Javier Padilla

As a Senior Human Resource Consultant, SSS alumnus Javier Padilla has been instrumental in keeping Phoenix Home Life Insurance ranked in the top 10 companies serving America's pentamillionaires. Padilla has worked for the financial management company since April of 2002, providing expertise and leadership in the areas of recruitment, staffing, retention, and performance management at all levels of the organization. He also supplies consultation on important organizational issues such as job elimination, reorganization, workforce diversity, and business start-ups. Responsible for facilitating the relationship between the employee and the company, Padilla influences decision-makers in all areas of the employment alliance.

This level of responsibility and degree of achievement are characteristic of Padilla's professional career. He has previously worked for such reputable organizations and companies such as Capitol Region Workforce Development Board, ING Aetna Financial Services and ITT Hartford, located in California. During his tenure at Capitol Region Workforce in Hartford as Manager of Placement & Employer Services, he worked closely with the welfare-to-work and Title III (laid-off) population, successfully placing 200 unemployed individuals back into the workforce within a nine month period. He also performed a similar remarkable accomplishment earlier in his career when working as a Staff Manager for ING Aetna Financial Services. Padilla diversified the workforce, employing members of different ethnic backgrounds, gender, sexual orientation, and disabilities, through screening, interviewing, and hiring over a 150 job seekers into Corporate America within a twelve-month period. In addition to his impressive work in human resources, Padilla's efforts in International Urban Teaching impacted the lives of many children through his teaching of English and math to students in both Puerto Rico and Mexico. Padilla's commitment to outstanding service and workforce diversity has enabled him to positively influence the companies for which he has worked and the communities in which he has resided.

Padilla graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1991 with a BA in Political Science and Spanish and received the 1999 Student Support Services Alumni Award. He is also the facilitator for Community Conversations, a diversity program offered to Phoenix employees. He is cur- rently pursuing his law degree at Western New England College School of Law, Springfield, MA and is expected to gradu- ate with his J.D. in December of 2002.