The College of Business Distinguished Speaker Series provides students and faculty with an opportunity to interact with prominent executives and community leaders. It offers students first-hand information about the complexities of the business world, while inspiring them to seek new ways to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Speakers share their views about successful management styles, possible career paths, critical industry-related issues, and qualities conducive to successful business leadership. These lectures seek to enhance the educational experience of students in the College of Business while showcasing programs, faculty, and students to the international business community.
Distinguished Speaker Series
Friday, October 25, 2013
BLB 015
11 a.m.
Rick Gomez
Executive Director – AT&T College Recruiting
Rick Gomez, Executive Director of AT&T College Recruiting has over 16 years of progressive Human Resources management experience. Throughout his career with AT&T he has continuously been recognized as a Strategic Human Resources Business Partner, demonstrating strong leadership and commitment to aligning business goals and objectives with Human Resources strategy.
Born in El Paso, Texas Rick joined Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems in 1997 as a Human Resources Clerk. He quickly progressed to a Human Resources Specialist and in 2000 was promoted to a Senior Human Resources Manager. In this role he was responsible for the strategic human resources support of Cingular Wireless’s retail stores across North Texas. Rick led a team that managed the employee relations, staffing, labor and training needs of over 1200 employees. In 2001 he received the Cingular Summit award for his contributions and strong partnership supporting his clients.
In 2006 Rick was promoted to Associate Director of Human Resources, where he oversaw Human Resources support for the retail store and network employees in a 15 state territory with over 7,000 employees. Rick was then promoted to Director of Mergers and Acquisitions for AT&T in 2009, where he was responsible for developing the strategies/solutions required for the transition of human capital to AT&T. During this time Rick was responsible for the integration and Human Resources architectural support of several acquisitions for the company.
In 2010 Rick served as the Chief of Staff to the Senior Vice President of Human Resources. In this role he managed the executive support of the Human Resources Services Delivery leadership team, responsible for supporting 240,000 employees both domestically and internationally. Rick also had the direct responsibility for leading the HR Generalist team that supported the Customer Information Services organization.
Rick’s next assignment was in 2011 when he had the opportunity to serve as the Director of Merger Integration for a Wireless acquisition. In this role Rick was responsible for the overall merger integration activities for the Finance, Human Resources, External Affairs, Legal and Corporate Development business units. In early 2012 he moved to the Human Resources Talent Operations organization where he was named Director of Staffing. In this role Rick was responsible for the staffing delivery of all non-management openings in the Network, Finance and Consumer organizations resulting in over 15,000 hires annually.
In April of 2012 Rick was promoted to his current role as the Executive Director – AT&T College Recruiting. He leads the AT&T College Recruiting Team that is responsible for finding the best talent for our management development programs. His team is also responsible for growing deeper and richer relationships on campus with AT&T’s ACE University Relations program.
In addition, to his AT&T responsibilities Rick is actively involved in various charitable organizations, including United Way, American Heart Association, Teach for America, Junior Achievement and he frequently volunteers at the local homeless shelter. When he is not spending time with his family you will find Rick relaxing on his boat. Rick is a graduate of the University of North Texas. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resources Management. In addition, he is certified by the Society for Human Resource Management as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).
