Photo credit: Alex Garcia
Ruben Abarca, a corporate partnerships lead for DPI’s Pritzker Tech Talent Labs (PTTL), has been selected among Crain’s Chicago Business’ Notable Latino Leaders for 2024.
Notable Latino Leaders is an annual feature recognizing leaders with significant accomplishments within their industry and/or community.
About Ruben Abarca
Ruben’s charge at DPI is to identify, train, and place diverse, untapped tech talent with leading employers in Chicago. He supports the whole corporate engagement process, from working with C-suite executives from Fortune 500 companies to establish placements, overseeing onsite visits, and managing logistics — facilitating trainees’ development, and promoting DPI in the corporate world.
On average, trainees placed with employers through our workforce program have seen their salaries more than double.
Before joining DPI in May 2023, Ruben had co-founded a STEM tutoring bilingual company and also worked as director of business development for DePaul University, forging partnerships with Chicago employers.
What they’re saying
“Ruben has been a driving force in DPI’s corporate partnership pipeline,” said PTTL director Mark Harris. “He tirelessly shares the DPI story with executives from Chicago’s leading companies and introduces them to our exceptional trainees. This recognition is well-deserved.”
“Ruben has been a champion for educational equity for so many years,” said Mona Asra, associate managing director-manager of Inclusion & Diversity, at CIBC. “He has connected first-generation professionals with college scholarships, provided tutoring services to low-income bilingual students, and, through his work at DPI, is helping to build pathways to tech careers.”
Read more about Ruben in Crain’s Chicago Business (sub req’d)
Author: Jeanie Chung