Carlos Gutierrez

Carlos Gutierrez is the a co-founder and executive chairman of Empath. Empath is a company that provides clients with a organization-wide skills inventory that includes skill proficiency levels by employee and by job role. Skills are matched to current and future roles, as well as to training and coursework.

former CEO of Kellogg Company, a former secretary of commerce, and the former vice chairman of Citigroup’s Institutional Clients Group. The son of Cuban immigrants who began his career selling cereal to small grocers in Mexico City, he rose to become the youngest CEO in Kellogg’s 100-year history. He first learned English from bellhops, but commerce has always been a language in which Gutierrez was fluent. Named one of the most powerful Hispanic-Americans in business by Fortune magazine, he was an ardent voice for business in the government.

As Secretary of Commerce, Gutierrez was a core member of President Bush’s economic team. During his tenure, Gutierrez made it a top priority to open global markets for U.S. companies, and he played a key role in the passage of CAFTA-DR, a landmark trade agreement that expanded opportunities for U.S. exports throughout Latin America.

With his vast corporate success and extensive international perspective, Gutierrez has a unique viewpoint on global business and the economy. After his time as Secretary of Commerce, he joined Citigroup as the vice chairman of the Institutional Clients Group and a member of its Senior Strategic Advisory Group. He was also an advisor to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, a member of the Debt Reduction Task Force at the Bipartisan Policy Center, and the founder and chairman of Global Political Strategies (GPS), a strategic consulting service.

Gutierrez served as co-chair for the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba and was a strong advocate of helping Cuba bring about its freedom from dictatorship. He was one of the point men working to pass comprehensive immigration legislation, and he left Citigroup to lead the creation of the SuperPAC Republicans for Immigration Reform.