Growing its mentorship program with a second cohort of 30 employees
Paying it forward: A look at our Hispanic and Latino employee resource group
RTX HOLA paves a path to professional growth
Gustavo Delcampo came to the United States in 2006 with a work visa and lots of questions.
He soon found that many of his coworkers did too – specifically fellow recent immigrants from around the globe. They wondered where to rent a home near their work site in San Diego. How best to manage green card applications. How to get a cell phone. So they got together to share advice.
“Coming to a new country turned out to be way more stressful than I thought,” he recalled. “You all have each other’s back. It wasn’t something we talked about – it just happened. There were no ‘stupid’ questions with those folks. It was always just, ‘How can I help you?’”
Those early experiences at an RTX legacy company did more than help him get by in a new country. They also gave him a template for the work he is now doing as the global chair of RTX HOLA, an employee resource group that represents RTX’s Hispanic and Latino workforce. It is one of nine such groups across RTX that work to create equitable opportunities and strengthen the company’s culture of inclusion.
“We are doing all of this for our members,” said Delcampo, director of enterprise supplier quality at Collins Aerospace, an RTX business. “We want to make sure they are taken care of, and our vision is we want to make sure we can bring our true selves to work.”
Action now, and eyes on the future
RTX HOLA, or the Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Advancement, is part of RTX’s commitment to strengthening inclusion and creating equitable opportunities for employees. The group’s key initiatives include:
Holding patent brainstorming sessions to support innovation and the development of intellectual property
Hosting monthly career planning sessions on topics including how to submit intellectual property ideas and how to pursue fellowships
Representing RTX at career fairs and hosting internal events to increase Hispanic and Latino employee recruitment and retention
Representation matters
The group’s mentoring program, launched in 2023, aims to put members in direct contact with senior leaders – and, ultimately, to increase Hispanic and Latino representation at the senior executive level.
“We’re really trying to grow our executive presence in the senior leadership team overall,” said Esther Casas, the RTX HOLA global co-chair. “We feel sometimes it’s easy to be overseen or overlooked, and we feel this will help hopefully provide some of that network and visibility our culture needs to be successful.”
The mentoring program launched with 40 junior-level employees and was so well received they’re doing it again with a second cohort of 30, Casas said. Participants provide a career plan, then meet with their mentors monthly. And, as the group has found, they’re staying in touch with their mentors even after completing the program.
“These are relationships that will build on a lasting career for a lot of these folks,” said Casas, an associate director in mission supplier quality at Collins Aerospace. “We’re really excited about that.”
In a separate but related initiative, RTX HOLA offers a professional development series that includes advice on patenting intellectual property, completing a career development plan and finding advocates among colleagues and supervisors – “that person who can speak up for you when you can’t speak up for yourself,” as Casas put it.
“I know it makes an impact. People stay because of the ERG. It’s a great initiative. It’s great for the business.”
Esther Casas | Global co-chair | RTX HOLA
To support innovation across the company, RTX HOLA members who work closely with information technology fellows and business leaders meet several times throughout the year to brainstorm new ideas for patents. For Casas, this “shows the value of what we bring to the table.”
“One of the things our ERG prides itself on is our innovation and the innovation we bring to the business,” she said. "Our ERG is not only an employee resource group but a business resource group.”
RTX HOLA is also strengthening talent recruitment and retention at RTX by attending career fairs and similar events, she said. Employees often recall a group member being their first point of contact at the company.
“I know it makes an impact,” Casas said. “People stay because of the ERG. It’s a great initiative – it’s great for the business. I get the warm and fuzzy when people come to me and say, ‘I remember this.’ It makes it worth it.”
“We are doing all of this for our members. We want to make sure they are taken care of, and our vision is we want to make sure we can bring our true selves to work.”
Gustavo Delcampo | Global chair | RTX HOLA
Laying the foundation
Today, RTX HOLA continues the early-career coaching for young Hispanic and Latino employees that Delcampo launched years ago.
Employees are excited to share how that guidance helped them answer a question or make the right updates to their résumés. They also ask him what they can do to give back.
“They could see how the advice was relevant – it makes a huge difference,” Delcampo said. “They ask me, ‘How can I repay?’ It’s a virtuous circle. Pay it forward.”
“It’s a privilege being in a position like the one we have,” he continued. “We represent thousands of Latinos and Latinas, and it’s an honor. We are trying to do the best we can and lay a foundation for years to come. This is just the beginning.”
