IN A WORLD IN WHICH INFORMATION travels faster each day, to be in a position as gatekeeper requires a great deal of sensibility and responsibility. The new Executive Director of El Nuevo Día in Orlando and former president of the Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation, Linda Hernández, has displayed these qualities in the field of communications.
Hernández explains that the tendency for public television was to compete with private networks, but she knew that this needed to change."We began to take a closer look at established models of public television networks in America and Europe. We used these models and combined them with our own situation," says Hernández.
Puerto Rico PBS began to provide the general public with access to the media, including the Communication Project for Special Communities (PROCOM by its Spanish acronym), the Educative Guides Project, and Prohibido Olvidar (Not to be Forgotten), a coproduction with the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras's School of Public Communication. PROCOM visited more than 150 communities to teach newspaper editing, radio programming and documentary making skills.
Presently, Hernández lives in Orlando and is Executive Director of central Florida's only Spanish newspaper. Her work team, made up of Columbians, Venezuelans, Ecuadorians, Dominicans, and Puerto Ricans, reflects the cultural diversity of readers in central Florida. |
SOCORRO RIVAS BEGAN as Director of Internal Auditing at one of the most prestigious health companies in Puerto Rico 22 years ago. Now she is its president. Alumna of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras and the first female president at Triple-S, Rivas reflects on Puerto Rico's position in the insurance industry.
Puerto Rico has been working towards becoming an International Center for Insurance, which would generate significant economic activity to help other countries in Latin America and the rest of the world gain access to insurance.
Technical capacities and the financial structure in Puerto Rico, as well as its monetary system and appropriate regulations, make the island a good alternative in international markets, says Rivas.
One of Triple-S's goals is to create an actuary sciences major at the University of Puerto Rico. "Currently, insurance companies have to turn to con sultants outside of Puerto Rico," states Rivas. In a lecture at URP, RP, Rivas explained that actuaries are in charge of evaluating risk for establishing insurance policies. Their principal training is in mathematics; however they may combine training with a business-related science or field. Actuaries usually work for insurance organizations and other financial institutions that administer pension funds. "The development of this field at the Río Piedras Campus would strengthen Puerto Rico's position as an International Center for Insurance," says Rivas. |
