Tech Titans: The Unseen Latino Powerhouses Shaping Our Future

by GONZALO PEÑA, JR.

Something wonderful happened when Silicon Slopes opened its Latino chapter about four years ago: Latinos in the tech sector started coming out of the woodwork and connecting. Founders, executives, technologists and leaders started networking with each other, and powerful links were established between them and the rest of the tech ecosystem.

A sense of community emerged where there was none, and many of its actors started thriving. Here are some of our stories — stories of immigrants and first- and second-generation Latinos — who overcame challenges in a land fertile for technological development.

A land of opportunity

Marcus Borges had no plans to move to Utah from his native Brazil. Although a medical doctor by trade, he found opportunities as a consultant in the global staffing sector. He is now the co-founder and CEO of Oxpher, a consulting firm that specializes in entering foreign markets. But more importantly, he found Utah to be a jewel among other markets; the state thrives with a culture of honesty and is open to entrepreneurs and investors.

“Utah is an opportunity place,” Borges says. “In only 15 hours, you are in Canada or Mexico or the Pacific. … Here in Utah, you have room to grow.”

Borges isn’t the only one who sees opportunity in Utah.

Utah Valley University (UVU), along with the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, recently had the honor of hosting Ambassador Catalina Crespo-Sancho, the ambassador of Costa Rica to the United States. As Costa Rica has become a crucial partner for Intel, Johnson & Johnson, and Amazon, Ambassador Crespo-Sancho sees colleges like UVU as great potential partners for preparing the upcoming generation of Costa Ricans to work jobs in STEM.

“The reason I’m here is because [UVU] has the special case of having started as a community college,” Ambassador Crespo-Sancho says. “What we need the most is workforce development, [especially] technical degrees. We need them now. UVU has two-year technical degrees and the necessary undergraduate degrees.”

Worldwide connections

While some community members find business potential, others establish connections locally and with the rest of the world. Mateo Muñoz currently leads the Latino Chapter of Silicon Slopes and is COO of Duuzra. A second-generation Mexican, Muñoz grew up in Silicon Valley. After working in various tech leadership roles in New York City, he and his wife, Alexis, found themselves in the Silicon Slopes of Salt Lake City.

Seeing himself as part of something greater, Muñoz establishes true human connections by lifting others up. Over the last 10 years, Muñoz says he’s seen more and more Latinos join the ranks of the Utah tech community.

“Our community is going to continue to lift each other up and continue to be successful as long as we continue to support one another,” Muñoz says.

Gema Ortiz, originally from Spain, is a senior localization project manager for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has worked in collaboration with developers, web publishers, programmers and others to include various languages on the Church’s softwares, websites and apps. In her translation/language services career, she’s used the changes in technology to deliver a good product and ensure client satisfaction.

“When I started, everything you used was a translation software or a CAT (Computer-Aided Translation) Tool that allowed you to save previous translations to assist you in the future. From there we’ve seen Google Translate or Bing Translate, where you would input text and it would ‘mine’ the data that is out there on the web.”

Ortiz continues, “Now we’re moving to things like machine translation, translation memories, neural machine translation. They are elements that allow you to train an engine to recognize patterns to come up with something when you input translations. [The AI] would have a learning pattern; it does really well.”

Another Latino pioneer in the language services industry using the power of AI is David Utrilla, CEO of U.S. Translation Company (USTC). The company boasts a roster of 2,250 dedicated clients who have trusted the company’s services for 29 years. Originally from Lima, Peru, Utrilla found himself learning a totally new language when he arrived in Utah.

“I realized that whatever English they taught me wasn’t good enough. I enrolled into an ESL [English as a Second Language] program at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.”

Utrilla saw the potential to benefit others who might be struggling like him.

“After graduating, I started classes in business management. While I was doing all of this, I decided I could open a business to actually help people communicate. I converted my challenge, the ability to communicate with others, into a business.”

USTC’s use of AI is remarkable, especially when it comes to content. Thanks to their AI solutions, content creators can use voice cloning technology to generate audio and dub videos in different languages, but implementing their own voices. AI can also implement lip syncing to create a seamless visual. The effect is powerful once content creators see a video of themselves speaking in a foreign language they don’t actually know. Most importantly, thanks to AI tools like these, content creation is not only delivered across languages without flaw but also at a fraction of the cost.

Maintaining the edge

Originally from Peru, Ed Macha is the founder and CEO of Reliable Controls, which describes itself as “the custodians of technological excellence in mining and energy.” While not a typical tech company, Macha and his team apply science and engineering to the development of technology to tackle multi-billion-dollar projects around the world.

“We’re not really developing technology in the sense of developing products,” Macha explains. “We’re packaging new concepts, methodologies and even tools to help us be more efficient and do our jobs better.”

Specifically, Macha says his team has been working with sensors that measure pressure, temperature and other invaluable field levels. They receive myriads of readings that are turned into data that can yield crucial information regarding the lives of mine workers operating underground.

“Hundreds and thousands of variables are coming in. You can control equipment speeds, temperature flows and volumes,” Macha says. “Thousands of things happen quickly, but you need to be able to impact the ones that really matter. If [the] operator can get that information, they can react and keep things that are important for safety.”

A ripple effect

These inspiring individuals share a few common traits. They see themselves as part of a larger community, turn their challenges into opportunities, and see potential where others don’t. All these stories occurred because someone believed these people were the main characters — even heroes. Someone decided to see past an accent or a different ethnic background. Someone decided to listen to a different perspective, and the results speak for themselves.

At the close of Hispanic Heritage Month, I’d like to ask: Are we the type of business leaders who see the potential of members of diverse communities? Could we do more to support heroes like them? When we are intentional in seeking out unlikely heroes, I believe we can help make a positive difference in our organizations, communities and the world.

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See Original Article at Utah Business