National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated and recognized every year from September 15 – October 15. At TDIndustries, one of our core values is to celebrate the power of individual differences and how they make us stronger as a team.
This year, we sat down with a few longtime employee owners (whom we call Partners) for a deeper look into Hispanic and Latino heritage and how TD’s culture and benefits support everyone. So much so, that as many as nine members of one family — the Morales family in Houston — have worked a total of 155 years and counting for the company.
Rudy R. Camarillo | Multifamily Project Manager III | With TD 27 years
Rudy Camarillo leads TDindustries’ Hispanic Partner Resource Group and demonstrates exceptional servant leadership skills by offering his experience and knowledge to less experienced Partners. We connected with Rudy about his Hispanic heritage and tenure at the company.
Q: What comes to mind when you think of Hispanic culture?
A: When I think of Hispanic heritage and culture, I immediately think of family and work ethic. My dad was a master plumber, and before that a farmer, and the work was sunup to sundown. Yet for the most part on the weekends, it was all family. My parents’ home was the go-to place – everyone would trickle in on Sundays, and we’d have cookouts. That was just a typical Sunday for us with aunts, uncles, cousins, everyone coming over to be together.
Q: What are some of Hispanic culture’s biggest contributions in our industry?
A: The biggest contribution I think would be the sheer number of Hispanics and Latinos who are in the workforce and our industry specifically. Hispanics / Latinos are well represented among TD’s employee owners.
I’ve been blessed with good supervisors who have seen potential in me and allowed me the opportunities to grow and develop. With the right leadership, we will continue build the next generation of leaders from that wealth of experience.
Q: Why is it important for companies to celebrate diversity and acknowledge occasions such as the National Hispanic Heritage Month?
A: It’s important because retention is one thing, but opening your eyes to the world around you is another. Celebrating diversity and inclusion instills that TD will respect you from day one. It’s important not only from a business model, but it gives Partners an opportunity to learn from each other and gain knowledge. TD encourages discussions regarding race, gender and culture and offer webinars and materials to ensure everyone feels and is included.
Q: What does the TD core value, Celebrate the Power of Individual Differences, mean to you?
A. It's difficult to put into words how meaningful it is to me that this statement is part of our core values – it's incredibly special and unique. Seeing senior leadership prioritize this core value through our four Partner Resource Groups and within our corporate objectives proves that TD cares about diversity and inclusion.
Juan Saucedo | Electrical Field Supervisor | With TD 20 years
Juan Saucedo is based in San Antonio and covers "everything that has to do with electrical" for Service, Construction and Special Projects. The territory stretches from San Antonio or New Braunfels to Corpus Christi and all the way to Eagle Pass, McAllen and Harlingen. His daughter, Kathryn, and his son, John, also work for TD.
Q. Why is it important for companies to celebrate diversity and acknowledge occasions such as the National Hispanic Heritage Month?
A. I think it’s important that we celebrate diversity, because not one race or ethnicity holds all the good things in this world. We all have something good to provide to this company and this world. If we have a lot of diversity, we grab the good from everybody and make an even greater company or greater nation.
Q. What does your heritage mean to you?
A. Heritage is everything because the whole of heritage is your family and everything that you like and value. In the Hispanic culture, speaking from my experience, family is the first thing, the nucleus of everything. After family is friends, and after friends, it’s everybody else. If you look at it that way, everyone is included.
Q. From a recruiting standpoint, what are main strengths TD offers its employees?
A. We have a great benefits plan. I’ve been saving my money on 401(k) and Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) forever, and I have a nice retirement going. When I joined TD, I think we were paying $42 for stock, and now it’s about 10 times that. I run into CEO Harold (MacDowell) when he comes to San Antonio. He knows that I am all about the ESOP, and he has called me to ask about my match or to congratulate me on promotions or when there’s other good news to share.
Mario J. Morales | Construction Project Superintendent | With TD 22 Years
There are two TDIndustries employees in Houston with the name Mario Morales. Project Superintendent Mario J. Morales, with whom we talked for this article, and his father, Mario Morales Sr., a Journeyman Sheet Metal Partner who is coming up on his 34th year. It’s remarkable that a father and son have 55 years combined at one company, but their story goes much deeper.
Q. Tell us more about the Morales family in Houston – how many work for TD?
A. My uncles, Martin Morales and Genaro Morales, also Sheet Metal Construction Partners, each have 33-plus years invested with TD. Genaro retired in February. If you count the whole family, there are nine of us with 155-plus years of tenure combined.
Q. What makes TD a good company to work for?
A. As far as upper management in Houston — Graham Moore, Nikki Morgan and Tasos Banos — they’re just good people. Everyone is family here. No one is scared to go talk to somebody because of their title. I can’t begin to tell you everything Graham has done for my family over the years, and how friendly and helpful Nikki is. TD takes care of people.
TD treats everyone fairly, regardless of race or ethnicity, gender or age. The work is challenging, and everyone has to work hard to advance. We give opportunities to anybody if they’re up for the challenge.
Q: Why is it important for companies to mark occasions such as National Hispanic Heritage Month?
A. It’s important for companies to acknowledge diversity so no one feels left out. No matter who it is, TD has always done that. It’s part of the company vibe, the culture. It opens up people’s eyes that TD cares about who you are; it’s not always just about the budget or about a rating on an evaluation.
Q. What does your heritage mean to you?
A. Having immigrant parents who came here from Mexico to provide for their family — the risks they took to get here and everything they’ve accomplished —means that I don’t take things for granted. It’s the same thing I tell my kids. We have to be grateful for what we have. And you can have whatever you want as long as you work hard for it.
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