The St. Louis Mosaic Project Celebrates Workplace Leaders for Immigrants in St. Louis Community
October 19, 2018
Contact: Vin Ko, Senior Program Manager,
St. Louis Mosaic Project
vko@worldtradecenter-stl.com
(314) 615-3900
The St. Louis Mosaic Project Celebrates Workplace Leaders for Immigrants in St. Louis Community
The St. Louis Mosaic Project is proud to announce the 2018 Mosaic Workplace Award recipients. These individuals and organizations make the St. Louis region a more inclusive community by retaining and attracting immigrant talent of all skill levels. Awardees will be honored in part of the International Institute’s “Decoding the Potential: Promoting Regional Prosperity by Engaging Skilled Immigrants” summit on the underutilized immigrant workforce, held on October 19, 2018.
2018 Honorees
Distribution Business Award
Dot Foods, Inc.
Founded in 1960 by Robert and Dorothy Tracy, this family owned and operated company is headquartered in Mt. Sterling, Illinois and has a large presence in the St. Louis metro as well. Dot Foods Inc. carries 127,000 products from 930 food industry manufacturers making it the largest food industry redistributor in North America. Through Dot Transportation Inc., an affiliate of Dot Foods, the company distributes foodservice, convenience, retail and vending products to distributors in all 50 states and more than 35 countries. Dot Foods operates 11 U. S. distribution centers. Dot recorded $7.1 billion in sales in 2017 and sits at #63 on Forbes’ list of America’s largest private companies, employing over 5,300 nationwide. Employees include refugees of all skill levels as well as other international hires for specific roles. Dot Foods is a Mosaic Ambassador Gold Company due to its international hiring and support of diversity/inclusion in the workplace. The company assists in international student career fairs, posts positions on the Mosaic website and encourages employees to become Mosaic Ambassadors.
Technology Business Award
CEdge and founder Sekhar Prabhaker
A new Mosaic Ambassador Silver Company, CEdge (an HP Enterprise Services protégé firm) is a premier business and IT consulting firm providing services to federal and state governments as well as commercial enterprises through the US. The company has a diverse workforce with several who are foreign born or the children of foreign born. Additionally, their CEO, Sekhar Prabhakar, is an immigrant entrepreneur who offers mentoring to the technical job seekers and helps through ITEN to mentor startup tech companies.
Regional Service Business Award
River City Casino
River City, a Pinnacle Entertainment Property, provides a complete hotel, dining and gaming experience. The company has won awards for being a top workplace in St. Louis by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and has been a Four Diamond Hotel by AAA. It was rated a Best Hotel of 2016 by U.S. News & World Report. River City has hired many refugees and other immigrants, giving them an opportunity to learn more skills and advance in their employment options.
Global Business Award
RGA
Reinsurance Group of America, Inc. is one of the largest global life and health reinsurance companies in the world. With headquarters in St. Louis, RGA supports clients and partners around the world through innovative approaches and customized solutions, ranking #234 on the 2018 Fortune 500 list for revenue and ranking #97 (out of 500 of the largest companies globally) as a top employer by Forbes. As of December 2017, RGA had approximately $3.3 trillion of life insurance in force and assets of $60.5 billion. A Mosaic Ambassador Gold Company, RGA sponsors visas for international talent to augment native born talent skill sets. RGA has an executive on the Mosaic Steering Committee and assists in networking programs for foreign born professionals. The company supports many other diversity programs in the region to build a more inclusive region for talent.
Immigrant Working Professional
Yinka Faleti of Forward through Ferguson
Yinka Faleti is the newly named Lead Catalyst (Executive Director) of Forward Through Ferguson focused on regional racial equity. Previously, he was Senior VP at United Way of Greater St. Louis. He led the teams for workplace giving, Leadership giving and affinity and employee engagement through volunteerism. Prior to joining United Way, Yinka practiced law at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and as a state prosecutor handling criminal cases. He earned his law degree from Washington University.
Before his legal career, Yinka served as an active-duty Army officer from 1998-2004. He served in Kuwait as part of the post-911 forces of Operation Enduring Freedom. His last Army assignment was as a company commander, transitioning from the Army with the rank of Captain. He earned his undergraduate degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he is this weekend to celebrate a special reunion.
Yinka and his wife reside with their son and daughters in St. Louis. He is involved in the African Chamber of Commerce of St. Louis and supports many other community groups. He was recognized by the St. Louis Business Journal as a Diverse Business Leader in 2016. Originally from Nigeria, Yinka has lived in the USA for over 30 years and became a naturalized citizen of the USA in September 2018.
About the St. Louis Mosaic Project
The St. Louis Mosaic Project was launched in 2012 in response to an economic impact report, outlining St. Louis to be lagging in immigrant growth as well as highlighting the economic benefits of increasing its foreign-born population. The Mosaic Project is a regional initiative that is professionally managed by St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, World Trade Center St. Louis and a 32-member committee. Its goal is to transform St. Louis into the fastest growing major metropolitan area for immigration by 2025, to add 25,000 more foreign born to the region from 2016-2025 and to promote regional prosperity through immigration and innovation. Learn more at www.stlmosaicproject.org.