plans for LaVERDAD? We are the newest entrant to the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Minority Business Accelerator portfolio. The first thing the MBA helped us with is defining and documenting our growth strategy. The key elements are to further penetrate the industries in which we have demonstrated a solid track record. We’re expanding operations in several U.S. markets and South America, with a focus on Brazil.

Q: What’s your definition of a miserable, unsatisfying life? Not making contributions that improve the world around you.

Q: What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in this role? Learning the true success measures and processes involved in making payroll and running a small business. At P&amp;G I had a budget, but we still got paid even if we under-indexed on the number of cases we sold last month. Today, if we don’t make our numbers, someone may be laid off. That someone is a person we know and care about. The good news is that in seven years, I have never had to lay anyone off; so I guess we’re doing all right.

Q: You’ve just been given $100,000 to donate to charity. Which and why? Right now it would be toward the relief effort in Japan. Ongoing it would be to closing the gap in health care, education and economic inclusion with our multicultural communities.